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Is it true that King Louis XIV never bathed?
Was Doc Holliday really a doctor?
Who were the twelve knights of King Arthur's Round Table?
And what do Scots traditionally wear under their kilts?
You'll get the answers to these fascinating questions and many, many more in the wildly entertaining, un-put-down-able Just Curious About History, Jeeves. Based on the legion of unexpected questions posed at the popular Ask Jeeves Web site, Just Curious tackles all the puzzlers, bafflers, and stumpers that find their way into our everyday lives. What were the Pig Wars and were they actually caused by pigs? Who were the first gangsters? Did Cleopatra really wear makeup? Was Ivan the Terrible that terrible?
Sure curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. So if you want to know how tall Napoleon was, whether Captain Kidd had any little Kidds, or who the heck Charles the Fat was, look no further than Just Curious About History, Jeeves -- the unequivocal say-all, end-all, be-all authority on history's who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Was Doc Holliday really a doctor?
Who were the twelve knights of King Arthur's Round Table?
And what do Scots traditionally wear under their kilts?
You'll get the answers to these fascinating questions and many, many more in the wildly entertaining, un-put-down-able Just Curious About History, Jeeves. Based on the legion of unexpected questions posed at the popular Ask Jeeves Web site, Just Curious tackles all the puzzlers, bafflers, and stumpers that find their way into our everyday lives. What were the Pig Wars and were they actually caused by pigs? Who were the first gangsters? Did Cleopatra really wear makeup? Was Ivan the Terrible that terrible?
Sure curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. So if you want to know how tall Napoleon was, whether Captain Kidd had any little Kidds, or who the heck Charles the Fat was, look no further than Just Curious About History, Jeeves -- the unequivocal say-all, end-all, be-all authority on history's who, what, where, when, why, and how.
FACE IT. WE CAN GO ANYTIME.
BUT IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!
Death becomes you, and it's just another fact of life explored in Cause of Death, a revealing abundance of startling data, false perceptions, bizarre fallacies, and some totally unexpected statistics about how, why, when, and where we all bite the dust, check out, buy the farm, kick the bucket, and all those other euphemisms for perishing after falling out of bed (roughly 1,800 fitful sleepers a year). It also answers questions most people never even consider (but should):
Do crocodiles kill more people than alligators?
Are we more prone to commit suicide or murder?
How many still die from leprosy?
Does salmonella have anything to do with salmon?
Can the condition of your toenails predict your mortality?
What's the connection between kitty litter and brain damage?
Has irony ever killed anyone?*
Disease, accidents, occupational hazards, poisons, plagues, infections, murder, fauna and fungi, insect bites, war, and even bison. What's the most popular killer of the decade? The rarest? How many deaths per year by age? Gender? Location? Time of day? Stupidity? All this and more in a book you really shouldn't be living without.
* Yes! While experimenting with the safe preservation of food in snow, Sir Francis Bacon caught a cold and died.
BUT IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!
Death becomes you, and it's just another fact of life explored in Cause of Death, a revealing abundance of startling data, false perceptions, bizarre fallacies, and some totally unexpected statistics about how, why, when, and where we all bite the dust, check out, buy the farm, kick the bucket, and all those other euphemisms for perishing after falling out of bed (roughly 1,800 fitful sleepers a year). It also answers questions most people never even consider (but should):
Do crocodiles kill more people than alligators?
Are we more prone to commit suicide or murder?
How many still die from leprosy?
Does salmonella have anything to do with salmon?
Can the condition of your toenails predict your mortality?
What's the connection between kitty litter and brain damage?
Has irony ever killed anyone?*
Disease, accidents, occupational hazards, poisons, plagues, infections, murder, fauna and fungi, insect bites, war, and even bison. What's the most popular killer of the decade? The rarest? How many deaths per year by age? Gender? Location? Time of day? Stupidity? All this and more in a book you really shouldn't be living without.
* Yes! While experimenting with the safe preservation of food in snow, Sir Francis Bacon caught a cold and died.
Writer and beekeeper Jack Mingo, who set up his first backyard hive in 2004, offers his humorous and unique observations of the world of the mystical, matriarchal, gentle, sweet bee in Bees Make the Best Pets.
Full of fun facts, Mingo shares a potpourri of bee and bee-keeping trivia; practical tips and legend and lore. And here are just some of the reasons bees make the best pets: They don’t bark and whine all night if you leave them in the backyard. In fact, they rather prefer it. Bees don’t demand petting, attention, or a food dish. They find their own food. Bees greet you with honey for your toast and beeswax for your candles, not dead mice. You will never be tempted to succumb to your worst self, dress your bees in funny costumes, and humiliate them on YouTube. When bees pay attention to your plants, it's not to dig them up. They actually help them blossom, bear fruit, and thrive. Bees don’t track mud, poison ivy, or fleas into your house. Bees don’t have kittens.
Full of fun facts, Mingo shares a potpourri of bee and bee-keeping trivia; practical tips and legend and lore. And here are just some of the reasons bees make the best pets: They don’t bark and whine all night if you leave them in the backyard. In fact, they rather prefer it. Bees don’t demand petting, attention, or a food dish. They find their own food. Bees greet you with honey for your toast and beeswax for your candles, not dead mice. You will never be tempted to succumb to your worst self, dress your bees in funny costumes, and humiliate them on YouTube. When bees pay attention to your plants, it's not to dig them up. They actually help them blossom, bear fruit, and thrive. Bees don’t track mud, poison ivy, or fleas into your house. Bees don’t have kittens.
HOW MUCH ELECTRICITY CAN YOU GET FROM AN ELECTRIC EEL?
WHEN CAN MISTLETOE BE THE KISS OF DEATH?
HOW MANY SHEEP DOES IT TAKE TO GET ENOUGH WOOL FOR A SUIT?
WHAT DID BOOK WORMS EAT BEFORE THERE WERE BOOKS?
The mysteries of the natural world are endless, but your trusty manservant, Jeeves, has the answers to hundreds of nature's most fascinating mysteries. Based upon questions received at the popular Ask Jeeves® website, Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves is a fun and freewheeling safari of discovery that can tame even the most savage intellectual curiosity. Packed with incredible facts on everything from the size of a giraffe's tongue (yow, two feet!) to just how fast a fly can fly (4.5mph) to whether dogs have belly buttons (yes, they do), this is a book certain to both amuse and amaze.
With a little help from everybody's butler, you'll unlock the secret behind the firefly's glow, wonder at the language of hippos, and scratch your head when you learn the truth about poison ivy. Certain to help you develop the kind of brainpower that will impress your friends and frighten your enemies, Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves is perfect for fans of flora and fauna, or for anyone who wants to know the whats, whens, whys, and hows of nature.
WHEN CAN MISTLETOE BE THE KISS OF DEATH?
HOW MANY SHEEP DOES IT TAKE TO GET ENOUGH WOOL FOR A SUIT?
WHAT DID BOOK WORMS EAT BEFORE THERE WERE BOOKS?
The mysteries of the natural world are endless, but your trusty manservant, Jeeves, has the answers to hundreds of nature's most fascinating mysteries. Based upon questions received at the popular Ask Jeeves® website, Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves is a fun and freewheeling safari of discovery that can tame even the most savage intellectual curiosity. Packed with incredible facts on everything from the size of a giraffe's tongue (yow, two feet!) to just how fast a fly can fly (4.5mph) to whether dogs have belly buttons (yes, they do), this is a book certain to both amuse and amaze.
With a little help from everybody's butler, you'll unlock the secret behind the firefly's glow, wonder at the language of hippos, and scratch your head when you learn the truth about poison ivy. Certain to help you develop the kind of brainpower that will impress your friends and frighten your enemies, Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves is perfect for fans of flora and fauna, or for anyone who wants to know the whats, whens, whys, and hows of nature.
Ben Franklin’s Guide to Wealth is the modern version of the treatise The Way of Wealth by Richard Saunders, one of Ben Franklin’s many pseudonyms. Franklin practiced what he preached in the treatise, and it made him rich enough to have a full life, travel extensively, and follow his intellectual musings, which in turn led him to become an accomplished scientist, inventor, political activist, diplomat, and writer. Franklin wasn’t born rich. He built his legacy using his intelligence, curiosity, natural good sense, and proclivity for thrift and hard work. When he died, he left a fortune. Barrett and Mingo bring practicing what Franklin preached up to date for today’s busy lifestyles.
It’s time to get back to financial basics. It’s time to think about what "rich" really means. It might mean not hiring someone to do lawn work, saving some money, and sharing time spent together as a family. It’s time to look for guidance from America’s original financial guru, Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin’s Guide to Wealth shows readers how to apply Franklin’s financial wisdom to their own lives. Quotes from the original treatise such as "If you have something to do tomorrow, do it today" and "Leisure is time for doing something useful," are followed by the authors’ down-to-earth commentary. Barrett and Mingo—history and trivia buffs—offer their own sage advice on a range of financial basics, including debt, thrift, the value of work and business, developing financial responsibility, money and time, and preparing for the future. As the authors attest in the Introduction, we should listen to the way of Ben Franklin because "it works." A clever, wise, and fun book, the financial advice in Ben Franklin's Guide to Wealth works as well today as it did 250 years ago.
This latest romp through history, politics, religion, and science from the dyno-duo Barrett and Mingo is sure to tickle the fancy of trivia buffs everywhere. Amuse your date, impress your boss, bore your kids, or be the 6th caller to win a pair of tickets to the nose-flute band concert! All because you know that a Twinkie in the microwave will explode in 45 seconds, that you have a 1 in 3,448,276 chance of dying from a snake bite, that 342 cases of tea were tossed into the "hahbah" during the Boston Tea Party or that white rhinoceroses are not actually white but grey (you'll have to read the book to discover why). Barrett and Mingo, partners in life and crime (er, writing) can do a thing or two with random facts, and this book ranks right up there. From the time the Wallace family made famous books of lists of one kind or another, readers have found fascination--or maybe just food for their obsessions--in books like Random Kinds of Factness.
It's no joke that we are all fascinated by the medical profession and the people in it. With Doctors Killed George Washington, trivia mavens Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo explore accidental medical discoveries, medical follies, bizarre cures, and more. This titillating tome puts doctors and medical history under the microscope and exposes more than 500 little-known facts and outrageous oddities from the wild world of medicine. Did you know? Before the advent of surgery, ancient Egyptian doctors put their patients under by hitting them on the head with a mallet.
Number 2 in the W.C. Privy series, this bathroom companion is chock full of jokes, stories, historical factoids, quizzes, trivia, and pop culture fun. An ecletic reading array, the book includes:
*Rules and Histories of Laughably Obscure Sports
*The Night They Invented Champagne--the Accidental History of Bubbly Wine
*I Was There! Eyewitness Accounts of Pompeii, the Chicago Fire, the Defeat of Custer, the San Francisco Earthquake
*How to Escape Killer Bees
*How to Build a Log Cabin
*Before They Were Stars: Actors, Writers, Politicians and Rockers
What is it about the game of golf that can cause otherwise normal folks to lose all perspective? More than one person has seen their loved one become consumed with the details of the quality of wood used in clubs, or the type of cleats on their shoes. What is it about the game of golf that can cause otherwise normal folks to lose all perspective? More than one person has seen their loved one become consumed with the details of the quality of wood used in clubs, the type of cleats on their shoes, the distance between their feet, and the direction of the wind, not to mention statistics, statistics, statistics. Featuring more than 500 facts about the sport that Paul Harvey describes as “a game in which you shout ‘fore,’ shoot six, and write down five.” Readers learn that experts believe shepherds invented the game using their staffs to bat around stones and that 12 percent of all lightning fatalities happen on the golf course.
We are all fascinated by the legal system and the people behind it. With Dracula Was a Lawyer, trivia experts Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo explore lawyers we love to hate (until we need one!), the pitfalls in our legal system, celebrity lawyers, and more. This compendium puts lawyers and legal history on trial and exposes over 500 outrageous oddities from the wild world of law.
Every little fact cat lovers could want to know about the mysterious creatures that live in their homes is contained in this collection. For example, cats use at least a hundred different sounds to communicate and can pronounce thirteen vowel sounds and seven or eight consonant sounds; housecats typically blink twice a minute; and in ancient Egypt, the penalty for killing a cat was death!
From devastating remarks made by teachers ("Addled, backward dunce" said about young Thomas Edison) to the rich and famous on campus (William Randolph Hearst kept a pet alligator at Harvard), this is a spirited and humorous collection of facts about teachers and students.
Here you sit, brokenhearted ...with nothing to read but the writing on the wallpaper?
Don't get flushed with despair! W. C. Privy's Original Bathroom Companion is a book that's good for your heart – the more you read, the better you'll feel. Designed to make a porcelain throne into a seat of higher learning, it's guaranteed to make a big splash with you, your friends, and your family.
You want trivia, brain-teasers, facts, stories, or instructions on how to build an igloo? Then don't just stand there looking distressed – sit down and go with the guy whose name has become synonymous with the best in restroom reading: W. C. Privy!
It's an irresistible combination: Brad Meltzer, a born storyteller, counting down the world's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. And to make this richly illustrated book even richer, each chapter invites the reader along for an interactive experience through the addition of facsimile documents—the evidence! It's a treasure trove for conspiracy buffs, a Griffin and Sabine for history lovers.
Adapted from Decoded, Meltzer’s hit show on the HISTORY network, History Decoded explores fascinating, unexplained questions. Is Fort Knox empty? Why was Hitler so intent on capturing the Roman “Spear of Destiny”? What’s the government hiding in Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? And did Lee Harvey Oswald really act alone? Meltzer sifts through the evidence; weighs competing theories; separates what we know to be true with what’s still—and perhaps forever—unproved or unprovable; and in the end, decodes the mystery, arriving at the most likely solution. Along the way we meet Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Nazi propagandists, and the real DB Cooper.
A riveting adventure through the compelling world of mysteries and conspiracies.
Adapted from Decoded, Meltzer’s hit show on the HISTORY network, History Decoded explores fascinating, unexplained questions. Is Fort Knox empty? Why was Hitler so intent on capturing the Roman “Spear of Destiny”? What’s the government hiding in Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? And did Lee Harvey Oswald really act alone? Meltzer sifts through the evidence; weighs competing theories; separates what we know to be true with what’s still—and perhaps forever—unproved or unprovable; and in the end, decodes the mystery, arriving at the most likely solution. Along the way we meet Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Nazi propagandists, and the real DB Cooper.
A riveting adventure through the compelling world of mysteries and conspiracies.
Are you a huge fan of Harry Potter? You have probably read every book and seen every film many times over. But how much do you really know? This excellent book has more than two hundred facts that will surprise and amaze you in equal measure. Sections include: - Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe - Quidditch - Hermione Granger and Emma Watson - The Ministry of Magic - The Triwizard Tournament - Hogwarts - And many more If you love Harry Potter and want to expand your knowledge of the series, this is the perfect way to do it - you can even use these fantastic facts to make the ultimate quiz for your friends!
How much do you know about the world of Harry Potter? Do you know every creature, spell, and Hogwarts professor? Who played each character in the films? And what about the many uses for dragon blood? This amazing quiz book features 400 questions to test your knowledge of everything Potter. Moving from easy questions that a muggle could answer through to trivia that the Wizengamot would consider beyond them, this book will be fun for the whole family. Test your Harry Potter knowledge and see if you are the ultimate fan!
Are you the world’s most dedicated Harmonizer? Do you know more about Fifth Harmony than any other fan? Or do you want to discover some fantastic information about the girls who have taken the world by storm? If so, then this is the book for you! Contained within are more than one hundred amazing facts about everything, from the music to the relationships plus much, much more. The book is easily organised into sections so you can find the information you want fast, and is perfect for all ages. No Harmonizer should be without it!
Are you a longstanding member of the 5SOS Family? Or do you want to know everything there is to know about Luke, Michael, Calum and Ashton? If so, then this is the book for you! Contained within are 101 amazing facts about everything, from how the boys got started in the music business to some funny random facts, their favourite things and much, much more. The book is easily organised into sections so you can find the information you want fast and is perfect for all ages!
Are you a fan of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)? Do you watch in awe as the giant competitors throw themselves and each other around the ring? Are you familiar with the terminology of WWE? Would you like to know more about the professional wrestlers who provide such thrilling entertainment? If you answered yes to any of these questions you won’t want to be without this handy new reference guide. Presented in an easy-to-follow format, this book contains all the facts and figures on WWE you will ever need to know, including detailed information on the top professional wrestlers past and present, their nicknames, biographies, catchphrases, championship winners and losers, WWE records, Divas, belts and much more. 101 Things You May Not Have Known About World Wrestling is as entertaining as wrestling itself and is a must-have for all those who enjoy the sportsmanship and spectacle of WWE. This book will appeal to anyone who likes watching WWE from lifelong fans to those who are new to the sport.
Are you a huge fan of Harry Potter? You have probably read every book and seen every film many times over. But how much do you really know? This excellent book has more than two hundred facts that will surprise and amaze you in equal measure. Sections include: - Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe - Quidditch - Hermione Granger and Emma Watson - The Ministry of Magic - The Triwizard Tournament - Hogwarts - And many more If you love Harry Potter and want to expand your knowledge of the series, this is the perfect way to do it - you can even use these fantastic facts to make the ultimate quiz for your friends!
American Horror Story: Asylum is the hugely popular FX show about the Briarcliff Asylum. Full of twists and turns this show had no ground where it feared to tread with alien abduction, possesion, serial killers and many other story points that kept viewers hooked on the mysteries it kept throwing up and it's engaging characters. Inside this book are over 100 questions about the show, it's characters and the history of the Asylum so dare to step inside and test yourself on this pioneering show.
From the most-read humor site on the internet, Cracked.com
YOU MIGHT BE A ZOMBIE…
You're going to wish you never picked up this book.
Some facts are too terrifying to teach in school. Unfortunately, Cracked.com is more than happy to fill you in:
* A zombie apocalypse? It could happen. 50% of humans are infected with a parasite that can take over your brain.
* The FDA wouldn't let you eat bugs, right? Actually, you might want to put down those jelly beans. And that apple. And that strawberry yogurt.
* Think dolphins are our friends? Then these sex-crazed thrill killers of the sea have you right where they want you.
* The most important discovery in the history of genetics? Francis Crick came up with it while on LSD.
* Think you're going to choose whether or not to buy this book? Scientists say your brain secretly makes all your decisions 10 seconds before you even know what they are.
If you’re a fan of The Oatmeal or Frak.com and hate being wrong about stuff, you’ll love what you find in YOU MIGHT BE A ZOMBIE from the twisted minds at Cracked.
YOU MIGHT BE A ZOMBIE…
You're going to wish you never picked up this book.
Some facts are too terrifying to teach in school. Unfortunately, Cracked.com is more than happy to fill you in:
* A zombie apocalypse? It could happen. 50% of humans are infected with a parasite that can take over your brain.
* The FDA wouldn't let you eat bugs, right? Actually, you might want to put down those jelly beans. And that apple. And that strawberry yogurt.
* Think dolphins are our friends? Then these sex-crazed thrill killers of the sea have you right where they want you.
* The most important discovery in the history of genetics? Francis Crick came up with it while on LSD.
* Think you're going to choose whether or not to buy this book? Scientists say your brain secretly makes all your decisions 10 seconds before you even know what they are.
If you’re a fan of The Oatmeal or Frak.com and hate being wrong about stuff, you’ll love what you find in YOU MIGHT BE A ZOMBIE from the twisted minds at Cracked.
Record-setting Jeopardy! champion and New York Times bestselling author of Planet Funny Ken Jennings explores the world of maps and map obsessives, “a literary gem” (The Atlantic).
Ken Jennings takes readers on a world tour of geogeeks from the London Map Fair to the bowels of the Library of Congress, from the prepubescent geniuses at the National Geographic Bee to the computer programmers at Google Earth. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of map culture: highpointing, geocaching, road atlas rallying, even the “unreal estate” charted on the maps of fiction and fantasy. Jennings also considers the ways in which cartography has shaped our history, suggesting that the impulse to make and read maps is as relevant today as it has ever been.
From the “Here be dragons” parchment maps of the Age of Discovery to the spinning globes of grade school to the postmodern revolution of digital maps and GPS, Maphead is filled with intriguing details, engaging anecdotes, and enlightening analysis. If you’re an inveterate map lover yourself—or even if you’re among the cartographically clueless who can get lost in a supermarket—let Ken Jennings be your guide to the strange world of mapheads.
Ken Jennings takes readers on a world tour of geogeeks from the London Map Fair to the bowels of the Library of Congress, from the prepubescent geniuses at the National Geographic Bee to the computer programmers at Google Earth. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of map culture: highpointing, geocaching, road atlas rallying, even the “unreal estate” charted on the maps of fiction and fantasy. Jennings also considers the ways in which cartography has shaped our history, suggesting that the impulse to make and read maps is as relevant today as it has ever been.
From the “Here be dragons” parchment maps of the Age of Discovery to the spinning globes of grade school to the postmodern revolution of digital maps and GPS, Maphead is filled with intriguing details, engaging anecdotes, and enlightening analysis. If you’re an inveterate map lover yourself—or even if you’re among the cartographically clueless who can get lost in a supermarket—let Ken Jennings be your guide to the strange world of mapheads.
Are you the world's biggest Eminem fan? Or do you want to know everything there is to know about the rapper and best-selling artist of the last decade? If so, then this is the book for you! Contained within are 101 amazing facts about everything, from his upbringing as Marshal Mathers III, how he got started in the music industry, his rocky relationship with Kim and much more. The book is easily organised into sections so you can find the information you want fast and is a great addition to any bookshelf.
Did you know that cats can be left-handed?
Trivia fans will be eager to dive into this book for an edifying and entertaining tour of all the things they didn't know that they didn't know. There is something here for everyone and every occasion, with topics including Space and Science, Being Human, Sports, Music, Food and Drink, and Famous Inventions. It's full of conversation starters, from Herbert Hoover's pet alligators to the longest recorded bout of hiccups (it lasted for 68 years). Brimming with surprising facts, this comprehensive collection of trivia is sure to puzzle and delight.
Trivia fans will be eager to dive into this book for an edifying and entertaining tour of all the things they didn't know that they didn't know. There is something here for everyone and every occasion, with topics including Space and Science, Being Human, Sports, Music, Food and Drink, and Famous Inventions. It's full of conversation starters, from Herbert Hoover's pet alligators to the longest recorded bout of hiccups (it lasted for 68 years). Brimming with surprising facts, this comprehensive collection of trivia is sure to puzzle and delight.
Do you want to become the ultimate Directioner? Do you want to know everything about Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn? Want to prove your knowledge with not just one but TWO quizzes? If so, then this is the book for you! It contains all five of Jack Goldstein's 1D titles, including: 101 Amazing One Direction Facts, 101 More Amazing One Direction Facts, Harry Styles: The Story So Far, The Ultimate Quiz and finally The Ultimate Lyrics Quiz. With over 200 facts, 320 questions and a quick-read biography of Harry Styles, this is sure to keep any One Direction fan happy for hours!
Smarter than your old history teacher, funnier than the founding fathers, and more American than apple pie, The Mental Floss History of the United States is an almost (but not entirely) comprehensive primer on American history (or at least, the good stuff). From the editors of MentalFloss.com and mental_floss magazine—with its tagline: “Feel smart again”—comes an American History text packed with hilarious (but true!) trivia written in the smart-aleck tradition of The Mental Floss History of the World, Mental Floss Presents In the Beginning, and the first mental_floss book, Condensed Knowledge. Perfect for trivia buffs, history lovers, college students, and anyone who likes to laugh and learn. United States history has never been so fun.
Following on from Jack Goldstein and Frankie Taylor’s popular '101 Amazing Harry Potter Facts', this book contains over one hundred more amazing facts covering topics such as muggles in the series, the Ministry of Magic, the Weasleys, quidditch, the triwizard tournament and much more! Through JK Rowling’s books and films, we have been introduced to a fantastic and magical world that many of us would like to visit, despite the chance of running into a Death Eater or even Voldemort himself. If you love the world of Harry Potter, you’ll also love reading this book!
Do spiders sleep? Why are barns red? Why is there a crescent moon on outhouse doors? Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
As the Xerox Corporation's official webmaster, Bill McLain often fielded as many as 1,000 questions a day on just about everything under the sun -- and beyond. The wildest, funniest, and even most astute are collected here (along with their answers) in McLain's second volume that's as fascinating and enlightening as his first, Do Fish Drink Water? A "veritable Internet legend known for having all the answers" (San Francisco Chronicle), McLain explains what keeps squirrels from toppling off telephone wires; why the skin on your fingers and toes shrivels up in the water; how seedless watermelons are created; and more. Whether it's animal, vegetable, mineral, or something completely different, the answer is bound to be as interesting as the question itself, and certain to satisfy the trivia hound in everyone.
A handy, smaller, and more focused version of our popular New York Times knowledge books—organized by weekends and topic
Fell asleep during history class in high school when World War II was covered? Learned the table of elements at one time but have forgotten it since? Always wondered who really invented the World Wide Web? Here is the book for you, with all the answers you've been looking for: The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday is based on the premise that there is a recognizable group of topics in history, literature, science, art, religion, philosophy, politics, and music that educated people should be familiar with today. Over 100 of these have been identified and arranged in a way that they can be studied over a year's time by spending two hours on a topic every weekend.
Fell asleep during history class in high school when World War II was covered? Learned the table of elements at one time but have forgotten it since? Always wondered who really invented the World Wide Web? Here is the book for you, with all the answers you've been looking for: The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday is based on the premise that there is a recognizable group of topics in history, literature, science, art, religion, philosophy, politics, and music that educated people should be familiar with today. Over 100 of these have been identified and arranged in a way that they can be studied over a year's time by spending two hours on a topic every weekend.
Ken Jennings’s Trivia Almanac is the ingeniously organized book where, for a change, the all-time Jeopardy! champ gets to ask the questions–and where every day of the year will give you the chance to test your trivia mettle.
For example–February 21: In 1912, on this day, Teddy Roosevelt coined the political phrase “hat in the ring,” so Ken Jennings fires off a series of “ring” questions. What two NFL quarterbacks have four Super Bowl rings each?* What rings are divided by the Cassini Division?** Also on this date, in 1981, the “goth” music scene was born in London, so here’s a quiz on black-clad icons like Darth Vader, Johnny Cash, and Zorro. Do you know the secret identities of Ivanhoe’s Black Knight*** or Men in Black’s Agent M****?
In this ultimate book for trivia buffs and other assorted know-it-alls, the 365 entries feature “This Day in History” factoids, trivia quizzes, and questions categorized by Jennings as “Easy,” “Hard,” and “Yeah, Good Luck.” Topics cover every subject under the sun, from paleontology to mixology, sports feats to Bach suites, medieval popes to daytime soaps. This addictive gathering of facts, oddities, devilishly clever quizzes, and other flights of fancy will make each day a fun and intriguing new challenge.
From the Hardcover edition.
For example–February 21: In 1912, on this day, Teddy Roosevelt coined the political phrase “hat in the ring,” so Ken Jennings fires off a series of “ring” questions. What two NFL quarterbacks have four Super Bowl rings each?* What rings are divided by the Cassini Division?** Also on this date, in 1981, the “goth” music scene was born in London, so here’s a quiz on black-clad icons like Darth Vader, Johnny Cash, and Zorro. Do you know the secret identities of Ivanhoe’s Black Knight*** or Men in Black’s Agent M****?
In this ultimate book for trivia buffs and other assorted know-it-alls, the 365 entries feature “This Day in History” factoids, trivia quizzes, and questions categorized by Jennings as “Easy,” “Hard,” and “Yeah, Good Luck.” Topics cover every subject under the sun, from paleontology to mixology, sports feats to Bach suites, medieval popes to daytime soaps. This addictive gathering of facts, oddities, devilishly clever quizzes, and other flights of fancy will make each day a fun and intriguing new challenge.
From the Hardcover edition.
The geniuses at mental_floss are back with mental_floss: The Book, a funny, surprising, fact-packed compendium of more than 200 of the Greatest Lists in the History of Listory. Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the award-winning mental_floss magazine, authors Will Pearson, Mangesh Hattikudur, and Ethan Trex offer a cornucopia of additive, edifying, oddball, and irreverent information guaranteed to make dedicated trivia fans “feel smart again.” In the spirit of their top-selling book, Condensed Knowledge, mental_floss: The Book is perfect for everyone who likes to laugh while they learn.
5 Seconds of Summer are the up and coming Australian band consisting of Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin that is making waves all around the world. The winners of the MTV Breakthrough Band awards are making waves in the music world, with the help of One Direction, 5 SoS are seeing their popularity grow and grow. This quizbook will see what you know about the band with questions about their songs, personal lives, history and much, much more.
Misconceptions, misunderstandings, and flawed facts finally get the heave-ho in this humorous, downright humiliating book of reeducation based on the phenomenal British bestseller.
Challenging what most of us assume to be verifiable truths in areas like history, literature, science, nature, and more,The Book of General Ignorance is a witty “gotcha” compendium of how little we actually know about anything. It’ll have you scratching your head wondering why we even bother to go to school.
Think Magellan was the first man to circumnavigate the globe, baseball was invented in America, Henry VIII had six wives, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain? Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again. You’ll be surprised at how much you don’t know! Check out THE BOOK OF GENERAL IGNORANCE for more fun entries and complete answers to the following:
How long can a chicken live without its head?
About two years.
What do chameleons do?
They don’t change color to match the background. Never have; never will. Complete myth. Utter fabrication. Total Lie. They change color as a result of different emotional states.
How many legs does a centipede have?
Not a hundred.
How many toes has a two-toed sloth?
It’s either six or eight.
Who was the first American president?
Peyton Randolph.
What were George Washington’s false teeth made from?
Mostly hippopotamus.
What was James Bond’s favorite drink?
Not the vodka martini.
Challenging what most of us assume to be verifiable truths in areas like history, literature, science, nature, and more,The Book of General Ignorance is a witty “gotcha” compendium of how little we actually know about anything. It’ll have you scratching your head wondering why we even bother to go to school.
Think Magellan was the first man to circumnavigate the globe, baseball was invented in America, Henry VIII had six wives, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain? Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again. You’ll be surprised at how much you don’t know! Check out THE BOOK OF GENERAL IGNORANCE for more fun entries and complete answers to the following:
How long can a chicken live without its head?
About two years.
What do chameleons do?
They don’t change color to match the background. Never have; never will. Complete myth. Utter fabrication. Total Lie. They change color as a result of different emotional states.
How many legs does a centipede have?
Not a hundred.
How many toes has a two-toed sloth?
It’s either six or eight.
Who was the first American president?
Peyton Randolph.
What were George Washington’s false teeth made from?
Mostly hippopotamus.
What was James Bond’s favorite drink?
Not the vodka martini.
Dave "Ask Dave" Smith, retired Chief Archivist of The Walt Disney Company, has been fielding Disney trivia questions for over 30 years. And now, the most intriguing of those questions and answers have been compiled in this secret-filled book!
From the creators of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Useless Information-a collection of even greater insignificance.
More useless than ever before! Impress know-it-all friends with this all-new hodgepodge of frivolous facts and silly statistics that no one really needs to know. But honestly, how cool is it to find out that...
? There is a place in Maryland called Monkey's Eyebrow
? Giving yellow flowers is a sign of bad luck in Russia
? One brow wrinkle is the result of 200,000 frowns
? Paper can be made from asparagus
This is the book that will also tell you...
? The meaning of 'mageirocophobia'
? Where it is illegal to kill a butterfly
? Huckleberry Finn's remedy for warts
? What bodily fluid the Romans used as a hair treatment
And much, much more!
More useless than ever before! Impress know-it-all friends with this all-new hodgepodge of frivolous facts and silly statistics that no one really needs to know. But honestly, how cool is it to find out that...
? There is a place in Maryland called Monkey's Eyebrow
? Giving yellow flowers is a sign of bad luck in Russia
? One brow wrinkle is the result of 200,000 frowns
? Paper can be made from asparagus
This is the book that will also tell you...
? The meaning of 'mageirocophobia'
? Where it is illegal to kill a butterfly
? Huckleberry Finn's remedy for warts
? What bodily fluid the Romans used as a hair treatment
And much, much more!
How much do you know about the three books that make up the Hunger Games series? Prove your knowledge with this fascinating quiz book containing 200 questions (and answers!) to test the knowledge of any Hunger Games fan. From questions even a casual reader should know all the way through to trivia that would test Katniss herself, this is a fantastic way to enjoy Panem even more. With sections on everything from the characters to the games themselves, this is an important addition to any fan’s bookshelf!
Are you the world's biggest Marilyn Manson fan? Or do you want to know everything there is to know about the controversial frontman? If so, then this is the book for you! Contained within are 101 amazing facts about everything, from how Marilyn got started in the music business to his personal life, awards he has won, unusual objects he is said to collect and much more. The book is easily organised into sections so you can find the information you want fast!
The best kind of knowledge is uncommon knowledge.
Okay, so maybe you know all the stuff you're supposed to know--that there are teenier things than atoms, that Remembrance of Things Past has something to do with a perfumed cookie, that the Monroe Doctrine means we get to take over small South American countries when we feel like it. But really, is this kind of knowledge going to make you the hit of the cocktail party, or the loser spending forty-five minutes examining the host's bookshelves?
Wouldn't you rather learn things like how the invention of the bicycle affected the evolution of underwear? Or that the 1949 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to a doctor who performed lobotomies with a household ice pick? Or how Catherine the Great really died? Or that heroin was sold over the counter not too long ago?
For the truly well-rounded "intellectual," nothing fascinates so much as the subversive, the contrarian, the suppressed, and the bizarre. Richard Zacks, auto-didact extraordinaire, has unloosed his admittedly strange mind and astonishing research abilities upon the entire spectrum of human knowledge, ferreting out endlessly fascinating facts, stories, photos, and images guaranteed to make you laugh, gasp in wonder, and occasionally shudder at the depths of human depravity. The result of his labors is this fantastically illustrated quasi-encyclopedia that provides alternative takes on art, business, crime, science, medicine, sex (lots of that), and many other facets of human experience.
Immensely entertaining, and arguably enlightening, An Underground Education is the only book that explains the birth of motion pictures using photos of naked baseball players.
Richard Zacks is the author of History Laid Bare: Love, Sex and Perversity from the Ancient Etruscans to Warren G. Harding, which was excerpted in classy magazines like Harper's and earned the attention of the even classier New York Times, which noted that "Zacks specializes in the raunchy and perverse." The Georgia State Legislature voted on whether to ban the book from public libraries. He has studied Arabic, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Hebrew, and received the Phillips Classical Greek Award at the University of Michigan. He has also told his publisher that he made a living in Cairo cheating royalty from a certain Arab country at games of chance, although the claim remains unverified. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice, TV Guide, and similarly diverse publications. Zacks is married and busy warping the minds of his two children, Georgia and Ziegfield. He resides in New York City, and can be reached via e-mail at rzacks@echonyc.com.
From the Hardcover edition.
Okay, so maybe you know all the stuff you're supposed to know--that there are teenier things than atoms, that Remembrance of Things Past has something to do with a perfumed cookie, that the Monroe Doctrine means we get to take over small South American countries when we feel like it. But really, is this kind of knowledge going to make you the hit of the cocktail party, or the loser spending forty-five minutes examining the host's bookshelves?
Wouldn't you rather learn things like how the invention of the bicycle affected the evolution of underwear? Or that the 1949 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to a doctor who performed lobotomies with a household ice pick? Or how Catherine the Great really died? Or that heroin was sold over the counter not too long ago?
For the truly well-rounded "intellectual," nothing fascinates so much as the subversive, the contrarian, the suppressed, and the bizarre. Richard Zacks, auto-didact extraordinaire, has unloosed his admittedly strange mind and astonishing research abilities upon the entire spectrum of human knowledge, ferreting out endlessly fascinating facts, stories, photos, and images guaranteed to make you laugh, gasp in wonder, and occasionally shudder at the depths of human depravity. The result of his labors is this fantastically illustrated quasi-encyclopedia that provides alternative takes on art, business, crime, science, medicine, sex (lots of that), and many other facets of human experience.
Immensely entertaining, and arguably enlightening, An Underground Education is the only book that explains the birth of motion pictures using photos of naked baseball players.
Richard Zacks is the author of History Laid Bare: Love, Sex and Perversity from the Ancient Etruscans to Warren G. Harding, which was excerpted in classy magazines like Harper's and earned the attention of the even classier New York Times, which noted that "Zacks specializes in the raunchy and perverse." The Georgia State Legislature voted on whether to ban the book from public libraries. He has studied Arabic, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Hebrew, and received the Phillips Classical Greek Award at the University of Michigan. He has also told his publisher that he made a living in Cairo cheating royalty from a certain Arab country at games of chance, although the claim remains unverified. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice, TV Guide, and similarly diverse publications. Zacks is married and busy warping the minds of his two children, Georgia and Ziegfield. He resides in New York City, and can be reached via e-mail at rzacks@echonyc.com.
From the Hardcover edition.
Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, and . . . Ham Sandwiches?
If you are a music fan, you may be aware of some of music’s most enduring mysteries. Where did Pearl Jam get their name? Are the White Stripes related by blood or by marriage? Did Mama Cass really die from choking on a ham sandwich? Gavin Edwards has heard just about every strange question, racy rumor, and legend of the music world. As the writer of Rolling Stone’s “Rolling Stone Knows” column, Edwards proved himself as a one-man encyclopedia of music trivia. Now he shares all of his knowledge with you. Look inside to find the answers to these questions and more:
•What’s the connection between The Beach Boys and Charles Manson?
•How did Dr. Dre and Eminem meet?
•Did Mick Jagger and David Bowie really sleep together?
•What’s the deal with Led Zeppelin and the shark?
•What’s the feud between The Smashing Pumpkins and Pavement all about?
•Was Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” really written about his most private body part?
Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John? might not tell you who shot Tupac or why Celine Dion is still allowed to make records, but with thorough research and answers straight from the mouths of the performers themselves, Edwards will help you become a music geek extraordinaire.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
If you are a music fan, you may be aware of some of music’s most enduring mysteries. Where did Pearl Jam get their name? Are the White Stripes related by blood or by marriage? Did Mama Cass really die from choking on a ham sandwich? Gavin Edwards has heard just about every strange question, racy rumor, and legend of the music world. As the writer of Rolling Stone’s “Rolling Stone Knows” column, Edwards proved himself as a one-man encyclopedia of music trivia. Now he shares all of his knowledge with you. Look inside to find the answers to these questions and more:
•What’s the connection between The Beach Boys and Charles Manson?
•How did Dr. Dre and Eminem meet?
•Did Mick Jagger and David Bowie really sleep together?
•What’s the deal with Led Zeppelin and the shark?
•What’s the feud between The Smashing Pumpkins and Pavement all about?
•Was Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” really written about his most private body part?
Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John? might not tell you who shot Tupac or why Celine Dion is still allowed to make records, but with thorough research and answers straight from the mouths of the performers themselves, Edwards will help you become a music geek extraordinaire.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
A Curious Man is the marvelously compelling biography of Robert “Believe It or Not” Ripley, the enigmatic cartoonist turned globetrotting millionaire who won international fame by celebrating the world's strangest oddities, and whose outrageous showmanship taught us to believe in the unbelievable.
As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley’s life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation for the strangeness of the world. After selling his first cartoon to Time magazine at age eighteen, more cartooning triumphs followed, but it was his “Believe It or Not” conceit and the wildly popular radio shows it birthed that would make him one of the most successful entertainment figures of his time and spur him to search the globe’s farthest corners for bizarre facts, exotic human curiosities, and shocking phenomena.
Ripley delighted in making outrageous declarations that somehow always turned out to be true—such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that “The Star Spangled Banner” was not the national anthem. Assisted by an exotic harem of female admirers and by ex-banker Norbert Pearlroth, a devoted researcher who spoke eleven languages, Ripley simultaneously embodied the spirit of Peter Pan, the fearlessness of Marco Polo and the marketing savvy of P. T. Barnum.
In a very real sense, Ripley sought to remake the world’s aesthetic. He demanded respect for those who were labeled “eccentrics” or “freaks”—whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 1,615 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose.
By the 1930s Ripley possessed a vast fortune, a private yacht, and a twenty-eight room mansion stocked with such “oddities” as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices, and his pioneering firsts in print, radio, and television were tapping into something deep in the American consciousness—a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, dumbest and most weird. Today, that legacy continues and can be seen in reality TV, YouTube, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Jackass, MythBusters and a host of other pop-culture phenomena.
In the end Robert L. Ripley changed everything. The supreme irony of his life, which was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual, is that he may have been the most amazing oddity of all.
As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley’s life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation for the strangeness of the world. After selling his first cartoon to Time magazine at age eighteen, more cartooning triumphs followed, but it was his “Believe It or Not” conceit and the wildly popular radio shows it birthed that would make him one of the most successful entertainment figures of his time and spur him to search the globe’s farthest corners for bizarre facts, exotic human curiosities, and shocking phenomena.
Ripley delighted in making outrageous declarations that somehow always turned out to be true—such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that “The Star Spangled Banner” was not the national anthem. Assisted by an exotic harem of female admirers and by ex-banker Norbert Pearlroth, a devoted researcher who spoke eleven languages, Ripley simultaneously embodied the spirit of Peter Pan, the fearlessness of Marco Polo and the marketing savvy of P. T. Barnum.
In a very real sense, Ripley sought to remake the world’s aesthetic. He demanded respect for those who were labeled “eccentrics” or “freaks”—whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 1,615 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose.
By the 1930s Ripley possessed a vast fortune, a private yacht, and a twenty-eight room mansion stocked with such “oddities” as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices, and his pioneering firsts in print, radio, and television were tapping into something deep in the American consciousness—a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, dumbest and most weird. Today, that legacy continues and can be seen in reality TV, YouTube, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Jackass, MythBusters and a host of other pop-culture phenomena.
In the end Robert L. Ripley changed everything. The supreme irony of his life, which was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual, is that he may have been the most amazing oddity of all.
You are an idiot.
Don't get defensive! It's not your fault. For decades your teachers, authority figures and textbooks have been lying to you. You do not have five senses. Your tongue doesn't have neatly segregated taste-bud zones. You don't know what the pyramids really looked like. You're even pooping wrong - Jesus, you're a wreck!
But it's going to be okay. Because we're here to help. Packed with more sexy facts than the Encyclopedia Pornographica, the Cracked De-Textbook will teach you about the true stars of history, why you picture everything from Velociraptors to Ancient Rome incorrectly, and finally, at long last - how to pop a proper squat. This book was built from the ground up to systematically seek out, dismantle and destroy the many untruths that years of misguided education have left festering inside of you, and leave you a smarter person...whether you like it or not. The De-Textbook is a merciless, brutal learning machine. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are informed.
Don't get defensive! It's not your fault. For decades your teachers, authority figures and textbooks have been lying to you. You do not have five senses. Your tongue doesn't have neatly segregated taste-bud zones. You don't know what the pyramids really looked like. You're even pooping wrong - Jesus, you're a wreck!
But it's going to be okay. Because we're here to help. Packed with more sexy facts than the Encyclopedia Pornographica, the Cracked De-Textbook will teach you about the true stars of history, why you picture everything from Velociraptors to Ancient Rome incorrectly, and finally, at long last - how to pop a proper squat. This book was built from the ground up to systematically seek out, dismantle and destroy the many untruths that years of misguided education have left festering inside of you, and leave you a smarter person...whether you like it or not. The De-Textbook is a merciless, brutal learning machine. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are informed.
The sequel to the best-selling The Book of the Bizarre, Beyond Bizarre offers up scores of new freaky facts, terrifying trivia, and stranger-than-fiction stories. Arranged into 13 chilling chapters like Haunted Hollywood, Blood Red Crosses and Gross Anatomy: Hospital Horrors, Bride of Bizarre, and Tales from the Cryptids, Beyond Bizarre tackles everything from female pirates and creepy candy stripers to psychic predictions and virgin shark births—and much, much more. A word of warning: this book is not for the faint of heart!
Did you know that the Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving? Or that Maine is the toothpick capital of the world, or that frogs have teeth?
Do you want to know what a cockroach’s favorite food is, or how long it would take to drive to the sun?
Amaze your friends and family by telling them that a baby giraffe is six feet long when it is born, or that tigers have striped skin!
From the creators of The Book of Useless Information, this is an amazing collection of the wildest, oddest, funniest facts about history, science, food, animals, and more!
Do you want to know what a cockroach’s favorite food is, or how long it would take to drive to the sun?
Amaze your friends and family by telling them that a baby giraffe is six feet long when it is born, or that tigers have striped skin!
From the creators of The Book of Useless Information, this is an amazing collection of the wildest, oddest, funniest facts about history, science, food, animals, and more!
From the creators of the hugely popular BBC quiz show QI, a brilliant sequel to their New York Times–best-selling 1,227 Quite Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off. 1,339 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop is bursting with mindboggling morsels of trivia—informative, hilarious, sometimes arcane or utterly useless, but always entertaining.
Did you know?
• Wagner only ever wore pink silk underwear.
• There are 34,000 statues of Kim Il Sung in North Korea.
• There is a cult in Malaysia that worships a giant teapot.
• Earthworms have five hearts.
• Your eyebrows renew themselves every 64 days.
• Charles Darwin's tortoise Harriet died in 2006 at the age of 176.
Every fact in this magnificent little volume has been researched with punctilious care in order to bring you the truth in its purest form.
From the bold, beloved comic and podcast star Greg Proops comes a “terrifically random appreciation of cultural touchstones” (Publishers Weekly) that is electrifying, thought-provoking, and unrelenting, full of rapid-fire references, historical name-checking, Satchel Paige bon mots, and genuine wisdom.
Greg Proops is an internationally renowned comedian, best known for starring on the hit improv-comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and for his popular award-winning podcast, “The Smartest Man in the World,” which Rolling Stone called “some of the boldest comedy on the podcasting frontier right now.” But Proops is also a fountain of historical knowledge, a wealth of pop culture trivia, and a generally charming know-it-all.
The Smartest Book in the World is a rollicking reference guide to the most essential areas of knowledge in Proops’s universe, from history’s juiciest tales and curious backstories to the movies you must see and the albums you must hear. Full of eclectic and humorous knowledge, it is a concentrated collection and comic cultural dictionary of the essential Proops topics including poetry, proper punctuation, and Satchel Paige, all delivered with his signature style, making the full Proops experience complete.
So if you’re stuck wondering why Alexander was so Great (well, he did conquer the world), which cinema bombshell would be the best shortstop (Hedy Lamarr, of course), what great work of art would be the best to steal (not that you would), or the finest way to prepare vodka-flavored vodka (add vodka), don’t fret, pumpkin butter—The Smartest Book in the World has what you need right now.
Greg Proops is an internationally renowned comedian, best known for starring on the hit improv-comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and for his popular award-winning podcast, “The Smartest Man in the World,” which Rolling Stone called “some of the boldest comedy on the podcasting frontier right now.” But Proops is also a fountain of historical knowledge, a wealth of pop culture trivia, and a generally charming know-it-all.
The Smartest Book in the World is a rollicking reference guide to the most essential areas of knowledge in Proops’s universe, from history’s juiciest tales and curious backstories to the movies you must see and the albums you must hear. Full of eclectic and humorous knowledge, it is a concentrated collection and comic cultural dictionary of the essential Proops topics including poetry, proper punctuation, and Satchel Paige, all delivered with his signature style, making the full Proops experience complete.
So if you’re stuck wondering why Alexander was so Great (well, he did conquer the world), which cinema bombshell would be the best shortstop (Hedy Lamarr, of course), what great work of art would be the best to steal (not that you would), or the finest way to prepare vodka-flavored vodka (add vodka), don’t fret, pumpkin butter—The Smartest Book in the World has what you need right now.
Six feature films, the wildly successful television spin-off Star Trek: The Next Generation, endless reruns, videotapes, conventions, a line of best-selling novels, and William Shatner's New York Times best-seller Star Trek Memories have kept the Star Trek spirit alive and well, even 25 years after its cancellation. Now this must-have book for all Trekkers -- which covers every episode of the original series, the pilot, and all six movies -- reveals all the bloopers, continuity errors, plot oversights, equipment malfunctions, and goof-ups that discerning, die-hard fans love to spot, but may have missed. Written especially for all those who find themselves thinking, "Hey, if the transporter is broken, why don't they just use a shuttlecraft?", this nitpicky volume includes Kirk's toupee watch; an examination of the logic of the miniskirted female crew members; number of times Kirk violated the Prime Detective and lots of trivia questions, fun facts, quizzes, and more. Live long and nitpick.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
YouTube sensation Matthew Santoro amazes with eye-opening facts that are sure to blow your mind.
Matthew Santoro's originality and humor has attracted millions of fans, making him a beloved YouTube star. His weekly videos on amazing and little-known facts are eagerly anticipated by his many subscribers and followers around the world. In his first-ever book, Matthew's love of weird and wacky knowledge explodes with new facts and stories from around the planet, and beyond. Surprising, and always entertaining, Mind = Blown offers even more of Matthew's unique take on this hilarious, crazy world:
The most ridiculous laws from past and present
Crazy doppelgangers of people, places, and unexpected things
Historical wizards who actually lived
Real-life animal avengers
And a special section: Japan Blows My Mind!
From shin-kicking competitions and beer pong-playing robots, to enormous fire-balls shooting through space, you won't believe what you'll discover in Mind = Blown. But beware: there is too much astounding trivia for any one mind to contain!
Matthew Santoro's originality and humor has attracted millions of fans, making him a beloved YouTube star. His weekly videos on amazing and little-known facts are eagerly anticipated by his many subscribers and followers around the world. In his first-ever book, Matthew's love of weird and wacky knowledge explodes with new facts and stories from around the planet, and beyond. Surprising, and always entertaining, Mind = Blown offers even more of Matthew's unique take on this hilarious, crazy world:
The most ridiculous laws from past and present
Crazy doppelgangers of people, places, and unexpected things
Historical wizards who actually lived
Real-life animal avengers
And a special section: Japan Blows My Mind!
From shin-kicking competitions and beer pong-playing robots, to enormous fire-balls shooting through space, you won't believe what you'll discover in Mind = Blown. But beware: there is too much astounding trivia for any one mind to contain!
Are you a fan of One Direction? Have you followed the popular boyband from their very first performance on The X Factor to international stardom? Would you like to find out more about the 1D boys? If so, you there is no better way to get to know your favourite band than with 101 Interesting Facts About One Direction. Which member of One Direction was the first to suggest the name for the band? When and where was the premiere of 1D’s 2013 film This Is Us held? What new product did One Direction launch in September 2013? Find out the answers inside this book, full of up to the minute information all about 1D. The book includes many personal details about each of the band members as well as facts about their past and current projects. Make sure that you are up to date on all the latest 1D news with this new book. If you love One Direction, you won’t want to be without it.
When it was originally published in 1987, An Incomplete Education became a surprise bestseller. Now this instant classic has been completely updated, outfitted with a whole new arsenal of indispensable knowledge on global affairs, popular culture, economic trends, scientific principles, and modern arts. Here’s your chance to brush up on all those subjects you slept through in school, reacquaint yourself with all the facts you once knew (then promptly forgot), catch up on major developments in the world today, and become the Renaissance man or woman you always knew you could be!
How do you tell the Balkans from the Caucasus? What’s the difference between fission and fusion? Whigs and Tories? Shiites and Sunnis? Deduction and induction? Why aren’t all Shakespearean comedies necessarily thigh-slappers? What are transcendental numbers and what are they good for? What really happened in Plato’s cave? Is postmodernism dead or just having a bad hair day? And for extra credit, when should you use the adjective continual and when should you use continuous?
An Incomplete Education answers these and thousands of other questions with incomparable wit, style, and clarity. American Studies, Art History, Economics, Film, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Science, and World History: Here’s the bottom line on each of these major disciplines, distilled to its essence and served up with consummate flair.
In this revised edition you’ll find a vitally expanded treatment of international issues, reflecting the seismic geopolitical upheavals of the past decade, from economic free-fall in South America to Central Africa’s world war, and from violent radicalization in the Muslim world to the crucial trade agreements that are defining globalization for the twenty-first century. And don’t forget to read the section A Nervous American’s Guide to Living and Loving on Five Continents before you answer a personal ad in the International Herald Tribune.
As delightful as it is illuminating, An Incomplete Education packs ten thousand years of culture into a single superbly readable volume. This is a book to celebrate, to share, to give and receive, to pore over and browse through, and to return to again and again.
From the Hardcover edition.
How do you tell the Balkans from the Caucasus? What’s the difference between fission and fusion? Whigs and Tories? Shiites and Sunnis? Deduction and induction? Why aren’t all Shakespearean comedies necessarily thigh-slappers? What are transcendental numbers and what are they good for? What really happened in Plato’s cave? Is postmodernism dead or just having a bad hair day? And for extra credit, when should you use the adjective continual and when should you use continuous?
An Incomplete Education answers these and thousands of other questions with incomparable wit, style, and clarity. American Studies, Art History, Economics, Film, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Science, and World History: Here’s the bottom line on each of these major disciplines, distilled to its essence and served up with consummate flair.
In this revised edition you’ll find a vitally expanded treatment of international issues, reflecting the seismic geopolitical upheavals of the past decade, from economic free-fall in South America to Central Africa’s world war, and from violent radicalization in the Muslim world to the crucial trade agreements that are defining globalization for the twenty-first century. And don’t forget to read the section A Nervous American’s Guide to Living and Loving on Five Continents before you answer a personal ad in the International Herald Tribune.
As delightful as it is illuminating, An Incomplete Education packs ten thousand years of culture into a single superbly readable volume. This is a book to celebrate, to share, to give and receive, to pore over and browse through, and to return to again and again.
From the Hardcover edition.
“American History Revised is as informative as it is entertaining and humorous. Filled with irony, surprises, and long-hidden secrets, the book does more than revise American history, it reinvents it.” —James Bamford,
bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and The Shadow Factory
This spirited reexamination of American history delves into our past to expose hundreds ofstartling facts that never made it into the textbooks, and highlights how little-known peopleand events played surprisingly influential roles in the great American story.
We tend to think of history as settled, set in stone, but American History Revised reveals a past that is filled with ironies, surprises, and misconceptions. Living abroad for twelve years gave author Seymour Morris Jr. the opportunity to view his country as an outsider and compelled him to examine American history from a fresh perspective. As Morris colorfully illustrates through the 200
historical vignettes that make up this book, much of our nation’s past is quite different—and far more remarkable—than we thought.
We discover that:
• In the 1950s Ford was approached by two Japanese companies begging for a joint venture. Ford declined their offers, calling them makers of “tin cars.” The two companies were Toyota and Nissan.
• Eleanor Roosevelt and most women’s groups opposed the Equal Rights Amendment
forbidding gender discrimination.
• The two generals who ended the Civil War weren’t Grant and Lee.
• The #1 bestselling American book of all time was written in one day.
• The Dutch made a bad investment buying Manhattan for $24.
• Two young girls aimed someday to become First Lady—and succeeded.
• Three times, a private financier saved the United States from bankruptcy.
Organized into ten thematic chapters, American History Revised plumbs American history’s numerous inconsistencies, twists, and turns to make it come alive again.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and The Shadow Factory
This spirited reexamination of American history delves into our past to expose hundreds ofstartling facts that never made it into the textbooks, and highlights how little-known peopleand events played surprisingly influential roles in the great American story.
We tend to think of history as settled, set in stone, but American History Revised reveals a past that is filled with ironies, surprises, and misconceptions. Living abroad for twelve years gave author Seymour Morris Jr. the opportunity to view his country as an outsider and compelled him to examine American history from a fresh perspective. As Morris colorfully illustrates through the 200
historical vignettes that make up this book, much of our nation’s past is quite different—and far more remarkable—than we thought.
We discover that:
• In the 1950s Ford was approached by two Japanese companies begging for a joint venture. Ford declined their offers, calling them makers of “tin cars.” The two companies were Toyota and Nissan.
• Eleanor Roosevelt and most women’s groups opposed the Equal Rights Amendment
forbidding gender discrimination.
• The two generals who ended the Civil War weren’t Grant and Lee.
• The #1 bestselling American book of all time was written in one day.
• The Dutch made a bad investment buying Manhattan for $24.
• Two young girls aimed someday to become First Lady—and succeeded.
• Three times, a private financier saved the United States from bankruptcy.
Organized into ten thematic chapters, American History Revised plumbs American history’s numerous inconsistencies, twists, and turns to make it come alive again.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Do you love 5 Seconds of Summer, are you a fan of 5SOS, then you need these 50 Quick facts about the band! It’s a quick facts fix for fans!
If you can tell the difference between the Petes in Pete & Pete, know every step to the Macarena by heart, and remember when The Real World was about more than just drunken hookups, The Totally Sweet ’90s will be a welcome trip down memory lane.
With this hella cool guide, you’ll reminisce about that glorious decade when Beanie Babies seemed like a smart economic investment and Kris Kross had you wearing your pants backward. Whether you contracted dysentery on the Oregon Trail or longed to attend Janet Reno’s Dance Party, you’ll get a kick out of seeing which toys, treats, and trends stayed around, and which flopped.
So throw your ponytail into a scrunchie, take a swig from your can of Surge, and join us on this ride through the unforgettable (and sometimes unforgivable) trends of the ’90s.
With this hella cool guide, you’ll reminisce about that glorious decade when Beanie Babies seemed like a smart economic investment and Kris Kross had you wearing your pants backward. Whether you contracted dysentery on the Oregon Trail or longed to attend Janet Reno’s Dance Party, you’ll get a kick out of seeing which toys, treats, and trends stayed around, and which flopped.
So throw your ponytail into a scrunchie, take a swig from your can of Surge, and join us on this ride through the unforgettable (and sometimes unforgivable) trends of the ’90s.
From the popular Book of Odds website, this stylish and accessible reference book offers a fascinating peek at the probabilities that govern every aspect of human life
Did you know that your odds of dying from drowning are higher than the odds of meeting your mate on a blind date? That the odds a child has seen Internet porn are the same as the odds a person is right-handed? That nearly one in three adults believes in UFOs and nearly one in six has reported seeing one?
Drawing from a rigorously researched trove of more than 400,000 statements of probability, based on the most accurate and current data available, The Book of Odds is a graphic reference source for stats on the everyday, the odd, and the outrageous—from sex and marriage, health and disease, beliefs and fears, to wealth, addiction, entertainment, and civic life. What emerges from this colorful and captivating volume is a rich portrait of who we are and how we live today.
From the creators of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Useless Information comes another fun, foolhardy and completely frivolous, fact-filled book.
The Useless Information Society's latest collection, The Amazing Book of Useless Information, will answer questions readers never even knew they had. From space travel to the history of jelly beans, this wideranging, brain-teasing, and altogether useless book will give readers information to out-trivialize even their cleverest of companions.
Features such fascinating facts as:
- There is a town in West Virginia called Looneyville
- Women can talk with less effort than men
- Lemons have more sugar than oranges
And answers to these life-changing questions:
- What was the Ancient Roman cure for a stomachache"
- What is a "buckle bunny??
- Where is the coldest place in the universe?
The Useless Information Society's latest collection, The Amazing Book of Useless Information, will answer questions readers never even knew they had. From space travel to the history of jelly beans, this wideranging, brain-teasing, and altogether useless book will give readers information to out-trivialize even their cleverest of companions.
Features such fascinating facts as:
- There is a town in West Virginia called Looneyville
- Women can talk with less effort than men
- Lemons have more sugar than oranges
And answers to these life-changing questions:
- What was the Ancient Roman cure for a stomachache"
- What is a "buckle bunny??
- Where is the coldest place in the universe?
From history’s earliest days men have gone down to sea—on logs, then boats, and, subsequently, ships. Norman Polmar and Christopher Cavas maneuver in Most Wanted™ style to find the best and worst of the admirals, ships, inventions, submarines, torpedoes, and aircraft that have fought on, over, and under the waves.
The top-ten lists in Navy’s Most Wanted™ rank the world’s biggest battleships, the fastest aircraft, and most powerful submarines. Pop culture’s take on naval affairs is shown in chapters on the best and worst Navy movies, the Navy in song and fiction, and movie stars and politicians who served. Read the best naval quotes and learn where they came from, marvel at the variety of weapons that have gone to sea, and shiver at the world’s worst naval disasters.
Polmar and Cavas have mined their expert knowledge to entertain readers with interesting and intriguing trivia on all things blue and gold. Perfect for sailors, family members, and anyone with an interest in the Navy both historically and today, Navy’s Most Wanted™ belongs on bookshelves, nightstands, and in lockers everywhere—even Davey Jones’s!
The top-ten lists in Navy’s Most Wanted™ rank the world’s biggest battleships, the fastest aircraft, and most powerful submarines. Pop culture’s take on naval affairs is shown in chapters on the best and worst Navy movies, the Navy in song and fiction, and movie stars and politicians who served. Read the best naval quotes and learn where they came from, marvel at the variety of weapons that have gone to sea, and shiver at the world’s worst naval disasters.
Polmar and Cavas have mined their expert knowledge to entertain readers with interesting and intriguing trivia on all things blue and gold. Perfect for sailors, family members, and anyone with an interest in the Navy both historically and today, Navy’s Most Wanted™ belongs on bookshelves, nightstands, and in lockers everywhere—even Davey Jones’s!
CRAZY-BUT-TRUE FACTS, PECULIAR OCCURRENCES, DESPICABLE CRIMES, BIZARRE RECORDS, UNBELIEVABLE CREATURES AND MANY MORE SHOCKING ODDITIES
Delving into the shocking side of pop culture, science and history, Listverse.com's Epic Book of Mind-Boggling Lists offers a wealth of fascinating reading with over 200 lists and more than 2,000 interesting facts, including:
- Alien Artifacts
- Creepy Urban Legends
- Bizarre Murder Weapons
- Horrific TV Accidents
- Outrageous Rock Tales
- Twisted Circus Acts
- Terrifying Villains
- Crazy-but-True Movie Plots
- Dirty CIA Operations
- Monstrously Evil Babysitters
- Strange Hamburger Facts
- Animal Freaks of Nature
- Mind-Blowing Technologies
A new edition of the classic bestseller from the original authors, with additional material specifically prepared for Canadian readers by long-time This Morning CBC producer, Ira Basen, and Jane Farrow, the author of Wanted Words.
In 1977, a publishing sensation was born. The Book of Lists, the first and best compendium of facts weirder than fiction, was published. Filled with intriguing information and must-talk-about trivia it has spawned many imitators — but none as addictive or successful.
For nearly three decades since, the editors have been researching curious facts, unusual statistics and the incredible stories behind them. Now the most entertaining and informative of these have been brought together in a long-awaited, thoroughly up-to-date new edition that is also the first Canadian edition. Ira Basen and Jane Farrow have augmented the existing lists with fascinating homegrown material, and compiled lists specifically of relevance to Canadian readers.
So if you’ve always wanted to find out how porcupines really mate, how comedy can kill and — that most essential piece of knowledge — how long the longest recorded nose was, this is the book for you. With contributions from a variety of celebrities and experts including Margaret Atwood, Mike Myers, Michael Ondaatje, Dave Eggers, Phillip Pullman and Charlotte Gray, this anthology has something for everyone — and more than you ever suspected you wanted to know.
A list of lists from The Book of Lists:
10 Notable Film Scenes Left on the Cutting Room Floor
10 Afflictions and Their Patron Saints
14 Nations with More Sheep Than People
5 Trips to the Canadian Wilderness That Ended in Disaster
10 Really Bad Canadian Sports Teams
14 Last Words of Famous Canadians
Kurt Browning’s 9 Turning Points in Figure Skating History
7 Trial Verdicts That Caused Riots
12 Museums of Limited Appeal
10 Unusual Canadian Place Names That Start with a “B”
7 Well-Known Sayings Attributed to the Wrong Person
10 Celebrated People Who Read Their Own Obituaries
Sloan's Jay Ferguson’s 10 Perfect Pop Songs
13 Possible Sites for the Garden of Eden
9 Canadian Sports Stars Who Became Politicians
First Sexual Encounters of 13 Prominent Canadians
In 1977, a publishing sensation was born. The Book of Lists, the first and best compendium of facts weirder than fiction, was published. Filled with intriguing information and must-talk-about trivia it has spawned many imitators — but none as addictive or successful.
For nearly three decades since, the editors have been researching curious facts, unusual statistics and the incredible stories behind them. Now the most entertaining and informative of these have been brought together in a long-awaited, thoroughly up-to-date new edition that is also the first Canadian edition. Ira Basen and Jane Farrow have augmented the existing lists with fascinating homegrown material, and compiled lists specifically of relevance to Canadian readers.
So if you’ve always wanted to find out how porcupines really mate, how comedy can kill and — that most essential piece of knowledge — how long the longest recorded nose was, this is the book for you. With contributions from a variety of celebrities and experts including Margaret Atwood, Mike Myers, Michael Ondaatje, Dave Eggers, Phillip Pullman and Charlotte Gray, this anthology has something for everyone — and more than you ever suspected you wanted to know.
A list of lists from The Book of Lists:
10 Notable Film Scenes Left on the Cutting Room Floor
10 Afflictions and Their Patron Saints
14 Nations with More Sheep Than People
5 Trips to the Canadian Wilderness That Ended in Disaster
10 Really Bad Canadian Sports Teams
14 Last Words of Famous Canadians
Kurt Browning’s 9 Turning Points in Figure Skating History
7 Trial Verdicts That Caused Riots
12 Museums of Limited Appeal
10 Unusual Canadian Place Names That Start with a “B”
7 Well-Known Sayings Attributed to the Wrong Person
10 Celebrated People Who Read Their Own Obituaries
Sloan's Jay Ferguson’s 10 Perfect Pop Songs
13 Possible Sites for the Garden of Eden
9 Canadian Sports Stars Who Became Politicians
First Sexual Encounters of 13 Prominent Canadians
A journalist and word aficionado salutes the 100-year history and pleasures of crossword puzzles
Since its debut in The New York World on December 21, 1913, the crossword puzzle has enjoyed a rich and surprisingly lively existence. Alan Connor, a comic writer known for his exploration of all things crossword in The Guardian, covers every twist and turn: from the 1920s, when crosswords were considered a menace to productive society; to World War II, when they were used to recruit code breakers; to their starring role in a 2008 episode of The Simpsons.
He also profiles the colorful characters who make up the interesting and bizarre subculture of crossword constructors and competitive solvers, including Will Shortz, the iconic New York Times puzzle editor who created a crafty crossword that appeared to predict the outcome of a presidential election, and the legions of competitive puzzle solvers who descend on a Connecticut hotel each year in an attempt to be crowned the American puzzle-solving champion.
At a time when the printed word is in decline, Connor marvels at the crossword’s seamless transition onto Kindles and iPads, keeping the puzzle one of America’s favorite pastimes. He also explores the way the human brain processes crosswords versus computers that are largely stumped by clues that require wordplay or a simple grasp of humor.
A fascinating examination of our most beloved linguistic amusement—and filled with tantalizing crosswords and clues embedded in the text—The Crossword Century is sure to attract the attention of the readers who made Word Freak and Just My Type bestsellers.
Since its debut in The New York World on December 21, 1913, the crossword puzzle has enjoyed a rich and surprisingly lively existence. Alan Connor, a comic writer known for his exploration of all things crossword in The Guardian, covers every twist and turn: from the 1920s, when crosswords were considered a menace to productive society; to World War II, when they were used to recruit code breakers; to their starring role in a 2008 episode of The Simpsons.
He also profiles the colorful characters who make up the interesting and bizarre subculture of crossword constructors and competitive solvers, including Will Shortz, the iconic New York Times puzzle editor who created a crafty crossword that appeared to predict the outcome of a presidential election, and the legions of competitive puzzle solvers who descend on a Connecticut hotel each year in an attempt to be crowned the American puzzle-solving champion.
At a time when the printed word is in decline, Connor marvels at the crossword’s seamless transition onto Kindles and iPads, keeping the puzzle one of America’s favorite pastimes. He also explores the way the human brain processes crosswords versus computers that are largely stumped by clues that require wordplay or a simple grasp of humor.
A fascinating examination of our most beloved linguistic amusement—and filled with tantalizing crosswords and clues embedded in the text—The Crossword Century is sure to attract the attention of the readers who made Word Freak and Just My Type bestsellers.
A follow-up to the first, best-selling Nitpicker's guide ferrets out the plot inconsistencies, scientific inaccuracies, and other foul-ups in the seventh, final season of the TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation.