Random Kinds of Factness: 1001 (or So) Absolutely True Tidbits About (mostly) Everything

Erin Barrett · Jack Mingo

Oct 2005 · Conari Press

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

I've encountered several errors. On top of that, a good number of the authors' “surprising facts" are actually what most trivia buffs call “common knowledge."

About the author

Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo are the authors of twenty books, and the best-selling Just Curious Jeeves, How the Cadillac Got Its Fins, and The Couch Potato's Guide to Life. As info-mavens and pop-culture commentators, they have written articles for many major periodicals and generated 30,000 questions for trivia games. They live in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Along with Erin Barrett, Jack Mingo published over 20 books, including Random Kinds of Factness (Conari, 2005, over 20,000 copies). He is a full-time writer specializing in somewhat off-beat trivia books. In his spare time, Jack keeps six hives and half a million bees in his Alameda (Bay Area) backyard and sells their honey at local farmers markets. His bees produce 650 pounds of honey per year (59 gallons, 472 pint jars).