The Book of General Ignorance
by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson
List Price:
Our Price: $6.76
You Save: $14.24 (68%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.45 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John Lloyd, John MitchinsonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2007-08-07
ISBN: 0307394913
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Book Reviews of The Book of General Ignorance
Book Review: Confections for the mind
Summary: 4 Stars
I can't resist books like this, full of factoid essays on a wide range of subjects ranging from earwig wee-wees to the density in the asteroid belt. The book is like a box of chocolates. You read one 400-word essay and then another and then another, and the next thing you know you've read the whole book!
A mushroom is the largest living thing (it's almost all underground). The tallest mountain in the world (Mauna Kea, not Mount Everest--you knew that) is mostly underwater. (A fine distinction is made between "tallest" and "highest," but hey we're just having fun here in the spirit of trivial pursuit.) The guillotine of course was not invented in France, and French toast, well, isn't. Most of the earth's oxygen comes from algae, etc.
What Messrs John Lloyd and John Mitchinson do here that many trivial books do not do is elaborate well. For example on the entry about oxygen from algae, they let us know that oil and gas come from ancient algae. (Coal is what comes from ancient swampy forests.) They also mention spirulina, food from cyanobacteria that may one day feed humanity's hungry masses since it "yields twenty times more protein per acre than soya beans." So have another spirulina smoothie. Their entry on where you're most likely to get caught in a hailstorm (the Western Highlands of Kenya) elaborates on the size of hailstones (US record, seven inches in diameter hitting the ground in Aurora, Nebraska at 100 MPH in 2003) and how much damage they cause. But hailstorms can be good. A friend and I got caught in a furious hailstorm lasting maybe twenty minutes a couple months ago in Florida. Result: the car, which was caked with smashed-on insects from a cross country trek, as a result of the hard-driving hail, became as clean as if just out of the carwash! I kid you not.
Most of the juicy info in the book is just delicious, but of course I have a few cautionary notes to share. I like the question/answer format but sometimes, in their effort to surprise, the authors seem to be reaching for it a bit, as in "What's the single largest man-made structure on earth?" Not the Great Pyramid or the Great Wall of China, but the Fresh Kills garbage dump on Staten Island. Or, in "Where's the coolest place in the universe?" A lab in Finland in which a pieced of rhodium was cooled to within a billionth of a degree of above absolute zero. Problem here (aside from fooling us) is, how would they know? Maybe some creatures in the Andromeda Galaxy have cooled rhodium to within a trillionth of a degree above absolute zero.
But I'm nitpicking. A more serious criticism is that some of their information is not exactly accurate. They claim on page 65 that hippos are "strict vegetarians" but anybody who's seen the PBS nature special knows that hippos will muscle the crocs aside on occasion and bite into rotting flesh left on the riverbank. And on pages 105-106 they write that the word "gringos," sometimes used by people south of the border to refer to people north of the border, "is thought to come from the Spanish `griego' (Greek)--hence any foreigner (as in the English `it's all Greek to me')." Actually, "gringo" is a corruption of the words "green grow" ("...the lilacs and so does the rue") lyrics from a popular song sung by Anglos around the campfire at night as they travelled westward in covered wagons during the nineteenth century.
In some cases our clever authors equivocate and seem to have their trivia both ways. On page 19 they write "Ice cream may well be a Chinese invention...," while on page 74 they let us know that Nero (who did NOT fiddle while Rome burned) "also invented ice cream." In answer to the question, "What was the first animal to be domesticated?" they give no clear answer, instead they equivocate between reindeers and dogs around 14,000 years ago. I think most authorities would go with dogs.
Regardless of these minor criticisms, I can recommend "The Book of General Ignorance" as a "betcha can't read just one" sort of fun trivia collection.
Summary of The Book of General Ignorance
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.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.
Revealing the truth behind all the things we think we know but don?t, this book leaves you dumbfounded about all the misinformation you?ve managed to collect during your life, and sets you up to win big should you ever be a contestant on Jeopardy! or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Besides righting the record on common (but wrong) myths like Captain Cook discovering Australia or Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone, The Book of General Ignorance also gives us the skinny on silly slipups to trot out at dinner parties (Cinderella wore fur, not glass, slippers and chicken tikka masala was invented in Scotland, not India).
Thomas Edison said that we know less than one millionth of one percent about anything: this book makes us wonder if we know even that much.
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.
Who invented champagne?
Not the French.
How many legs does a centipede have?
Not a hundred.
How many toes has a two-toed sloth?
It?s either six or eight.
How many penises does a European earwig have?
a)Fourteen
b)None at all
c)Two (one for special occasions)
d)Mind your own business
Which animals are the best-endowed of all?
Barnacles. These unassuming modest beasts have the longest penis relative to their size of any creature. They can be seven times longer than their body.
What is a rhino?s horn made from?
A rhinoceros horn is not, as some people think, made out of hair.
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.
Humor Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Humor Books
Snuffby Chuck Palahniuk
Anchor; Published: 2009-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Don't Eat This Bookby Morgan Spurlock
Penguin Audio; Published: 2005-05-19; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $5.69
Price in other shops:
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hellby Tucker Max
Penguin; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
The Saber-Tooth Curriculumby J.Abner Peddiwell
Mcgraw-Hill; Published: 1959-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Miss Americaby Howard Stern
It Books; Published: 2010-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.71
Price in other shops:
101 Places Not to See Before You Dieby Catherine Price
Harper Perennial; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
My Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics)by James Thurber
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 1999-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops:
Equal Rites: A Discworld Novel (Discworld Novels)by Terry Pratchett
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-09-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.15
Price in other shops:
Mirth of a Nation: Audio Companion, Fellow Traveler and Friend for Life--Laff Tracks From America's Most Trusted Humor Anthologyby Michael J. Rosen
HarperAudio; Published: 2002-11-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops:
Red, White & Liberalby Alan Colmes
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-10-28; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
1,001 Facts that Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Readerby Cary McNeal
Adams Media; Published: 2010-04-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.68
Price in other shops:
A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History's Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes and Fraudsby Michael Farquhar
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.12
Price in other shops:
The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefyby Rick Beyer
Harper; Published: 2003-03-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.80
Price in other shops:
Viva la Repartee: Clever Comebacks and Witty Retorts from History's Great Wits and Wordsmithsby Mardy Grothe
Harper; Published: 2005-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.43
Price in other shops:
If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't There More Happy People?: Smart Quotes for Dumb Timesby John Lloyd, John Mitchinson
Crown; Published: 2009-08-04; Roughcut; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmithsby Mardy Grothe
Harper; Published: 2004-03-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Book of the Dead: Lives of the Justly Famous and the Undeservedly Obscureby John Mitchinson, John Lloyd
Crown; Published: 2010-09-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.81
Price in other shops:
The Book of Animal Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrongby John Mitchinson, John Lloyd
Crown; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.44
Price in other shops:
The Second Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is (Still) Wrongby John Lloyd, John Mitchinson
Crown; Published: 2011-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.96
Price in other shops:
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Thingsby Charles Panati
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 1989-09-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.62
Price in other shops: