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This site's owners bill it as "Stuff you never needed to know but your life would be incomplete without." From the Japanese soldier who was still fighting WWII some 30 years later to the inventor of the Eveready Battery who gave it away for an even better idea. Interesting info? Useless bar trivia? You decide.... (EK) From This is True for 2 March 2008 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: World Almanac Books List Price: $12.99 Amazon Price: $10.39 Editorial Review: Description A staple in homes, libraries, and offices everywhere, The World Almanac and Book of Facts delivers authoritative information you can trust. With a 140-year tradition of editorial accuracy, The World Almanac and Book of Facts contains hundreds of thousands of facts from only the most reliable sources, and each year features topical articles by well known figures such as Coretta Scott King, Wendy Wasserstein, and Mr. Fred Rodgers. Including over 1,000 pages of information compiled by a full-time team of editors and a handy quick reference index, The World Almanac and Book of Facts puts information at your fingertips. The 2008 edition of The World Almanac and Book of Facts includes updated information on every topic, from the every day to the obscure. Whether you're doing your taxes, watching the news, doing a crossword, or settling a discussion, The World Almanac and Book of Facts serves as a dependable desk-reference. Topical features and a "Year In Pictures" section also make The World Almanac and Book of Facts a great scrap-book of the previous year. For students, reporters, infomaniacs, or anyone seeking accuracy, The World Almanac and Book of Facts remains the most trustworthy, easy-to-use source. "My #1 reference work for facts." -- Will Shortz, The New York Times Crossword Editor "For the most information in one source, The World Almanac remains the champion." -American Library Association "The World Almanac is the most useful reference book known to modern man." --Los Angeles Times "An institution -- The range of records and data the book collects is staggering." Dallas Morning News "It's the best in the business." --Manchester Union Leader  By: David S. KidderNoah D. Oppenheim List Price: $24.00 Amazon Price: $16.32 Editorial Review: This daily digest of intellectual challenge and learning will arouse curiosity, refresh knowledge, expand horizons, and keep the mind sharp Millions of Americans keep bedside books of prayer and meditative reflection—collections of daily passages to stimulate spiritual thought and advancement. The Intellectual Devotional is a secular version of the same—a collection of 365 short lessons that will inspire and invigorate the reader every day of the year. Each daily digest of wisdom is drawn from one of seven fields of knowledge: history, literature, philosophy, mathematics and science, religion, fine arts, and music. Impress your friends by explaining Plato’s Cave Allegory, pepper your cocktail party conversation with opera terms, and unlock the mystery of how batteries work. Daily readings range from important passages in literature to basic principles of physics, from pivotal events in history to images of famous paintings with accompanying analysis. The book’s goal is to refresh knowledge we’ve forgotten, make new discoveries, and exercise modes of thinking that are ordinarily neglected once our school days are behind us. Offering an escape from the daily grind to contemplate higher things, The Intellectual Devotional is a great way to awaken in the morning or to revitalize one’s mind before retiring in the evening.  By: John MitchinsonJohn Lloyd List Price: $19.95 Amazon Price: $13.57 Editorial Review: 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.  By: David S. KidderNoah D. Oppenheim List Price: $24.00 Amazon Price: $16.32 Editorial Review: Modeled after those bedside books of prayer and contemplation that millions turn to for daily spiritual guidance and growth, the national bestseller The Intellectual Devotional—offering secular wisdom and cerebral nourishment—drew a year’s worth of readings from seven different fields of knowledge. In this follow-up volume, authors David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim have turned to the rich legacy of American history for their selections. From Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to Martin Luther King Jr., from the Federalist Papers to Watergate, the giant figures, cultural touchstones, and pivotal events in our national heritage provide a bountiful source of reflection and education that will refresh knowledge, revitalize the mind, and open new horizons of intellectual discovery.  By: Bathroom Readers' Institute List Price: $18.95 Amazon Price: $12.89 Editorial Review: Proving that some things do get better with age, Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader is packed with 600-plus pages of all-new material. Here, fans of “the John” can find all of their favorites: obscure trivia, strange lawsuits, dumb crooks, origins of everyday things, forgotten history, quotable quotes, dazzling wordplay, and much more. Celebrating two decades of royal reading on the throne, this edition plunges deep into history to reveal the origin of the Golden Rule and the history of boxing; flushes away all the fictions surroundings real-life sea monsters, and cowboys and Indians; and wipes out preconceived notions about how tastebuds work. Other sections dip into such topics as Viewmaster and the 3-D revolution; books by crooks; and the real-life Zorro. Equally suited for quick stopovers or lingering stays, this absorbing anniversary book is sure to entertain and educate readers while eliminating any traces of boredom. |
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