The Book of General Ignorance

At last, the American release of what is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating books you could ever hope to delve into! Whereas most trivia books contain "facts" of dubious origin and little consequence, it's clear that the authors of this book have gone through great pains to dig out and verify the most interesting tidbits from the realms of history, nature, science, and culture. Let's go for a few examples (edited heavily for space; the book is far more detailed). Q: How many words do Eskimos have for snow? A: Actually, no more than four. Although it's often said that Eskimos have dozens or even hundreds of words for snow, there are at most only four root-words for it, and that's drawing from all Eskimo languages. (They do, however, have more than thirty words for demonstrative pronouns, where speakers of English only have four.) Q: Who invented the telephone? A: Contrary to what you've been taught, it was not the famous A. Graham Bell! Credit goes to Antonio Meucci, a brilliant but ailing Italian inventor, whose patent fell into the hands of Bell, a young Scottish engineer. Meucci died before his case against Bell could come to fruition. There are hundreds of more questions to the end of fascinating and delighting the reader. However much you think you know, there will be mountains of information in here to surprise you--and that's quite the point. In the words of co-writer John Lloyd, "This book is for the people who know they don't know very much." As the authors hope you will come to understand, one's best hope in life is to recognize that one is generally ignorant, for it is simply impossible to know any but a sliver of the wealth of knowledge contained in and about the world. By admitting this, one is then motivated to ask questions that matter, for everything can be interesting when looked at in the right way . . . it's just that most people fail to look. But it goes further than that. "The Book of General Ignorance" is just one piece of a cultural phenomenon that has its roots in Britain. It was originally written as a textual accompaniment to the hugely-popular television show "QI", which operates under the philosophy that curiosity--for its own sake--is worthwhile. The show is unlike anything broadcast on American screens, featuring panelists who try desperately to claw their way to the answers to questions they are posed (questions not unlike those appearing in the book). While they're rarely correct from the off, it's the mere delight in discovering the truth that ends up being, unfailingly, uproariously funny. The show's a joyful celebration of the fact that questioning the world around us need not be an impenetrably erudite or boring endeavor. [...] In the meantime, pick up this book, and once you've been thoroughly impressed, buy it for your friends as well. It'd make a lovely gift for birthdays and the holiday season, assured to please scholar and dilettante alike. Recommended with cherries on top.

Recently, I have become a big fan of QI, the British television show hosted by Stephen Fry. It is a hilarious “quiz show” that makes a point of asking very difficult questions that often inspire answers that are obvious, but wrong. (How many wives did Henry VIII have? Not six. Two, or four, if you’re Catholic.) When I saw the book from the show 1,227 Quite Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off, I took a look. My family and I enjoyed it immensely. So, when I discovered there were other books from the show, I tracked them down. This is the first. In many ways, it is as enjoyable as the TV show. In fact, as these questions and answers are drawn from the show, you can hear the answers read in the voice of Stephen Fry online. Unfortunately, this is why this book is not quite as enjoyable. Having seen the shows, I already had heard the answers to these questions. Knowing the answers in advance took some of the fun out of the book. In addition, this book doesn’t have the pop of 1,227… That book is a list of facts no more than a few sentences long. I was able to read much of it aloud to my wife and kids to our mutual enjoyment. This is a book of questions and answers and the answers generally run to a page or so. It didn’t lend itself to the same kind of read aloud as the other. I missed that. Still, this is a book that is exactly as it is advertised to be. There is a ton of quite interesting information here. Even if you’ve seen the show, it’s worth a read. If you haven’t seen the show, you’d be a fool to pass this up. And then you’ll start watching.

The British panel game-show "QI" is, I think, the best show on television, even given the sad fact that it *isn't* on television in the US, and could well be runner-up to the fabled "Mystery Science Theater 3000" for the best show in the history of television. That sets a pretty high standard, therefore, for books associated with the series, and "The Book of General Ignorance" by and large stands up to the pressure. Drawing from the TV program's custom of giving large negative-point penalties to contestants who give answers that "everyone knows" are true but are in fact incorrect, Johns Lloyd and Mitchinson list a bunch of questions that have conventional-wisdom answers (Who invented the theory of relativity? Why is a marathon the distance it is?) or have popular urban legends attached to them (What did Thomas Crapper invent? What man-made objects can be seen from the moon?) and show why "everything you think you know is wrong." Some of their information is debatable (for example, in response to the question "How many states does the USA have?" they answer 46, saying that Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts are technically not "states" but commonwealths), but even the most educated reader would probably come away from these pages having learned a few things. More to the point, she'd also come away entertained. While this book doesn't have the outright comedy of the TV show (granted, it's not meant to), the pedigree is still evident, which puts this a step ahead of much of the raft of "interesting stuff you probably never knew" books out there. Combine this with a series of Cecil Adams books, and I bet the connoisseur of obscure knowledge and shooter-down of urban legends will come out very well armed indeed.

Very interesting book

It’s nice and interesting

Edizione molto curata, bella impaginazione e ben fatto, contenuti davvero molto interessanti e utili per approfondire la conoscenza dell'inglese, collana editoriale che non delude mai le aspettative del lettore, spedizione rapidissima e imballaggio buono, davvero molto soddisfatto.

pourquoi 5 etoiles pour moi les choses sont tout ou rien et l'originalite merite recompense d'ailleur 2 livres suivent cette edition

I enjoyed a lot reading this book. It is interesting, funny and honest, although a little biased towards UK. I will buy next one indeed.