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1st out of 40 books
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25 voters
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 bestsell...more
Misconceptions, misunderstandings, and flawed facts finally get the heave-ho in this humorous, downright humiliating book of reeducation based on the phenomenal British bestsell...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
August 7th 2007
by Crown
(first published 2006)
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Apr 15, 2011
Malak Alrashed
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who love to know about animals, science, places and information. .
*The book is inspired by a BBC comedy quiz show. Go to YouTube and watch it! It's funny.
How much you think you know? And even if you think you know enough information, do you think all of them are true?
This is what the book is about; it corrects the misconceptions or the mistakes that everyone thinks they're true in the common knowledge. There are so many things that will shock you and make you wonder how much we really know and for most important how much of it is true?
I loved getting to know...more
I may not be the next Ken Jennings upon finishing this book, but it's possible I could stand a reasonable chance to win a few bucks should I ever appear on a trivia-based game show. Short, witty, and cleverishly devil- wait, that's not right. Whatever. The Book of General Ignorance is a perfect book to test the contents of your brain to see what floats...and if it floats, it should be flushed. (Too gross an analogy? Sorry.) To be honest, since I have a trivial brain (and, yes, I mean every word...more
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If you've never seen an episode (or even a clip) of QI, the british panel show from the BBC, you owe it to yourself to head straight to YouTube and start watching. (I highly recommend the Mannequin Bird clip, and the Parthenon clip. These two made me cry with laughter) Stephen Fry is a delight to watch, Allen Davies is hysterical, and many of the guests add unexpected wit. Series regular Bill Bailey (who is also a regular on Nevermind The Buzzcocks, a similar show about pop music) stands out amo...more
I've been perusing this one for awhile, as I find that trivia books are best absorbed in small doses. This is one of the better efforts in the genre, a little more erudite than some.
The format is essentially this:
"Here's a piece of trivia you thought you knew. But you're wrong, there's more to it than that. And while we're on the topic, here are a few more facts and observations that are sort of related to the original subject but perhaps not so much."
You'll learn, among other things, that Henr...more
The format is essentially this:
"Here's a piece of trivia you thought you knew. But you're wrong, there's more to it than that. And while we're on the topic, here are a few more facts and observations that are sort of related to the original subject but perhaps not so much."
You'll learn, among other things, that Henr...more
Jun 07, 2007
Richard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of Qi television series and the New Scientist's Last Word column
John Lloyd, one of the co-authors of this book seems to specialise in slightly frothy, snippet based books which can be read in tiny bite sized pieces (I refer the reader to The Meaning of Liff with Douglas Adams). In this case the book is a series of questions, many of which you probably think you know the answer to, but which you are then disavowed of.
For instance, what is the 'Ring a-ring a-Roses' about.
I, like most people thought it was about the Black Death (Bubonic Plague). But it dates ba...more
For instance, what is the 'Ring a-ring a-Roses' about.
I, like most people thought it was about the Black Death (Bubonic Plague). But it dates ba...more
Ok, some of these anecdotes are actually set-ups, which only are wrong from a certain nit-picky angle. But mostly they're actually stuff we should better understand. The book isn't just quick facts to study for trivia games - it's an interesting and accessible 'reeducation' (as it says in the description). So far I've not had too many big surprises, but then, I already like trivia games and non-fiction books.
Ok, done. Nothing to add, except, yes, I will be looking for more in the 'series.'
Ok, done. Nothing to add, except, yes, I will be looking for more in the 'series.'
The tallest mountain is Mauna Kea in Hawaii from base to tip but some of it is below sea level so the highest mountain is Everest from sea level to tip. Henry VIII has 2 wives, his other 4 marriages were annulled. The most dangerous animal that ever lived is the mosquito, having killed an estimated 45 billion humans since we've been around. Hitler was not a vegetarian whose favourite dish was Bavarian sausage and who was not an atheist but a catholic.
Who invented champagne? The steam engine? Th...more
Who invented champagne? The steam engine? Th...more
На обложке "Книги всеобщих заблуждений" довольно большими красными буквами выведено имя любимого Стивена Фрая, а под ним маленькими черными: "представляет". Таким образом вы (если повезет) сразу, а может (как я) только после покупки поймете, что автор - не Стивен, хотя он и написал предисловие и выступил редактором книги. Более того, она сделана по мотивам передачи "Quite Interesting", ведущим которой Фрай является.
Что такое эта книга? Сборная солянка из различных забавных и противоречивых факто...more
Что такое эта книга? Сборная солянка из различных забавных и противоречивых факто...more
What’s the name of the tallest mountain in the world? What’s the largest living thing? Do marmots kill people? How many moons does the earth have? How long can a chicken live without its head? Whatever your answers are to these questions, you’ve got it all wrong. Find out why in this fascinating, hard-to-put-down tome on 230 common misconceptions of the factual world…that is, if you dare to have your grade-school paradigms severely altered. Yes, you will be transported by such gems of knowledge...more
Okay so I needed something light and easy to read in between tasks at work. This seemed to fit the bill. It is an easy book to read from for a little while and then stop if you have to. Each topic is its own mini chapter of sorts. I really enjoyed it and when finished I had to ask myself "is the stuff in it really true? Or is it made up?" Hmmmmmm....some of it sounds pretty far fetched and not easily verifiable. But other items are pretty interesting and really made me think. Like where did the...more
What's the tallest mountain in the world? Think you know right, Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet? Nope, it is Mauna Kea. Though it is a modest 13,799 above sea level, measured from its seabed base to its summit, it is a whopping 33,465 feet in height, almost three-quarters of a mile higher than Mount Everest. What's the driest place in the world? The Sahara right? It is dry alright, getting just one inch of rain a year but it is the third driest place on Earth. The driest in fact is Antarctica, as...more
This is a gimmick book--but a pleasant one at that. The front jacket matter includes the following comment that lays out the essence of this work: "Misconceptions, misunderstandings, and flawed facts finally get the heave-ho in this humorous, downright humiliating book of reeducation based on the phenomenal British best-seller."
But the best way to give an idea of what this book is about is to lay out some of the questions and answers. Just enough to pique one's interest!
"Who said 'Let them eat...more
But the best way to give an idea of what this book is about is to lay out some of the questions and answers. Just enough to pique one's interest!
"Who said 'Let them eat...more
I choose this book because it tells you the common mistakes people make when answering common questions you think you know the answer too. I find this book interesting because this tells me what to answer to people if they have a question like, "Where is the driest place on earth?' The answer to that question is Antartica. I thought it was the Sahara desert. It also makes me look smart. This book does not have a particular plot, other than to inform people. My favorite quote from this book is th...more
I love, love, LOVE this book!
My kids and I have had a fabulous time finding out how wrong we have been about so many things, and it has come to be a matter of celebration when we manage to answer a question correctly. Who knew a chicken could live for about two years without its head? It makes sense that the healing properties of we call penicillin were discovered a very long time before Fleming. And I have to say that the truth behind the invention of the telephone came as quite a shock!
As a...more
My kids and I have had a fabulous time finding out how wrong we have been about so many things, and it has come to be a matter of celebration when we manage to answer a question correctly. Who knew a chicken could live for about two years without its head? It makes sense that the healing properties of we call penicillin were discovered a very long time before Fleming. And I have to say that the truth behind the invention of the telephone came as quite a shock!
As a...more
A book of interesting trivia built around the premise that a lot of the things we have heard and accepted as true are not really so. For example, the common idea that a person's hair and fingernails continue to grow for a little while after death. "This is a complete myth," say Lloyd and Mitchinson. "When we die, our bodies dehydrate and our skin tightens, creating an illusion of hair and nail growth."
There are 252 pages of facts, some more and some less interesting and/or surprising, and a 14-p...more
There are 252 pages of facts, some more and some less interesting and/or surprising, and a 14-p...more
A light read for someone who love Trivia, it is a book that can lie on the shelf and we can read it at leisurely pace. I picked it up and was hooked on to it till i finished it.
It is in line with BBC QI and it as funny as the show is. If you have not seen the show, then it is highly recommended.
The many of the facts in the book are based on interesting technicalities than based on hard facts FACTS. this is what made the book interesting for me. While the book is not going to make an intellectu...more
A glorious book by any standards. If you love knowing things, and love being amazed, then this book is for you. What this noticeably stouter version will tell you is that weird habits, behaviours and solid facts we all know are wrong and misreported. How is that not wonderful. There are so many little things that are technically correct or technically untrue. And also everything you know is wrong to some degree, simple as that.
I mean who knew that technically Henry VIII only had two wives. I mea...more
I mean who knew that technically Henry VIII only had two wives. I mea...more
Feb 28, 2008
Tim
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
give as a gift to someone who doesn't read much
Shelves:
own,
general-knowledge
Great little book of snippets of facts that one is unlikely to know. In fact it is written in such a way that it often turns misconceptions on their head with a touch of humour at the same time.
The result is normally something like, "Oooh i didnt know that! Would you ever!"
A great book for keeping in the toilet as there are lots of little sections to be read stand alone ;)
The result is normally something like, "Oooh i didnt know that! Would you ever!"
A great book for keeping in the toilet as there are lots of little sections to be read stand alone ;)
Feb 20, 2013
Erica Rhodes
added it
Ever wonder what polar bears like to eat? (Toothpaste) Wanted to know what Napoleon's most embarrassing defeat was? (Not Waterloo!) Or questioned what the word "kangaroo" really means? How about a word, like "twit", that no one knows where it came from, yet everyone seems to think they know it's the impossible pregnant goldfish?
This book is filled with some random facts. Some of the answers meander into some really weird topics. It's really interesting (apparently a word for which there was no t...more
This book is filled with some random facts. Some of the answers meander into some really weird topics. It's really interesting (apparently a word for which there was no t...more
Fun book full of interesting facts and unique snippets of information. I was finding it hard to dedicate a lot of time to reading each day, so this book was ideal, being divided into short, fascinating segments -- because I was picking the book up irregularly, it meant I was not constantly having to remind myself of where I left up. Overall a fun, light read.
Certainly removed some of my preconceptions ;-))
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...more
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...more
Well, what a surprise. My mother bought it for me and I foolishly imagined it was just a throwaway she happened to pick up, like a stocking-stuffer. Not at all. Just about every article is an insouciant little gem. How about this: the American zoo and aquarium association estimates that there are 12,000 tigers kept as private pets in the USA. Really? Amazing if true. How would you overpower a croc? A rubber band will keep its jaws closed (but it might still knock your head off with its tail). Di...more
I'm a pretty boring guy, I know that about myself. I like boring pastimes, I listen to boring music, like boring movies, and have read some boring books (off the top of my head, Pilgrim's Progress and Moby Dick top my boring list). This book, however, was too boring even for me. Maybe if I was a smarmy, self-righteous Brit who'd grown up in the school system of 30-40 years ago, this correcting-of-all-the-trivia-you-believe would be engaging. I'm not, and it's not.
Every once in a while, there wou...more
Every once in a while, there wou...more
This book was fairly amusing. It consists of 230 questions and answers about subjects that most people would not know much about. It is somewhat like detailed answers to questions that might be asked in a pub's Quiz Night. Each of the answers was surprising in some way.
Not deep science or anything like it, but interesting enough...
Not deep science or anything like it, but interesting enough...
the facts seem credible as far as i can tell. the book is culled from info off the bbc show QI.
did you know:
chameleons don't change color to match their background, they color change is based on their emotional state.
1/2 of humans who have ever died have been killed by mosquitoes.
moths aren't attracted to light, they are disoriented by it because they think it is the sun and they keep trying to course correct their flight path.
in the 1st edition of charlie and the chocolate factory, the oompa lo...more
did you know:
chameleons don't change color to match their background, they color change is based on their emotional state.
1/2 of humans who have ever died have been killed by mosquitoes.
moths aren't attracted to light, they are disoriented by it because they think it is the sun and they keep trying to course correct their flight path.
in the 1st edition of charlie and the chocolate factory, the oompa lo...more
1 like · like · see review
I read this book in a couple of days. Filled with random sciency, history, wildlife sand other facts about all sorts of things, I found it really interesting and couldn't put it down, sometimes fighting against my sleeping tablet to carry on reading. Answers questions like What do dolphins drink (they don't they get water from their food), James Bond's favourite drink was in fact Whisky not martini And babies do not prefer theyre mother until 3-4 months old. Why do Bananas grow? Th Banana plant...more
What is the tallest mountain in the world? Not Mt. Everest. What is the number of the Beast? More likely 616 than 666. Who invented the concentration camps? Nope, not the germans. And neither the english for that matter. How many planets are in our solar system? Actually less than nine. What is James Bond's favorite drink? Wrong again.
A wonderful and seriously addictive little book about the things we thought we knew but really were ignorant about. The book comprises roughly about 200 such inter...more
A wonderful and seriously addictive little book about the things we thought we knew but really were ignorant about. The book comprises roughly about 200 such inter...more
Very good for reading just a bit of before bed, palate-cleansing during frantic essay writing, or sitting down with for an hour straight, thinking 'just one more page'... I haven't actually seen much of the TV show, but I do follow @qikipedia and have heard my mother hooting away with mirth when watching the tv show. The book isn't as funny, most of the time, but it does succeed in being Quite Interesting.
It covers a lot of facts I've read elsewhere in other books (some of which I suspect of tak...more
It covers a lot of facts I've read elsewhere in other books (some of which I suspect of tak...more
Bloody brilliant! One of the most fascinating books I have ever read. Highly enjoyable and highly recommended!
being a big fan of stephen fry, and a huge fan of the show, when i stumbled across this one i just had to read it. although i already knew a few of the facts (due to them being on the show) the book still easily lived up to it's name, Quite Interesting. what i loved most about this book though was annoying people and making a general nuisance of myself as a mini stephen fry quizmaster with friends and family, seeing their faces when they got things wrong and heard the actual ridiculous facts, an...more
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great to share | 5 | 25 | Mar 26, 2013 05:28am |
John Mitchinson is the head of research for the British television panel game QI.
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“People sometimes accuse me of knowing a lot. "Stephen," they say, accusingly, "you know a lot." This is a bit like telling a person who has a few grains of sand clinging to him that he owns much sand. When you consider the vast amount of sand there is in the world such a person is, to all intents and purposes, sandless. We are all sandless. We are all ignorant. There are beaches and deserts and dunes of knowledge whose existance we have never even guessed at, let alone visited.”
—
19 people liked it
“Read it wisely, Little One, for the power of ignorance is great.”
—
3 people liked it
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