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The Totally Awesome Book of Useless Information: A Fun Facts Book for Kids

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Did you know that the Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving? Or that Maine is the toothpick capital of the world, or that frogs have teeth?

Do you want to know what a cockroach’s favorite food is, or how long it would take to drive to the sun?

Amaze your friends and family by telling them that a baby giraffe is six feet long when it is born, or that tigers have striped skin!

From the creators of The Book of Useless Information, this is an amazing collection of the wildest, oddest, funniest facts about history, science, food, animals, and more!

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

124 people are currently reading
324 people want to read

About the author

Noel Botham

46 books30 followers
In 1995, a secret society was formed comprising Britain's foremost thinkers, writers, and artists to explore the world's most bizarre nooks and crannies and to trade and share useless information (or, as founding member Keith Waterhouse, playwright and journalist, would have it, "totally bloody useless")-usually over a pint or two at a local pub. Now, The Useless Information Society shares its findings with Americ an readers in this first of what they threaten will be several volumes.

Noel Botham is charman and founding member of The Useless Information Society. Botham and the rest of his team lurk mostly around London

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5 stars
149 (35%)
4 stars
128 (30%)
3 stars
107 (25%)
2 stars
29 (7%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
Profile Image for Zunayed Nibir.
4 reviews4 followers
January 3, 2018
This book surely justifies its name. It is totally awesome and of course the information are useless. I am looking forward to reading other books of this series.
Profile Image for T.
11 reviews
February 11, 2022
Very interesting facts, fun read.
Profile Image for Avery Ward.
14 reviews
November 23, 2023
Cute book for kids. Some of the wording is clunky and some of it is more common sense/ general knowledge, but for young readers this would be very entertaining.
7 reviews
April 7, 2021
it was ok but it really wasn't the book for me but its kinda funny it also give a lot of random facts
Profile Image for Lucy.
78 reviews8 followers
December 8, 2020
3.5 stars

All I have to say is that it was a short read - only took me a day - and that I knew like, half of the facts in it.
2 reviews
April 30, 2020
The squirrel is my favorite character. It surprised me most that octopuses eat there tentacles if there hungry.
477 reviews20 followers
September 4, 2022
My son and I read this over the course of many evenings and we learned so much (and had a good time)! As people who love useless trivia, this book really had something for everyone - animal-lovers, science nuts, medical interests, globe-trotters. I mean, who wouldn't love to know that "farts have been clocked at a speed of ten feet per second" or "Caesar salad was invented in Mexico?!?"

All of these little, memorable facts (and more) are packed into this fun book. Perfect for the next factoid you want to share at a dinner party...or playground. Great for all ages!!
Profile Image for Adam Farhat.
3 reviews
July 15, 2023
Did you know that the Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving? Or that Maine is the toothpick capital of the world, or that frogs have teeth?

Do you want to know what a cockroach’s favorite food is, or how long it would take to drive to the sun?

Amaze your friends and family by telling them that a baby giraffe is six feet long when it is born, or that tigers have striped skin!

From the creators of The Book of Useless Information, this is an amazing collection of the wildest, oddest, funniest facts about history, science, food, animals, and more!
Profile Image for Patrycja.
961 reviews14 followers
June 7, 2022
This little book contains random, fun, facts. I wouldn't call them totally useless. I am sure there may be a moment when you can throw some fact from the book into the conversation.
F.ex. did you know that people in Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world? Or that The original name for the butterfly was the flutterby?
I am not a huge fan of illustrations. But I love the idea of this little book.
Profile Image for Nada Al-Karmi.
468 reviews47 followers
September 7, 2017
Useless? True
Interesting? Yes

When reading some of the information, I actually got curious enough about some of them and started researching to find out more.

So you might think them useless at the beginning but the book actually enriches your knowledge.
Profile Image for Dan Stern.
952 reviews11 followers
June 12, 2019
It is absolutely useless information...until you know how to use it. I've already quoted it at least 4 times to my students, about random things that came up in discussion. Use it to push people to learn more about esoteric topics. And read it just to have a bit of fun.
10 people found this helpful
Profile Image for Melissa.
224 reviews39 followers
January 16, 2020
I bought this book on a whim because I like to learn new things. I think I learned about a half to two-thirds of the book in new things and the others I already knew. This is a pretty good book for a YA that would like to impress people with their knowledge. I enjoyed it and I give it 4.75 stars.
Profile Image for Sophia.
7 reviews
June 15, 2020
It was really funny getting to know weird and interesting stuff for example a Venus fly trap can eat a whole burger in one bite. The author is amazing and funny but I have a question for them. When and why did you start writing these books?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Anna.
765 reviews159 followers
July 15, 2021
I got this for my little brother, just read it to make sure there wasn't anything inappropriate. Thankfully none!
All the facts are pretty useless. XD I did know quite a few of them already and he probably will too, but I thought it was kinda entertaining to read through. Hope he likes it!
Profile Image for Donna.
81 reviews22 followers
December 13, 2021
Loved the drawings! A lot of these facts were really interesting, and some made me laugh.
I would have appreciated citations/sources and if the facts were organized by topic (ex. animals) instead of being placed in a random order.
Profile Image for Lisa Stice.
Author 11 books21 followers
October 30, 2024
This was a gift from my dad because he, I, and my daughter have the walking-encyclopedia-of-useless-information gene. My daughter and I had fun with this one and added some tons of useless information to our repertoire.
3 reviews
May 22, 2018
Stupid and useless information but extremely funny
Profile Image for Leslie.
155 reviews1 follower
January 3, 2019
Very interesting trivia and easy to read
Profile Image for Rachel.
13 reviews
January 20, 2019
This book was okay. Some of the facts I already knew. There were also several typos, but I guess that's what I get for buying a book from Five Below.
Profile Image for Jodena Pysher.
115 reviews33 followers
January 26, 2019
My son received this book as a Christmas present. A quick half hour read just to take your mind away from life. Even at 34 years old, this book was very informative.
Profile Image for Keshia.
493 reviews12 followers
July 19, 2019
This book does not disappoint! Can’t wait to share these random facts with my students this year!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews

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