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

by Noel Botham, Travis Nichols (Illustrator)

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!

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Humor, Comedy, Science, Trivia

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

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

Reviews

[Zunayed Nibir · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Meghan Souters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi this is the thegreatbou

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting facts, fun read.

[Avery Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jordan Alba · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok but it really wasn't the book for me but its kinda funny it also give a lot of random facts

[Loren Fensterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally useless and I love it!!

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[J. T. K. Tobin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny. Entertaining. Not entirely factual.

[Joshachu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The squirrel is my favorite character. It surprised me most that octopuses eat there tentacles if there hungry.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!!

[Adam Farhat · Rating 3 out of 5]

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!

[Patrycja · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Nada Al-Karmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Dan Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

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?

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Lisa Stice · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Kazien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stupid and useless information but extremely funny

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting trivia and easy to read

[Taylor Brockman · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a good book

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Jodena Pysher · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Ecolpip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read

[Mario Pimental · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was certainly useless.

[Marti Yockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely different

[Keshia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does not disappoint! Can’t wait to share these random facts with my students this year!

[Alexandru Simandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and relaxing