Learn Something New Every Day: 365 Facts to Fulfill Your Life

by Kee Malesky

Learn something new with 366 fascinating facts from NPR librarian Kee Malesky What was the greatest thing before sliced bread?1 What color did carrots used to be?2 Why do many American spellings differ from their British counterparts?3 What does it mean ""to have one's eyes lined with ham""? 4 If you know the answers to these questions, then you're John Hodgman. If you had to look for them below, you need this book.5 Kee Malesky, author of All Facts Considered , returns with a year's worth of facts on the arts, history, language, natural history, religion, and science to build up your brain. From ""What is the only sea without coastlines?"" to ""How did the tradition of April Fool's Day begin?"", this book is the best way to know more stuff than that other guy.6 Learn Something New Every Day is the ideal gift for anyone with an inquisitive mind and an appreciation of the wonders of the world around us. But don't give it to them. You don't want them to know more than you do. Answers. 1. Bagged bread. 2. Purple. 3. Blame—or thank—Noah Webster. 4. That's the Italian expression for ""can't see the wood for the trees."" 5. You'd enjoy it too, Mr. Hodgman. 6. Discovering more than one fact per day can cause increased confidence. We've probably already put you at risk with the four above. Learn safely.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Adult, Reference

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2012

About the author

Kee Malesky was an American author and research librarian for NPR.

Reviews

[judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK -- so I learned 365 Facts in 2 days. Does that make me a terrible person? I'm a perfect example of someone who should not be allowed to read a book like this. Many people can read their daily "fact"(really about 1/2 page each), pat themselves on the back mentally and continue with life. How lovely. Each day you learn something new (and they are new). Then there's me who abuses the system. I not only break the one a day rule, I keep finding information that could send me back to the library to find a more detailed book on a daily subject. Fortunately, the computer was off and I couldn't find a pencil. I was saved from the worst that could happen (like expanding my reading list by several hundred). Now you have to decide what kind of reader you are. Can you safely read one fact a day or would you be jumping into a vat of chocolate? Choose wisely.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating book is worth anyone's time. The facts range from important to quite trivial and of course I already knew some. But lots were completely new and something I hadn't even considered. Great for dipping in or reading straight through. All items are short. There are even notes at the back giving the source. Check out: the Great Molasses Flood on Jan. 15; Navel Life on Feb. 1; the World's Largest Clock on Aug. 11; Your Own Image on Sept. 22 (a brief history of mirrors); The Most Mysterious Book on Oct. 20; A Woman of Valor on Nov. 26 (Mary Edwards Walker, a medical doctor, is the only woman who has been awarded the Medal of Valor); Cavernous Music on Dec. 1 (the Great Stalacpipe Organ).
Not to mention Island of the Spirit on March 14: Manitoulin Island, in the Canadian part of Lake Huron, has lakes of its own, some of which have islands; Treasure Island is the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake.
Highly recommended. This is one I'll definitely consider getting for myself for re-reading.

[Mandolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Research has proven that if we exercise our brains every day, we’re much less likely to experience age-related degeneration of our much valued mental capacities! Crossword puzzles, sudoku, trivia: they all help. It makes it easier to add these activities to your daily routine if they’re interesting and fun. Enter Kee Malesky’s book: Learn Something New Every Day. This compendium of interesting facts, whose topics range from science and religion to history and geography, is a wonderful resource for anyone who just likes to know more “stuff.” My family and I read this together through the year and though not all of the entries were interesting to all of us, there were enough to make us say “Ah!” or to laugh or to want to look up more that it was well worth the read. It was also a great family activity that added more depth to our dinner table conversation! Highly recommended.

[Georgette Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

"365 Facts to fulfill your life"...true that!!! I used this book in my classroom at the time, when I worked with middle school age kids. It was part of our morning routine. I would read the fact for the day. We all enjoyed the interesting information.

[Mommooshka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for reading one interesting fact a day or periodically reading several pages at a time - each subject is less than one page. And it contains many new facts I had never heard before on a huge variety of subjects.

Also good as a second book to read when you only have a little time, not enough time to read a chapter in a novel or story.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love little nuggets of facts, background, information! A year's worth of daily info!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting tidbits for those who like learning random facts for the sake of learning them

[Ming Terk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book on trivia. Interesting read, especially some of the entries. Things I didn't know. And if I wanted to know more, there was always the Internet, like Wikipedia.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up for fun but it wasn't so much. Just wasn't that interested in the facts of the day. Very few of them did I care about. Finished because I had nothing better to read at the time.

[Harold Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Learn something new with 366 fascinating facts from NPR librarian Kee Malesky

What was the greatest thing before sliced bread?1 What color did carrots used to be?2 Why do many American spellings differ from their British counterparts?3 What does it mean "to have one's eyes lined with ham"? 4 If you know the answers to these questions, then you're John Hodgman. If you had to look for them below, you need this book.5
Kee Malesky, author of All Facts Considered, returns with a year's worth of facts on the arts, history, language, natural history, religion, and science to build up your brain. From "What is the only sea without coastlines?" to "How did the tradition of April Fool's Day begin?", this book is the best way to know more stuff than that other guy.6

Learn Something New Every Day is the ideal gift for anyone with an inquisitive mind and an appreciation of the wonders of the world around us. But don't give it to them. You don't want them to know more than you do.

1. Bagged bread. 2. Purple. 3. Blame—or thank—Noah Webster. 4. That's the Italian expression for "can't see the wood for the trees." 5. You'd enjoy it too, Mr. Hodgman. 6. Discovering more than one fact per day can cause increased confidence. We've probably already put you at risk with the four above. Learn safely.” (From the John Wiley & Sons Publishers Website)

About the Author:
Kee Malesky National Public Radio's longest-serving librarian, is a member of the team that provides fact-checking, background research, and grammar and pronunciation guidance to NPR's radio programs and digital media projects.

My Thoughts About the Book: I am definitely one of those kind of people who likes to learn something new every day – whether a new word, some new fact, a truth I did not know before, or just some interesting tidbit of information I did not know. It’s fun. It keeps like interesting. Learning something new every day sharpens the old brain and keeps it active and Lord knows I need all the help I can get in that department as I keep losing my brain but so far I have always been able to find it and get it back inside my head again without too much trouble. LOL!

Kee Malesky’s delightfully informative, ever interesting and never dull or boring book opens the door to a whole new world of interesting facts for every day of the year. No Google searching or hunting around for something new to learn. Something good can be found for every day of the year in his book.

I bet you do not know about “The Great Molasses Flood” on January 15th, 1919 in Boston’ North end do you? If you do then you know more than me, but that’s not an accomplishment that is hard to achieve. I sure didn’t. Or do you know who the “Patron Saint of Science Fiction” as revealed on the day of February 8th in the book? On March 15th you can read the article about “Which Carolina?” which sure was news to me. On August 1st you can read and learn about “The Unicorn Whale.” That’s right, the Unicorn Whale. I am not making this up and neither is the author. Granted some of the information will not be of value to you but no book can be 100% all things for all people; however, Kee Maleky’s book has enough interesting, humorous, true facts in it to make it worth buying and I just bet though it might not be 100%, it might be at least 50% or more.

AND parents, this is an awesome book to purchase and share each day’s fact with your kids at night or even before school over breakfast. Imagine the look on their teacher’s face as well as their classmates faces when they go to school and tell their class about “The Man Who Never Was” or maybe “Tornado Technology.” I can just hear the ooh’s and ahhs’s of the teachers and students now. Not only will it be impressive to their teacher and classmate but it will just make them walk a little taller and smile a little broader knowing for once they were actually smarter than their teacher and classmates. $19.95 for the book – that’s affordable. The look on your child’s face though when they come home from school, “PRICELESS.”

Material Disclosure: I received the book at no cost from the John Wiley & Sons Publishing Company for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

[Kevin Demel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book of short stories about a wide variety of items. Good because can simply read a little bit every day.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One section a day, everyday, for an entire year and I am finally done with this book! I really enjoyed the idea of learning something new everyday and I think it is a concept that I should continue to keep up with. Each day was about 1/2 a page long and everyday was a new topic. The one thing I wish the author had done was tell us how each fact was connected with each specific day. In the prologue he did state that he chose each topic for that specific day for a reason, but I think it would have had more impact if we knew why on all of them (some of them were obvious or stated out right). Also, while he did cover a lot of different topics it did seem like two or three days in a row would all be related to each other, which is fine, but didn't make a lot of sense because he only did it sporadically and with no explanation. Although, it was really nice to read a book by another librarian! Hopefully I can find a similar book for this coming year, maybe one that concentrates more on a specific subject - like the one I read a few years ago on American History.

[moxieBK · Rating 4 out of 5]

***UPDATE 5/25/2016***

So, as it turns out, I got done with a book and didn't know/couldn't readily find the next book on my "To Read" list, so I defaulted back to this book and finished it.

Again, I think this book could be picked up later and re-read. I'm not a super brain in that I can remember everything in the first go round, but still. This book is highly entertaining. Well worth getting through it completely.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I've been reading this book off and on since I first got it. It might never get finished. It's just a fun book to pick up and read a couple of passages. The book is marked off as a day-by-day sort of deal, but I sometimes go days/weeks/months without reading, just to pick it up again and read a few more passages. I've learned quite a bit so far.


Four stars.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learn Something New Every Day was written by Kee Malesky, an NPR librarian and author of All Facts Considered. My husband and I read this as a morning shared reading. There was an eclectic fact for each day of the calendar. Topics were varied. Some corresponded to a specific date, some not. All, however, were very interesting. It was one of the best daily reads we've experienced. It was definitely a good read.

[Cathy]

By NPR reference librarian Kee Malesky, this looks like fun and I might learn something too! She was recently interviewed by (surprise) NPR's Scott Simon:
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/13/1627974...

[Cheryle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun!

[Leaflet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting factoids. Just the book to nibble before bedtime.

[Anne Fabing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great bathroom book. The short entries make the book easy to pick up and read short sections at a time. Very entertaining.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these stories were interesting. It was similar to her All Facts Considered. Some of the stories weren't cited which bothered me because some of the more interesting ones had no origin.

[Christa Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Librarian love to Kee!