Weird-o-pedia: The Ultimate Book of Surprising Strange and Incredibly Bizarre Facts About (Supposedly) Ordinary Things

by Alex Palmer

Check out the weird and wonderful facts in this massive encyclopedia of alphabetized

* HUMANS ARE THE ONLY ANIMALS THAT ENJOY SPICY FOOD (there’s a reason no one sells Tabasco-flavored cat food)

* NAPPING CAN SAVE YOU FROM A HEART ATTACK (assuming you are not operating heavy machinery at the time)

* PSYCHOLOGISTS CAN ASSESS YOUR PERSONALITY FROMHOW YOU DIP FRIES IN KETCHUP (nice fries, sociopath)

* SURFING THE INTERNET ACTUALLY MAKES YOU SMARTER (but not as smart as reading this book will)

Now the next time someone tells you smugly that Pluto isn’t a planet,you can counter with any one of these hundreds of weird facts and remain king or queen of the cocktail (or kegger) chatter.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Reference, Trivia, Education

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2012

About the author

Alex Palmer is the author of five nonfiction books including New York Times bestseller The Santa Claus Man and the forthcoming Happiness Hacks. A journalist and excavator of fascinating facts, he is also the author of Weird-o-pedia, Alternative Facts, and Literary Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature.

His writing has also appeared in Esquire, Best Life, Slate, Mental Floss, Smithsonian, Vulture, and The Rumpus, among others.

See more at www.alexpalmerwrites.com.

Reviews

[Am Y · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should be renamed "Surveyopedia". Instead of "facts", which the first chapter did contain, starting from the 2nd chapter onwards, you start getting lots of survey results: e.g. a survey of ___ found that ___. These were utterly meaningless to me. In most cases, the surveys either involved sample sizes too small to prove anything, or had inane, inconsequential findings.

But whatever remaining credibility this book had completely dissolved for me, when I saw this sentence: "the least populace city in the US..." and then again, "the most populace city in the US...". I don't know about you, but someone who can't even distinguish between "populace" and "populous", is not fit to write a book about "facts".

[Gregory Eakins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird-o-pedia is a collection of random "hey didjaknow" type of trivia. It's roughly organized into broad categories, and then Palmer just hits you rapid fire style with tidbit after tidbit. Some of them are pretty fun, others are just survey results, a few are out of date (the risk with any book of this sort), and some leave a lot of questions unanswered, such as this one:

A crocodile can shift its internal organs backwards in its body, should an emergency arise.

What emergency are we talking about?

Not really a great read, but a good one to pick up if you need something quick to impress others.

[Rhianon O'Halloran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being one who is comfortable with the world of weird, I was eager to read this book.

I was a little disappointed to find it was not a very large book, but the content did not disappoint me. Some things in the book I knew already, such as a person can die from too much water, but some I did not know, for instance, that dust in your house can actually make the air in your house cleaner.

The book jumps from category to category and does include a list of sources, most of which I would say are reliable, at the back of the book. I think, though, that the book could have been much more enjoyable with more research and interesting facts added. For instance, there are no facts about cats in the book at all, although there are one or two about dogs. Seriously? You couldn't find ANYTHING weird about cats to put in this book?

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. It really is a very enjoyable read and will leave you with some spare change in your purse of knowledge.

[Melissa T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given my hearty addiction to watching Jeopardy, I'd say I'm a trivia buff. The facts in this book are interesting, but the book was lacking fun presentation. I'm not sure at the moment what exactly would have made it better, just....something.

[Harriette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just a lot of fun.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average, but enjoyable short read.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calling all trivia buffs, Alex Palmer’s Weird-o-pedia will have you entertained from cover to cover!

This unassuming green book of facts (in hindsight, a combination of facts and factoids) distills information into readable chunks over twelve different topics. It is one of those books that will make for a good gift (I do not recommend gifting it to kids as it includes a chapter on the birds and the bees 🌚).

Being the nerd that I am, this book feeds my soul. My husband can vouch for the random nuggets of information I threw at him when I was poring over the book. Give this a go if you want to impress others with some trivia at a party.

[Andrew Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned in this book that ketchup was made in China, in the early B.C, And it was made from fish heads. Ketchup was made to ad flavorful to certain food.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite an entertaining collections of facts and stats about various aspects of the world from food and drink and all things human to the nature, animals and insects. It was shorter than I thought just giving glimpses into the weirdness contained within each chapter but it does provide a comprehensive resource list from which you could uncover more tidbits should you feel the need. It is also written in a pleasingly accessbile and readable manner, and even has some amsuing comments from Palmer, some of which mimicked my own internal commentary.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit that when it comes to these types of books I am biased. I like reading about and knowing about useless bits of trivia. I don't know why because I sure don't care about knowing and reading about useful information but I digress. This book is laid out in an easy to read way. It is categorized by the trivia it offers. It gives you information in small chunks (very few entries are more than a couple sentences long). This is one of those books that will go on my shelf and in a few months I will pull it down again to read. I think this would make a great gift for that person in your life that you cannot seem to think of anything to give them. I can see people who don't like to read enjoying this book as well. It was an easy five star earner if for nothing else than the gathering of these strange facts to put together in book form.

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the factoids in this book, but I often wish there were more info about them. The author tries to be funny, and it comes off pretty cheesy, and I'm distracted by the typos and punctuation mistakes.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun fact filled read.

I really enjoyed learning these little known facts. The world is full of interesting but weird facts. This book presents these facts in a fun off-the-cuff manner that is very enjoyable.

[Tish Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been reading this book for a couple of weeks now and I've had to continuously stop so that I'm able to do more in depth research on many of the most interesting subjects that the book mentions. Most of the time the author simply notates a snippet of information that leaves me feeling completely unsatisfied. And of course, with my curious mind, I HAVE to know. So I put down the book and open up Internet Explorer and I'm off on a quest to "know more", which eventually ends with me completely forgetting the book in my crusade for knowledge. So here I am, more than two weeks later, only on page 76!! Sure, the facts ARE interesting, but this book is so poorly written and such little thought was put into it that it's not worth it. I'm constantly frustrated and if it wasn't for my own research, I'm afraid my IQ would've dropped several points. The typos and grammatical errors alone should have kept this book from ever making it to print! If you're not a research junkie or don't have to know ALL the facts and will be satisfied with snippets of interesting information about everyday things that you probably never knew, this book will probably be an easy and interesting read. If you want to read it for real knowledge, I'm afraid that you'll be left frustrated and wanting much, much more. I gave it two stars because it is interesting and it did get me researching new things and I love knowledge, even if it's totally useless. It's also fun to share some of the interesting and weird facts with family and friends, so it can be a great conversation piece.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had so many facts in it, that I know I won't remember them all. There was stuff about the never ending water cycle and how we could be drinking dinosaur pee. There was another fact about a beetle that can paralyze a frog and devour it in hours. Oh, then there was the tidbit about masturbation and how in the 1800s, doctors (with a bag over their head to not be awkward) would use clitoral manipulation as a cure for hysteria. Fun times... Overall it was interesting, but I will probably forget most of them.

[Vivian J Lowry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good trivia book

I enjoyed being able to start and stop reading without losing my place. I also learned a lot of things I previously did not know. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys trivia.

[Sara Whizbanger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of the book is at the back: Sources.

[Cathy Houston · Rating 3 out of 5]

a treasure trove of useless but interesting information

[Suzette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fascinating book!

There is a wide range of facts/info in here that I had never heard of before- and I read a lot!

[Douglas Reedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots and lots of interesting facts without all of the boring details.

[Blackpipe · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative and entertaining work, sprinkled with the author's sense of humour.

[Danny Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading

Enjoyed reading. Learned many facts I was not aware of. Easy to read and great information on many varieties of subjects.

[Dee brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Very entertaining.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Jbussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a trivia book, a BR reader. In that it does very well. Yes it's not perfect but it is what you expect it to be. I got the light reading I was looking for.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! A lot of fun and interesting facts that I had never heard or knew about. And a fairly quick read as well.

[Kristian Yasko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it

I laughed and had so many WTF moments. Keep my husband up when I would find something weird to share with him

[Clarabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but not completely accurate even allowing for the year it was published. I also could have done without the added "humor".

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, quick read. Unfortunately, if you love trivia you've read all this stuff elsewhere - but this is still a fun ride.

[Brett Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tons of useless facts but I love it

[David M. Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now you know

This book just validates the old saying that"You learn something every day." Lots of conversation icebreakers or argument starters here.