What's The Difference? - How to Tell Things Apart That Are Confusingly Close

by Marc Tyler Nobleman

Overview Who hasn’t wondered what distinguishes an alligator from a crocodile, partly cloudy from partly sunny, or Daniel Boone from Davy Crockett? For the first time, the answers to all such nagging mysteries are in one place. Among the 75 other whimsical but factual geek vs. nerd justice vs. revenge sunscreen vs. sunblock dwarf vs. midget democracy vs. republic vanilla vs. French vanilla robot vs. android monkey vs. ape vs. chimpanzee shiny vs. dull side of aluminum foil debit card as a debit card vs. debit card as a credit card The book also features 30 less-than-serious sidebars, such as the differences between nakedness and nudity, stop signs and stop ahead signs, and your you-know-what and your elbow.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Science

176 pages

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Award-winning author of books for all ages, including one that changed history and inspired the first documentary based on a nonfiction picture book.

I've had the privilege of speaking at schools and conferences in 30+ states and almost 20 countries.

Reviews

[melydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very clever, full of surprisingly useful and interesting information interspersed with entertaining asides. I think my favorite was where they described the difference between your ass and a hole in the ground. A fun little read.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to see this on my Want to Read shelf as I recall having read it early in the pandemic and releasing it at a meet-up in Virginia. I remember there were some things that were "duh" and some that were "wow" and some that were "who gets these things confused?"

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful, short, and easy to read. This book satisfied the low-key curiosities I have about random things in the world.

[Jolene Knighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read short sections. Very interesting

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for reference.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a gift from Kris B as a supplement to all my Googling. :) of course it's got the standard croc vs gator distinction, but it's got a pretty good range of subjects -- partly sunny vs partly cloudy, morals vs ethics, robots vs androids. sure you'll know some of them, but others are definitely ones where it's hard to put into words what the difference is. so it's a fun book to flip thru.

[Amber McAlister · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very quick read that did indeed clarify a few things, such as the difference between a democracy and a republic, the difference between brown and white eggs, etc.
Seriously, sit down with a couple of hours to spare, and you'll learn a few things and have another "read book" under your belt.

[Ed Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, well-done look at all the things people commonly get confused. Perfect for the "BuzzFeed Generation" with easily digestible nuggets of data. Excellent if you're preparing for Jeopardy or something like that. :-)

[Liaken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has some interesting information, but some of his distinctions don't ring true.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too sarcastic at times, but truly informative and definitely fun.

[Marylou R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun little book that you can even make a game out of.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun reference book about all the things, words, etc. that people confuse. Very handy for those discussions of "cheese toasty vs. grilled cheese".

[Liesl · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME book.