Forbidden Knowledge: 101 Things NOT Everyone Should Know How to Do

by Michael Powell

Want to know how to start a riot? Yep. Make moonshine? Sure. Beat a lie detector test? Who couldn’t use a little more danger in their life? A little more edge? A little more fun? This book helps readers get it all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Reference, Trivia, Science, Own, How To

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Scott]

Hm. What I learned from this book?
1) How to tell if your neighbor is a zombie (and what to do about it).
2) How to read entrails to predict the future.
3) How to hotwire a car.
4) How to walk on hot coals
.
.
.
75) How to write a cheeziass book. JK - many of these articles are fairly amusing takes on things. Unfortunately short in the detail department on some items, such as "How to Make an Atomic Bomb." So, one will just have to experiment, one guesses.

Still have 25 things left to learn at the time of this writing.

I am about 7 things left now.

94) If someone gives you the book, it makes a nice coffeetable/conversationstarter/coaster.

[Jennifer]

Thanks to this book I know now how to stage a coup, make moonshine and cheat a parking meter. Sweet!

[Grace]

This is an interesting little book that sits well on the shelf next to The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection From the Living Dead. There are 101 tidbits of useful and useless knowledge written in a semi-sarcastic and only vaguely detailed manner.

My favourite were #18 - saw a woman in half (magic trick), #26 - create crop circles, #29 - pull a practical joke in the toilet, and #70 - streak a sporting event.

This book would probably make a fun gift for a person that enjoys bits of random, useless knowledge, someone that is a joker or possibly someone that just likes books like these. I know I got several ideas of things that I would like to try someday - like being excused from jury duty.

It isn't written in a very engaging manner, so this is probably more of a book that one would flip through occasionally for prank ideas.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writer's note: This book has a wealth of information for story details, especially for more criminal acts of the modern age. For instance, there is information on safe-cracking, breaking into a car, and other little things that might be of benefit.

[Mitch]

Of course, you don't really evaluate a book like this. You just read it for enjoyment.

Ever have a hankering to kill your computer, cheat a parking meter or place a gypsy curse? That's my point exactly: you won't want to do all of these but you'll surely have wished you knew how to do some of them at one point or another.

This book adds some genuine funny to its descriptions of how to do all of these and 98 more. It doesn't really recommend you do them exactly- it's tongue in cheek. (It'll probably tell you how to do that too if you don't already know how.)

File under "F" for Fun.

[Jen]

Who needs medical school? I now know how to perform open heart surgery. I think the first 2 or 3 times I may want the book beside me just to calm my nerves and to make sure I don't miss a step. But by the time I do it for the 4th time, I'll be golden.

[Kellie Eizensmits]

was kind of funny...pretty far fetched, but i guess that was part of the humor...

[Brian Sammons]

Nowhere near as good as the title would lead you to believe, with some of the knowledge not really being all that forbidden, let alone practical. Still, it's a mostly fun and enjoyable read.

[Miles Eaton]

very good read. loved most-all the things that it talks about. i could only find 2-3 things that werent exactly correct (i.e.- it was talking about if you put sugar in a persons gas tank that it will clog the fuel filter and starve the engine of air....no it will accept more air but little-no fuel, causing the engine to run lean vs. rich if it had less air and same amount of fuel). besides small things like that i was very much so entertained and almost cut out some of the art in the book but i just couldnt do it because i just no ill be reading over it again and again.

[Iskreads]

Most people live a rather simple life, which means that the cops aren't chasing you for your illegal stash of drugs,
or loan sharks knocking on your door. with this book, you live your life dangerously and to the maximum, you wanna know
how to kill zombies?, well then flip to the first page. wanna know how to make an atomic bomb?, flip to the 12th page.
this book will make you like living dangerously.

Dimitri E

[Ninja Pigeon]

Most of these "obscure facts" I already knew. Not sure if that is simply because of my own inner geek, or exceptional exposure, but none of it was anywhere close to "build your own atomic bomb" stuff. At best it was "how to upset your neighbors by building your own eyesore in your backyard."
If that's your thing, this is worth it. If not, you're better off researching instructables or Wikipedia.

[James]

Funny, if a bit padded-feeling - and I can attest from my own experience that some of the details are wrong, which is just as well. This is in the same vein as the "Worst Case Scenario" books, taking a pseudo-matter-of-fact tone in talking about situations that are mostly impossible, ridiculous, or highly unlikely. Not one that will go down as a classic, but good for killing some time.

[Eric]

This book had some fun facts in it such as how to manipulate an elevator to skip floors and how to hack into a soda machine but for the most part the how-tos and trivia are pointless and/or left to vague to be of any use.

[Miriam B. Sayer]

A person described this book as "If you ever find yourself in a plastic bag and need to know how to get out!!!" Abby Hoffmans "Steal this Book" offers more sound (but outdated)advice, but Forbidden Knowledge is still fun to read.

[gremlinkitten]

Not as interesting or promising as it sounds, yet there's still some good information to be found even if there isn't enough detail for at least half the how-to's (probably a very good idea) and there are a few minor editing errors (e.g. their instead of they're, numbered lists missing a digit).

[Jennifer]

Ha!

[Mike]

A bit juvenile.

[Brittney Achim]

I learned a lot from this book actually... ;)

[Christoffer Rasmussen]

Morsom bok. Masse kult innhold. :)

[Peapod]

This wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. It seemed to have a slight misogynist slant to it.

[Esma T]

Çok basitti, başlarken böyle bir şey beklememiştim, bir kaç güzel bilgi dışında geri kalanı sayfa israfı.

[The Ether]

8 / 10

I love stuff like this - questionable material that rides in the grey areas of decency. Less of an instruction manual and more of a CliffsNotes, this book is full of 'forbidden knowledge' but also a little short on details (purposefully I'm sure) and more importantly, funny throughout. Interesting, funny, and something you can read piecemeal, easy to pick up and put down, there are a several actual nuggets of wisdom in here. I wouldn't necessarily rely on this as a 'How to...', but might be a good starting point!

PROS: Actually somewhat informative; tongue-in-cheek & pretty funny; Each topic is at most 4 pages, so this is great over commercial breaks or lulls in the game!

CONS: Although not that old, this thing is already out of date a little (anyone remember flash mobs?); Light on details

[Theresa]

Some of the information is more bad advice than things people shouldn't know how to do (eg the suggestions for parenting), but on the whole it's informative and amusing. And a good book for reading on an airplane, given that each section is only a page or two. I don't know if I would have picked this out myself, but having acquired it at some point from somewhere, I'd call it an interesting read.

[Shawn P]

A compendium of mostly useless info written in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Topics range from How to be a Mafia boss, to How to beat a polygraph test (bite on your tongue when answering questions truthfully), to How to navigate a minefield. To be treated as a frivolous book of throwaway humour.

[Erkin Yagci]

Eğlencelik bir kitap

[Daniel Hammer]

Ehh. It was fine. A quick read on a flight.

[jmm]

Some parts were funny but it was too outdated for it to achieve the goal it was meant for

[Brett Feinstein]

An utter waste of time filled with information that is either dated, useless or just insipid. I have less knowledge for having read it.

[Mostafa Karimi]

How hard dictator system infurceing to write comments before funding & reading any book. I'm sad

[Ra’felis]

Rubbish

[Milicze]

A tongue-in-cheek scribble. A few good giggles. and .. actually a few true things. A quick read for fun.