Curious Events in History

by Michael Powell

see photo of back cover for more details

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Humor, Trivia

143 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

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

Reviews

[Shane Ver Meer]

A fun little book with a nice mix of historical oddities to learn about

[Nathan]

Delightful little book of historical curiosities. I think the one that stood out the most was about the criminal trials held for animals, including the undue hardship placed on mice by requiring them to travel into the town to defend themselves, the apparent profiling of pigs, and the practice of dressing the animals up for their court appearances.

[Rita]

Light and enjoyable while still learning something.

[Mariam (Rin)]

Good to read if you want something light, interesting, and full of quick stories! I loved this book so much as a child and still revisit it as an adult

[Adam]

This is a intriguing little book. It goes through things most people probably will never hear about history. For starters I’m a Tampa Bay native so to read about how the grapefruit almost never made it here was very neat. Among other things there’s death by appreciation, trials of various animals, a tax on beards, Niagara falls not falling, how the spark to WWI (murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand) almost didn’t happen, how the discoverer of laughing gas died, a five cent bill and the one I find the most unfortunate and curious the life and burial of William the Conqueror. There’s lots more I didn’t mention that are most curious so go read it…. A very good history book, nice short read 5 out of 5 stars!

[Oswald]

it's a cute book, it actually has a couple of "curious events" that i did not know about, like Lincoln doing coke, etc.

[Sharonbrown3158]

I never get tired of the story of William the Conqueror's ill-fated funeral! I truly am
sick and twisted.

[Daniel Evans]

This book has amazing little-known details from the past.
It's very entertaining, and easy reading.

[Keith]

Fun little book that doesn't shed any great misapprehensions. Just gives a few facts about some, well curious events in history. Can't say much about - there's not much there.

[Johnny D]

This is a coffee table book which is filled with, as the title suggests, curious events in history.

This is not a scholarly work, just a quick read with some interesting stories.

It is what it is.

[Matt Dillard]

This book contains snippets of history; it's not the sort of book I normally enjoy reading, especially in a focused manner, so I've read it over the past 9 months sporadically at work.

[J]

It was okay. Some stories were interesting and likable.

[Kelsey]

Interesting to read and good for those of us with a short attention span.

[Bri]

A quick and interesting read. I just wish the author had included some citations or, at the very least, some sort of "further reading" page.

[Connie]

Very interesting. A few of them I already knew but still over all I enjoyed it.

[Sky Alicia Duran]

Always love learning new things from history. Some of it I knew, but most of it in this book I found surprising. Great read for history buffs.

[Eric]

A fun book about historical facts, I learned some new interesting tidbits.

[Robert]

Amusing. short. Feels like cheating to count it as a book.

[Sebastián Largo Gil]

A really interesting and funny book to read for those people who like history. It's quite short but juicy. Totally worth it.

[Matt Austin]

Snapshots of interesting events in history from powdered mummies to Mount Rushmore.