Lies You Learned At School

by michael-powell

Everybody knows that you shouldn't believe everything you read in the newspapers, hear on TV, or find on the Internet, but you don't expect the same advice to apply to what you learned at school. Well, guess what? There's heaps of stuff you've been taught that just isn't true -- or, if it is, it's been dumbed down so much it may as well be wrong.

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2010

Reviews

[Shelly]

Very interesting and quick read. Would be better if it included sources.

[Alice]

Some of the 'lies' felt more like technicalities, like the author trying to argue that two plus two equals four isn't a fact because technically numbers can be used in different bases to hold different values.

[Cindy]

That was definitely fun. Reading these kinds of books always is. Some of these lies were not "lies" so much as they required more detailed answers and some are pretty well known to be tradition and part of our culture and not actual truth. However, some really surprised me! Goldfish actually have memories that last around three months and CAN learn behavior. Nero DIDN'T fiddle his thumbs while Rome burned and actually put things in place to help the Romans. Santa's reindeers are FEMALE? Einstein built his theory on Galileo's! Napoleon wasn't French? Mussolini made the trains run on time...for the wealthy. There were earlier examples of concentration camps! The Spanish used them in Cuba during the Spanish American War! I'm not sure I believe the female pope myth but this book cites sources that mention one. America WASN'T named after Amerigo Vespucci but after Richard Ameryk who paid for the voyage to America before Columbus arrived. I knew Vikings had been coming to America LONG before Columbus but I believed we were named after Amerigo. What!?! Jesus would have had short hair! There goes all the Church iconography! Patrick Henry's famous line may have been attributed to him posthumously. Camels DON'T store water in their humps! The woman famous for fighting in the Revolutionary War may have been an amalgamation of multiple women. The feminist bra burning symbol came from an author trying to compare women fighting for their rights with men burning their draft cards. Van Gogh ACTUALLY cut off PART of his ear because he was upset that his artist friend was leaving and then gave that part to a local prostitute. It had nothing to do with an ex. And finally, the thing that scared me most was that months used to only be 20 days and days used to only be 18 hours. I've read too many apocalyptic novels to not worry about the ramifications of this for the future. I know it's a slow process and people could handle the shift but that's definitely something I knew nothing about.

So I just threw at you EVERYTHING I FOUND INTERESTING! You should read it just to see what you already knew and have never even questioned!

[Andrew]

Books like this are always fun to read, because they're easy and they teach you various things.

Michael Powell is a pretty good writer. He writes with a varied word choice, and is descriptive while still accessible enough for most readers. His sentences also have a humorous tone so you rarely feel like you're simply reading an encyclopedia: "Depending on how long ago you went to school, or the quality of your schooling, you may still subscribe to the misconception that camels store water in their humps. They don't; their humps are actually reservoirs of fatty tissue."

For the most part, the book presents what it promises: a bunch of lies, and then these myths debunked. It would be a solid 4-stars, if not for two things. One: no sources, no references. Here is this guy claiming to write a debunking of all these widely-held falsities, and no other resources? I generally felt confident in the writings, but still I was sometimes inclined to verify whether or not something was truly a lie. Two: several of the falsities are not so much things you were taught in school as simple misconceptions.

An interesting, easy read. Recommended for those into trivia/history/myth debunking. Some sources really would've been nice, though.

[Keri-Lynn]

Not too bad, but some of the "lies" were a bit much of a stretch. Some things we've been taught that were labeled "myths" were tagged more for the wording used when writing up the myth than the fact that the information was really off base. There were some very interesting things included which were eye openers now that "facts" have changed, so it was worth the read.

[tony dillard jr]

A pick up from a dollar book sale. This book attempts to factually dispute the myths and legends we've been taught in grade school. It's kinda like a textbook version of TV's Adam Ruins Everything, without the abrasive, whininess of Adam Conover.
When author Michael Powell talks about how George Washington really didn't lie about chopping down a cherry tree, much less actually cut such foliage down to sizes, Powell is great. I learned a lot of inside detail about the midnight 'ride' of Paul Revere, that Mount Everest is NOT the tallest mountain in the world and baseball wasn't invented in the US of A. However, I felt completely lost when Powell attempted to explain how certain mathematical theories such as '2+2=4' have been taught in error.

You know, that's kinda the danger when you write a book that covers a myriad of all topics. No matter how well you might understand a subject, that doesn't mean that you were meant to explain it to others. I think if Powell had stayed away from the complexity of the sciences and focused more on the human element, (and general fun facts debunked) I would have enjoyed this book more thoroughly. He had me when talking about how that apple probably never fell onto Sir Isaac Newton's crown. But when the author tries to explain the science behind the theory of relativity, I was begging for a chance to turn the page.

There will probably be some of you readers who prefer Powell's explanations of equations instead of the truth behind whether Mussolini made the trains on time. However, if you are like me and you can't visualize math without a step-by-step graph on how to solve for X, then you may not enjoy this book completely. This is a book that has a little bit of everything. I just don't think it's a book that will appeal to everyone.

[Jolene Knighton]

Easy to read. Short interesting "chapters." The "lie" is written in cursive at the top of the page, I found it difficult to read in some places and I am of an older generation that was taught cursive in school. I suspect that some younger readers would be completely unable to decipher the cursive.

[Doug Moramarco]

Interesting, but he really stretches the definition of "lies" vrs. "truth."

[Jennifer Reynolds]

This was terrible. I am a history teacher, and I enjoy books like "Lies My Teacher Told Me," which highlighted specific passages from widely used textbooks and brought attention to omissions, and outright misrepresentations. I was expecting this book to be similar. Instead, the "lies" that it focused on fell into two categories: 1) Things I've never heard in school. For example, the book says that Shakespeare is commonly misquoted as having written, "Let me compare thee to a rose." Never in my life have I ever heard that (mis)quote from anyone, let alone a teacher. 2) Parsing of words. For example, the author argues that Henry VIII did not have six wives, because all but two of his marriages were not recognized by the Catholic Church. While it's true that the Pope didn't approve of Henry's doings, to say that Henry VIII didn't have six wives is more misleading than saying that he did. This book was truly a waste of time.

[Tracey]

I found this book to be a worthwhile read since I teach. Previously learned "facts" about Napolean, the ostrich, Ben Franklin's kite, the Viking's helmets, and much more are explained and debunked. The one I found most interesting is the story about Betsy Ross - she really didn't make the American Flag! THAT was worth the read right there! AND, Molly Pitcher... hmmm..... I just read a kid's book about Molly Pitcher at school. Need to look at that again to see if that book is perpetuating false American patriotism.

Anyway, the book definitely makes you think about what you have learned.

[Joshua Moser]

I would have rated this book higher but it got two facts wrong, Neanderthals are not human ancestors and glass flows. The first one I can forgive as the book was published in 2010 and the discovery that we inherited at least 4% of our DNA from Neanderthals is pretty recent. The second one i can't overlook. Glass does not flow.

[Stephanie]

Interesting

[Alli]

Short, informative explanations debunking what the majority believes to be common knowledge. Excellent for those always wanting to know more, and a must for those that have been fed misinformation.

[Carey]

Everyone needs to read this book! It covers everything: when the Dec. of Indep. was signed, who really invented the telephone, Ben Franklin, goldfish memories...everything...

[Patricia Baker]

interesting topics. really is clarifications of things you only thought you knew. glad the pages are only a couple of pages long. passing this book onto my grandchildren.