by Cara Elliott
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: Nov 1, 2011 Source: ARC sent by publisher
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Summary from goodreads.com:
For ten years, the knowledge seekers at mental_floss have been hunting and trapping the world’s rarest facts, locking them into captivating lists for the world to admire. Thanks to their tireless efforts, Mental Floss: The Book is packed with a decade’s worth of the smartest, quirkiest stories around, including:
Five Presidential Fashion Flubs
Seven Shameless Abuses of Diplomatic Immunity
Five Units of Measurement Weirder Than the Metric System
Four Toys That Have Gone to War for America
Seven Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever
Five Things Your Body Can Do After You Die
Six of Baseball’s Strangest Trades
Four Foods People Actually Die For
Seven Things Walmart Has Banned
Four TV Shows That Changed the Course of History
Ten “Q” Words That Aren’t “Q-U” Words
Four Horrifying Parasites to Keep You Awake at Night
Eight Fake Archaeological Finds
Five Articles of Clothing That Caused Riots
Four Memorable Moments in Cross-Dressing History
Five Doomsdays We’ve Already Survived
And 124 Other Extraordinary Lists!
My Review:
I was very impressed with this book, there was a mix of pop culture tidbits as well as little known historical and scientific facts. You could definitely find some facts in here that would impress friends when you sprinkle them into everyday conversation.
There's a list for everyone here, from the Muppets, to sports, to US Presidents, there's a bit of everything. Who knew that some of the quotes that I always attributed to Mark Twain, weren't really his quotes at all? And no other book has ever referenced Steve McQueen as many times as this one.
It's not labeled as a kids book or anything, but I think the book is family friendly. I think the whole family would enjoy this book and learn a lot of useful and not so useful (but still fun) information. It's been a week or so since I finished reading the book, and I'm still quoting it all the time!
Bottom Line: This is a fun gift book or coffee table book that can be enjoyed by everyone.
It does sound like a nice coffee-table book! And I like the idea of lists so I'm going to try to check it out sometime.
ReplyDeleteUsually these type of books do make it all the way to my country, so YAY
Not a book I'd buy, but as a gift it would be nice :)
ReplyDeleteOh this sounds interesting. It seems like a great gift book.
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