The Book of General Ignorance
by John Mitchinson, John Lloyd
List Price:
Our Price: $3.72
You Save: $16.23 (81%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John Lloyd, John MitchinsonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-08-07
ISBN: 0307394913
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Harmony
Book Reviews of The Book of General Ignorance
Book Review: Read the Questions Carefully and Think Before Answering
Summary: 4 Stars
We all have a knee-jerk reaction to blurt out answers to questions about what's the biggest, tallest, most dangerous, etc. But like many of the better quiz shows, the answers often require thinking a little more broadly. "When did the last Ice Age end?" The answer is that we are still in it. But you could easily start to answer with when the last ice age that ended was over.
This reminded me of the oral exam I had to earn honors in college. The three professors started off by asking me which peace treaty ended the Hundred Years War. I thought and thought and couldn't think of one. I told them that answer and felt like a fool. It turned out there was no treaty. So beware of the way questions are phrased.
Despite my warning, the authors caught me several times jumping to conclusions about what the question meant, even though I knew the answer to what was intended. That gave me a good laugh at myself.
The better questions were ones that raised issues of contrast: "What's the largest thing a blue whale can swallow?" It's not as large as you might imagine.
I had fun with the book. It was a good time filler for a long, many-stop plane trip. It would also be a fun read for a few minutes before falling to sleep . . . probably giving you something interesting to think about as you doze off.
My only concern was that one of the answers didn't fit my experience . . . the one about which way the water swirls into the drain in the northern and southern hemispheres. I was actually on a ship once that kept going north and south of the equator, and the direction of the swirls shifted with our location relative to the equator. I'm not convinced this answer is right that it's the shape of the basin and drain that counts for the direction of the swirls. I don't remember seeing any swirls in the southern hemisphere that weren't opposite to the ones I've seen in the northern hemisphere.
As a result, I wonder if the answers came from book or Internet research rather than painstaking research. If so, don't bet your last five dollars on any of the more obscure answers. They might be wrong.
But have fun anyway.
Reference Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in 100 Best Amazon Deals
The World's Greatest Books Volume 01 Fictionby Various
Public Domain Books; Public Domain Books; Release date: 2003-12-01; Published: 2003-12-01; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Open the Barn Door (A Chunky Book(R))Random House Books for Young Readers; Published: 1993-04-06; Board book; Book
Best price: $1.09
Price in other shops:
The Book of General Ignoranceby John Mitchinson, John Lloyd
Harmony; Published: 2007-08-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.48
Price in other shops:
Ten Little Fingers (Board Books for Babies)by Annie Kubler
Child's Play International; Published: 2003-04; Board book; Book
Best price: $1.96
Price in other shops:
Various Online Venues Were Illegally Offering PDF Files of Expensive Academic Textbooksby RMedia
RMedia; RMedia; Published: 2009-03-08; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Best price: $0.99
Vector analysis: A text-book for the use of students of mathematics and physicsby J. Willard Gibbs
Published: 2008-12-21; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
A Textbook of Theosophyby C. W. (Charles Webster), 1847-1934 Leadbeater
Public Domain Books; Public Domain Books; Release date: 2004-07-12; Published: 2004-07-12; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Psychologyby David G. Myers
Worth Publishers; Published: 2006-03-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $32.00
Human Anatomy & Physiology (7th Edition)by Elaine N. Marieb, Katja Hoehn
Benjamin Cummings; Published: 2006-01-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $89.95
Price in other shops:
Biologyby Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece
Benjamin Cummings; Published: 2004-12-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.99
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Dayby Albert Jack
HarperCollins; Published: 2006-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
30,000 Years of Artby Editors of Phaidon
Phaidon Press Inc.; Published: 2007-10-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.67
Price in other shops:
The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time (In Two Lines or Less)by John M. Shanahan
Collins; Published: 1999-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.06
Price in other shops:
Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About Our Health and the World We Live Inby Anahad O'Connor
Times Books; Published: 2007-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Askby New Scientist
Free Press; Published: 2006-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops:
Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmithsby Mardy Grothe
Collins; Published: 2004-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.28
Price in other shops:
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokesby Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.56
Price in other shops:
Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questionsby New Scientist
Free Press; Published: 2007-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.47
Price in other shops:
What Would Socrates Say?: Philosophers answer your questions about love, nothingness, and everything elseby Alexander George
Clarkson Potter; Published: 2007-08-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.39
Price in other shops:
The Book of Animal Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrongby John Mitchinson, John Lloyd
Harmony; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops: