This compendium of factoids is a fun read but probably not something you'd read all at once. It's kind of like a bathroom reader (not that I'm doing that). And in fact, I did read this in several chunks over a span of months. Topics include art, history, science (biology, chemistry, physics, etc), pop culture, religion, economics, philosophy, and so forth. And it's written in a cheeky manner with all sorts of fun sidebars. I learned a lot! I remember some! Here's one thing sort of apropos from the religion section I picked up: Did you know there was a legend about a Persian god named Mithra that predates Jesus by centuries. Well, legend has it that Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25 and was visited by sheperds and magi. He had 12 disciples, healed the sick, and cast out devils. He rose again around the vernal equinox (March 21) and ascended into heaven. Sounds somewhat familiar, no? ( )

Not as interesting as I thought it was going to be. ( )

mental_floss is pure genius, without having to actually be one. These people have somehow managed to find a way to make typically boring information entertaining, interesting and highly readable. The magazine is even better. ( )

like trivia. When I was a kid, I used to get the magazine 321 Contact (formerly The Electric Company) and would always turn to the “factoids” page before reading any other portion. The little paragraphs of strange and unusual information were fascinating. Why the life cycle of fruit flies, the number of cells in a body, or wingspan of the albatross would interest me I have no idea. Nonetheless, they do.

When my wife pointed me to Mental_floss magazine (herself pointed there by a fellow teacher) it was a godsend. No adult magazines had made trivia fun like 321 Contact had done. But the magazine is limited, and comes only bimonthly. I needed my “knowledge fix”, but didn’t want to wait quite so long.

Enter Condensed Knowledge by the editors at Mental_floss. This reference book covers topics like history, philosophy, religion, pop culture, and literature all in short paragraphs grouped into related sections. There might be a section on four different physicists, or 3 countries that don’t exist. A reader might find short descriptions on five books every one should know, or 9 ways you need radioactivity. Such topical groupings and short, interesting paragraphs make this resource readable from beginning to end.

Full Review at Grasping for the Wind ( )