The Book of Answers (original 1990; edition 1990)

by Barbara Berliner (Author), Melinda Corey (Author), George Ochoa (Author)

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How many of these questions can you answer without calling the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service? Who really designed the American flag? How hot is the sun's surface? How does quicksand work? When was the Ark of the Covenant last seen? Who sat at the Algonquin Round Table? Where does the name "The Grateful Dead" come from? Why is Christmas abbreviated as Xmas? Can any creatures besides humans get a sunburn? How many muscles does it take to smile? To frown? Why are rabbits' feet considered good luck? You could, of course, do all the painstaking research yourself. Or you could pick up the phone and call the resourceful, erudite, quick-witted librarians of the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service, Tel Ref, for whom questions like these are all in a day's work. For the past twenty years, Tel Ref has met the information needs of a public as diverse as the subjects in the Library's catalog, and now they've compiled their most interesting, unusual, and most-often-asked queries into The Book of Answers -- a delight for browsers, a treasure trove of fascinating information, and the perfect companion to The New York Public Library Desk Reference.… (more)

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Member:	JFDausman
Title:	The Book of Answers
Authors:	Barbara Berliner (Author)
Other authors:	Melinda Corey (Author), George Ochoa (Author)
Info:	Prentice Hall (1990), Edition: First Edition
Collections:	Your library, special
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The Book of Answers by Barbara Berliner (1990)

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The New York Public Library Telephone Reference Service's Most Unusual and Entertaining Questions

BarbaraGriffiths | Mar 8, 2011 |

Well, the subtitle says it all, folks. This book is a compilation of unusual questions and the entertaining answers as researched by The New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service. Questions on topics such as American History, Crime and Criminals, The English Language, Geography and more are included in this book and grouped according to topic. The book is fully indexed so the topics can be quickly located for the curious or for a springboard into deeper reserach.

This book would be tedious reading if one attempted to read each page in order as with a novel, but as a point of curiosity, it appeals to trivia buffs, young or old, who wish to look up answers to questions that plague the mind. I found this book to be an entertaining aside from my usual non-fiction reading, but not something I need to keep or read again.

Recommended for trivia buffs and the curious with the caviat that I spotted a typographical error or two while reading some of the questions so don't depend on this as a reference if you need authoritative answers. This review has been simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragon Views and LibraryThing. (

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1dragones | Apr 28, 2010 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Barbara Berliner	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Corey, Melinda	—	main author	all editions	confirmed
Ochoa, George	—	main author	all editions	confirmed