The Book of Totally Useless Information

A twenty-year-old collection of random bits of information, some of it more pointless than others. Examples include: "What is the origin of the legend that storks bring babies?", "Why do we give names to hurricanes?" "Who first thought of freezing foods?" and "How does yeast make bread rise?" That sort of thing. The answers aren't terribly in-depth, and I'd venture to say that most of what was new to me was not that interesting, and most of what was interesting was not really new. There's also a weird emphasis on trivia about corporate logos and mascots and products, which I found a tiny bit off-putting. Plus, there are a few entries I find myself rather skeptical about and suspect may simply be repeating interesting but not necessarily show more true stories.

So, not the greatest book of this kind I've ever come across. (I nominate The Book of General Ignorance and You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News for that honor.) But it did a reasonably good job of giving my brain something easy to focus on while I was in the hospital, which I appreciated, so I'm rating it a little higher than I might have otherwise. show less

The title says it all...although it's good for Quizzo!