1,411 Quite Interesting Facts to Knock You Sideways

by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin

Overview

A dazzling third installment of astounding new facts from the New York Times best-selling authors of 1,227 Quite Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off and 1,339 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop.

1,411 Quite Interesting Facts to Knock You Sideways is a gold mine of wide-ranging, eye-opening, brain-bursting nuggets of trivia that's impossible to put down, another "treasure trove of factoids" (National Public Radio, Weekend Edition).

Did you know?

• Orchids can get jet lag
• Lizards can't walk and breathe at the same time
• Frank Sinatra took a shower 12 times a day
• Ladybug orgasms last for 30 minutes
• There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie
• Traffic lights existed before cars
• The soil in your garden is 2 million years old

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393249873
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/26/2015
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 4.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

John Lloyd is the creator of the BBC quiz panel show QI (Quite Interesting). He lives in Oxfordshire.

John Mitchinson is the director of research for the BBC quiz panel show QI (Quite Interesting). He lives in Oxfordshire.

James Harkin is senior researcher for QI and lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

"You can't NOT read books like this. They're addicting."

Houston Chronicle - Maggie Galehouse

10/01/2015
From facts about historic murders to eww-inducing information about toilet bowl germs, this handy and browsable guide offers hours of tidbits and trivia sure to surprise readers and impress their friends. The authors—researchers for a BBC quiz show—have penned several previous trivia compendia in this series, and their ability to find truly offbeat oddities is impressive. What's even more remarkable is their skill in organizing the book in a "degrees of Kevin Bacon" way—with each page moving seamlessly and cleverly into the next one's "theme." It's fun to learn, for example, how music trivia can lead into wine, then into Greek philosophy, and then into illnesses. The entries are one-sentence long, and the authors provide links to further research (and for verification) on each at the end of the book. Unfortunately, while most summaries are clearly stated and can be taken at face value, some may require more explanation—"Cremation causes silicone breast implants to explode," for example. VERDICT Perfectly readable and insightful, this book is a fine addition to a shelf of browse-worthy titles or quick reads to pass the time.—Sharon Verbeten, Brown Cty. Lib., Green Bay, WI

Library Journal