bonnieleigh's Full Review: Donald Voorhees - The Book of Totally Useless Info...
"The Book of Totally Useless Information" is not. It contains useFUL information on many of its pages. As well, almost all of the information contained is highly entertaining. It is not just "trivia" information - much of it explains how things work or are done, and even if you didn't wake up with these burning questions on your mind this morning, you may well have wondered about them at some time in the past. And some of the bits of information are things that once you read the question you simply HAVE to find the answer.
The format of the book is that a question is asked (in boldface type) and then a rather concise but highly informative answer is given. There is little jargon, unless it's explained, but very accurate information. Sometimes it will be a scientific explanation, and if so, these are written in a highly readable and understandable way. Sometimes the answers are merely an explanation of research results; often giving multiple answers to questions (such as why people from Indiana are called "Hoosiers", p.74).
Some of the questions themselves had information in them that was new to me. For example, "Why do Wint-O-Green Life Savers spark when you bite into them?" What? Life Savers visibly SPARK? I was utterly amazed!.
A lot of questions deal with word or phrase origins, which are of course especially interesting to those of us who write. In addition to word origins, there are questions about firsts of all kinds of varied things. Such as the first frozen foods, and an interesting blurb on improvements made in commercial frozen foods. Earth-shatteringly important? Nah. But makes for very interesting reading. For many of us information junkies these days, almost no information is totally useless!
I was far less interested in the sports information offered, but even that may come in handy some day. Never know when you might meet a former football or baseball or hockey star who is having trouble starting a conversation - maybe the interesting tidbit I read will help ME kick-start the conversation.
I had many favorite questions and answers. Here are just a few of the questions I especially enjoyed: "Shy do beer bubbles stream from only certain points in a glass?" This one merited a rather long explanation, about a page and a half, and though I've never wondered about it at all, I was drawn in to the interesting answer, which also explained a lot about beer heads in general (p.80). "What are graham crackers made of?" (p.99) You may be surprised at what gives them such a unique taste! (It's a "health food.") "Why are the Rockies higher and more jagged than the Appalachians?" (p.114) This one I knew, but I like the explanation in the book: "Mountains, like people, deteriorate over time." "Why do oysters make pearls?" (p.123) I think most of us know this general answer, but the information provided on this was pretty fascinating, too, especially the explanation of how we make "cultured" pearls.
Many of the answers are myth-busters, and some uphold time-honored "old wives' tales" with scientific background. Most answers are just a paragraph or two, but some range to a couple of pages of fascination.
This book is great to read in short spurts of time, and has occupied my time when waiting in a doctor's office or in-between chores, and even during TV commercials. It makes an excellent addition to a bathroom library, or even a guest room library Anyone who reads will find at least one or two or a dozen topics of interest.
I wish I'd had an index, even an abbreviated one of just the keywords from each question. It would make it so much easier when I try to impress my friends with odd bits of information, and then have to find the reference to back me up! It's a great little book for gift-giving (choose the recipient carefully, though - you don't want the know-it-all to realize you think they're a know-it-all already!) and a fine book to amuse - and enlighten - yourself with!
Here is enough useless information for everyone. In The Book of Totally Useless Information , Don Voorhees has compiled over two hundred explanations ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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