The Book of General IgnoranceNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A shockingly counterintuitive book of trivia that cuts through the misconceptions that most of us call “facts” to show how wrong we are about . . . well, everything. “Trivia buffs and know-it-alls alike will exult to find so much repeatable wisdom gathered in one place.”—The New York Times Think Magellan was the first man to circumnavigate the globe, baseball was invented in America, Henry VIII had six wives, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain? Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Challenging commonly held assumptions in areas like history, literature, science, nature, and more, The Book of General Ignorance is a witty “gotcha” compendium of verifiably true answers to seemingly easy questions, like: Who was the first American president? Peyton Randolph. How long can a chicken live without its head? About two years. How many legs does a centipede have? Not a hundred. How many toes does a two-toed sloth have? It’s either six or eight. Check out The Book of General Ignorance for fun entries and complete answers to these and many more questions. You’ll be surprised at how much you don’t know! |
Contents
| 7 | |
How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye? | 15 |
Who invented the telephone? | 21 |
Who invented champagne? | 27 |
What goes hunk hunk? | 33 |
How many states of matter are there? | 39 |
Which metal is the best conductor? | 42 |
What does the moon smell like? | 48 |
Who invented the ballpoint pen? | 124 |
Whats made of celluloid? | 128 |
Whats the best floor of a building to throw a cat from? | 141 |
What makes champagne fizz? | 155 |
What produces most of the earths oxygen? | 156 |
What are guinea pigs used for? | 162 |
What shape did Columbus think the earth was? | 168 |
Which has the largest brain in comparison to its size? | 174 |
Whats the main ingredient of air? | 54 |
How many eyes does a noeyed bigeyed wolf spider have? | 60 |
Where do most tigers live? | 66 |
What killed most sailors in an eighteenthcentury sea battle? | 71 |
Whats interesting about the birth of Julius Caesar? | 77 |
What was Tutankhamuns curse? | 83 |
What color was the sky in ancient Greece? | 89 |
How many states are there in the United States? | 95 |
Why do deaf Americans feel at home in Paris? | 99 |
What do you call someone from the United States? | 105 |
What is the name of the capital city of Thailand? III | 111 |
Who lives in igloos? | 117 |
What was James Bonds favorite drink? | 180 |
Which organization invented Quaker Oats? | 185 |
How many dog years equal one human year? | 198 |
What do bananas grow on? | 211 |
strawberry raspberry peach | 215 |
Who discovered Australia? | 221 |
Which religion curses people by sticking pins into dolls? | 227 |
What were Cinderellas slippers made from? | 233 |
What was the first animal to be domesticated? | 240 |
Where do turkeys come from? | 241 |
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