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The Second Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is (Still) Wrong

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The Second Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is (Still) Wrong

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Hardcover
$23.00

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Overview

From the brains behind the New York Times' bestseller, The Book of General Ignorance comes another wonderful collection of the most outrageous, fascinating, and mind-bending facts, taking on the hugely popular form of the first book in the internationally bestselling series.

Just when you thought that it was safe to start showing off again, John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are back with another busload of mistakes and misunderstandings. Here is a new collection of simple, perfectly obvious questions you'll be quite certain you know the answers to. Whether it's history, science, sports, geography, literature, language, medicine, the classics, or common wisdom, you'll be astonished to discover that everything you thought you knew is still hopelessly wrong.

For example, do you know who made the first airplane flight? How many legs does an octopus have? How much water should you drink every day? What is the chance of tossing a coin and it landing on heads? What happens if you leave a tooth in a glass of Coke overnight? What is house dust mostly made from? What was the first dishwasher built to do? What color are oranges? Who in the world is most likely to kill you?

Whatever your answers to the questions above, you can be sure that everything you think you know is wrong. The Second Book of General Ignorance is the essential text for everyone who knows they don't know everything, and an ideal stick with which to beat people who think they do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307951748
Publisher:	Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/11/2011
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	543,261
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 8.54(h) x 1.16(d)

About the Author

John Lloyd is the producer of the hit British comedy shows Not the Nine O’Clock News, Blackadder, and Spitting Image. He earned a lifetime achievement award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

John Mitchinson has been both a bookseller and a publisher and looked after authors as diverse as Haruki Murakami, the Beatles, and a woman who knitted with dog hair. He and John Lloyd are in charge of research for the hit BBC show QI and have written many bestselling books, including such titles as The Book of General Ignorance, 1,227 Quite Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off, and 1,411 QI Facts to Knock You Sideways.

Read an Excerpt

Who made the first flight in an airplane?
(Continues…)

Excerpted from "The Second Book of General Ignorance"
by .
Copyright © 2011 John Lloyd.
Excerpted by permission of Crown/Archetype.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

Fans of the popular British quiz show QI and trivia fiends alike will appreciate this latest volume of fascinating, if somewhat random, minutiae from the show’s creator and head researcher, respectively. Stressing the importance of curiosity in his introduction (or “Forethought”), show host Fry separates the mere gathering of facts from the continual absorption of new information, something that should always be encouraged. Structured as a series of questions mimicking the quiz show’s final round—known as “General Ignorance,” where questions with seemingly obvious but wrong answers are posed to the four panelists and points are awarded and deducted for clever and dull responses, respectively—the book is a hodgepodge of knowledge on myriad subjects. Often, the fact that the question is being posed clues the reader in to the trickiness of the answer (here’s a hint: oranges aren’t always orange and pure water doesn’t freeze at 32ºF). The lack of organization isn’t an issue simply because of the wide net Lloyd and Mitchinson cast. From Molotov cocktails (not invented by Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skriabin, better known by his “Molotov” pen name, but by Finns during WWII as a response to Molotov’s Stalinist tactics) to Houdini’s real cause of death (appendicitis, not a punch to the stomach), there’s a plethora of information here that makes for a fun casual read or a primer before pub trivia night. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

According to authors Lloyd and Mitchinson (The Book of General Ignorance), their new book of factoids is a celebration of curiosity. Using a question-and-answer approach to more than 150 queries, they tell readers the best way to weigh their heads, how to get a husky to move, and how to milk a yak. Other, more relevant information includes the best treatment for a jellyfish sting, a good reason to resist free peanuts in a bar, and how to tell which direction is north in a forest. It's a fun book that can be easily picked up and set down—great for reading on long car trips or while waiting in a doctor's office.

Library Journal