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Miscellanea, and Oddities —
How-to Manuals —
Human Stupidity & Ideas — Recommended titles
by Ricky Jay Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001. 202 pp.
"Author and actor Ricky Jay (Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women) gathers four years of his quarterly Jay's Journal of Anomalies in one volume of the same name. An expert on the improbable, Jay trains his curiosity on unusual forms of entertainment and recorded history, and entries include "A Compendium of Giant Children" and "A Verbally Challenging Bestiary." He has unearthed gems like an advertisement for "Miss Silvia, Skandenavian Ceiling Walker" and a centuries-long fascination with the public spectacle of nose amputation. Jay's new one-man show, Ricky Jay on Broadway, opening this spring, and his role in Mamet's forthcoming movie Heist promise publicity for this witty and bizarre collection." --Publishers Weekly 
by Gideon Haigh Hyperion, 2004. 176pp.
"At last in one convenient volume, everything for knowledge-hungry readers: Lists of Norse gods. Suicide notes of the famous. All anyone needs to know about ? How to toast in 10 languages. A list of all the men to walk on the moon. Twenty Latin mottoes. Fortune-telling techniques. Neither trivial nor essential, yet always engaging and illuminating, The Uncyclopedia is the reference book referred to purely for the purposes of amusement -- and readers just can't put it down!" --book description 
by Richard Zacks Anchor, 1999. 432pp.
"For the truly well-rounded "intellectual," nothing fascinates so much as the subversive, the contrarian, the suppressed, and the bizarre. Richard Zacks, auto-didact extraordinaire, has unloosed his admittedly strange mind and astonishing research abilities upon the entire spectrum of human knowledge, ferreting out endlessly fascinating facts, stories, photos, and images guaranteed to make you laugh, gasp in wonder, and occasionally shudder at the depths of human depravity. The result of his labors is this fantastically illustrated quasi-encyclopedia that provides alternative takes on art, business, crime, science, medicine, sex (lots of that), and many other facets of human experience." --book description
by A. Parody Michael O'Mara Books, 2003. 162pp.
"Extensively researched, eccentrically compiled and irresponsibly written, this essential handbook is far from being just another collection of useless information. I is in fact a collection of useless, misleading, and possibly dangerous information. Breathtakingly combining the humorous with the bizarre, Shite's Unoriginal Miscellany weaves an eccentric course between fact-for-fact's-sake and that 'display of superior knowledge which is as great a vulgarity as display of superior wealth'. ... from 'obscure royal appointments' to 'Buffyisms', and 'safety gloves' to 'fashional diseases and ailments'. Pointlessly ordered, insanely edited, and lovingly machine-printed on a substance closely resembling paper, Shite's Unoriginal Miscellany blends humor and knowledge together in a superior recipe for instant laughter." --book description
by Ben Schott Bloomsbury USA, 2003. 144pp.
"Ever wonder how one ties a sari? Or who makes the Queen of England's pork sausages? How about which three films managed to take all five of the top Oscar awards (picture, director, actress, actor and screenplay), or which Burmese kings died "curious deaths"? Answers to these questions and hundreds more can be found in this delightfully eclectic collection of facts, diagrams, quotations and symbols. Charmingly designed (with its various typefaces, columns and occasional graphics, it looks a little like an old-fashioned almanac), Schott's slim volume was an unexpected bestseller in England. Now the 28-year-old British designer-photographer has updated the book for American readers. Among its additions, the North American version includes a chart of cattle branding symbols, a list of notable Canadians and a description of the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Internationally essential trivia-such as the recipe for a martini, instructions for tying a bow tie, and a selection of quotations from Dr. Johnson-has, of course, been preserved. Schott declares that the purpose of his little book is to "gather the flotsam and jetsam of the conversational tide." Readers may find its smile-provoking pages absolutely addictive." --Publishers Weekly
by Ben Schott Bloomsbury USA, 2004, 160pp.
by Stephen J. Spignesi Plume Books, 1994. 399pp.
by Mitchell Symons William Morrow, 2004. 384pp.
"You hold in your hands the ultimate trivia guide. Organized in thematic sections, That Book covers a world of learning by an author whos developed game shows (he was the creator of the first "fastest-finger" game-show quiz) and was one of the original contributors to the international editions of Trivial Pursuit. Want to know which U.S. president is a descendant of King Edward III? Or which famous people lived to read their own obituaries? That Book covers these inessential facts and more ... --book description
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