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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgivably sloppy.,
By
This review is from: The Cultural Literacy Trivia Guide: The Ultimate Quiz Show Study Guide! (Paperback)
Even if it were only the spelling errors and typos, I would say that this book is unforgivably sloppy; when writing a reference, especially one detailing trivia, it is essential that one proofreads carefully. One should not have typos such as "The designer of the TWA airpost" (rather than airport) being Eero Saarinen; the "probably pioneer" (rather than probability pioneer) being Blaise Pascal; a Japanese gangster being a Yasuka (rather than a Yakuza, I think); the Aztec god being Quetzaquadl (rather than Quetzalcoatl, unless that's an acceptable alternate spelling or a more recent transliteration of the spelling than I learned, which I suppose is possible); Kim Dae Jung did not win the "Noble" peace prize, but the Nobel; the Korean War Armistice Site is Panmunjon, not Panmunjom; the long wooden Swiss horn is an Alpenhorn, not an Alpinhorn; J.P. Morgan was a banking magnate, not a banking magnet; Lauasia was a "Northern" supercontinent, not a "Nouthern" one; Gneiss is "coarse" grain rock, not "course"; the author of "The Last Days of Pompeii" is Edward Bulwer-Lytton, not Edward Buliver-Litton; the Indians of Southern Florida are the Seminoles, not the Semiloles; Dave Barry is (was) the columnist for the Miami Herald, not Dave Berry; it is, shall we say, somewhat sloppy to say of James Knox Polk that "He was a ran on the platform of 'Manifest Destiny'..."; to say of Theodore Roosevelt that "he was the first president to travel outside the USA during his presidency to dedicate the Panama Canal" leads to the question, "did other presidents travel outside the USA during their presidencies for purposes OTHER than dedicating the Panama Canal?"; the ending year of Victoria's reign (1901) is left out of the table, although it is deducible by the fact that that is the year listed as the beginning of the reign of her successor; Eleanor of Aquitaine was "The Crusader Queen", not "The Cursader Queen"; Oberon is the king of the fairies, not the king of the faireis; the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984 was Walter Mondale, not Walter Monday; Marberry vs. Madison was declared unconstitutional, not "declaired" unconstitutional; the Territory bought from Mexico was the Gadsden Purchase, not the Gadsden Purchas; the Montana Freemen is a Militia, not a Malitia (although I'm sure their opponents consider the "mal" prefix appropriate); the 20th century Secretary of State from Maine was Edmund Muskie, not Edwin; the nickname of the sports teams from Wake Forest University is the Demon Deacons, not the Deamon Decons; the Senator from Texas is Phil Gramm, not Phil Grahm; Amelia Earhart was a pilot, not a pilor (whatever that may be); "Swashbucklers" is one word, not two (Swash Bucklers); Mount McKinley's native name is Denali, not Danili; the Battle of Leyte Gulf is "The largest sea battle in history; off the coast of the Philippines" NOT "The largest sea battle in history of the coast of the Philippines"; but the biggest error I found, the most truly unforgivable because it was unarguably an error of fact and not a typo or misspelling or grammatical error (as though those errors in a reference book were acceptable) was the identification of Alan Alda as "the Same Time Next Year & Catch-22 actor"; Alan Alda DID appear in "Same Time Next Year", but the Alan in Catch-22 was Alan ARKIN". Alan Alda did NOT appear in Catch-22, not even in a minor role.
Some may claim that this is picking nits, but how can you trust the information in a reference book that is so sloppily edited and proofread? It's ridiculous.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Miami is not the capital of Florida!!!!!,
By Tara C "TDactyl" (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Cultural Literacy Trivia Guide: The Ultimate Quiz Show Study Guide! (Paperback)
Within my first evening glancing though this book, I noticed several errors. The most obvious error is stated in the title of this review. I attribute this to very poor editing, as some of the incorrect facts were stated correctly in other portions of the book.
The format of the book is good, and the information is categorized well and it is a good reminder of things you might already know but need to brush up on. But what good is a trivia book if you can't be sure the "facts" are presented accurately?
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A few facts to check,
This review is from: The Cultural Literacy Trivia Guide: The Ultimate Quiz Show Study Guide! (Paperback)
I LOVE this book (esp. the format), but with all due respect to Mr. Ferrill, readers might want to check a few facts that I'm not sure others have pointed out:
*Guy Fawkes Day is November 5, not November 3 (p. 133) *The Samba is the national dance of Brazil (p. 79) *Wolfgang Puck is Austrian. He does have a famous restaurant called Chinois, though (p. 118) *Couscous is pasta, not rice (p. 98) *"The Rite of Spring" is a ballet, not a symphony (p. 74) *"Thus Spake Zarathustra" is a tone poem, not an opera (p. 73)*Broca's Area AND Wernicke's Area are speech centers of the brain (p. 113)
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