The Pedant's Revolt: Why Most Things You Think Are Right Are Wrong [Hardcover]

Andrea Barham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2006

Pedants, revolt! In this irreverent, smart, obscenely entertaining book, Andrea Barham shatters the myths, misconceptions, fallacies, and falsehoods about all the things you thought you knew (and a few you never considered).

Lead pencils can give you lead poisoning.… Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head….One dog year equals seven human years….Marie Antoinette said “Let them eat cake!”…Spelling Christmas “Xmas” is disrespectful….Fact or fiction? The Pedant’s Revolt: Know What Know-It-Alls Know sets the record straight on everything from the truth about starving a fever to why you shouldn’t “go for the burn.”

In chapters literary, medical, grammatical, historical, scientific, and biblical, you’ll discover the facts behind the fallacies that have somehow become accepted wisdom. From insects to food, grooming to Greeks, bumblebees to whales…from the animal kingdom to assassinations, Harpo Marx to Shakespeare, and questionable quotes such as “It’s all Greek to me,” this remarkable book reveals the often surprising origins of the legends and folklore we mistake for the gospel truth—and teaches you to think twice before repeating them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barham, a technical writer with four previous titles published in the UK, here debunks the tenacious pieces of folk wisdom that remain rooted in our collective consciousness: Ostriches, it turns out, do not bury their heads in the sand, and feeding milk to kittens is not good for them. One should not "starve a fever." "Elementary, my dear Watson," is spoken in almost every film featuring Sherlock Holmes, yet doesn't appear in any of the Holmes works by Arthur Conan Doyle. (In truth, the line was used by a film reviewer writing for the New York Times in October 1929.) Barham's concise righting of wrongs are organized into "Customs and Beliefs," "Historical Figures," "Sayings" and 18 other headings. They will have a whimsically rectitudinous appeal for some, but others may feel that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing-or as Alexander Pope, the English poet and satirist, really said: "a little learning is a dangerous thing."
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Review

“Imminently browsable ... should provide the trivially inclined with lots of fun.”—Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385340168
• ISBN-13: 978-0385340168
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,210,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short book of modest interest, July 9, 2006

By 

Jon Hunt "musician, teacher" (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pedant's Revolt: Why Most Things You Think Are Right Are Wrong (Hardcover)

In recent years it seems that books about language and trivia have become the purveyance of female British authors. There was Lynne Truss and her wonderful "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" and more recently "Rules, Britannia", by Toni Summers Hargis. Added to that we now have a cousin of those books by Andrea Barham called "The Pedant's Revolt", a short offering debunking popular myths. If you have a couple of hours it's not a bad read.

The word "pedant", as described on the back cover of Barham's book, is "a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules, or with displaying academic learning". It's a curious word to use in the book's title as I'm not quite sure how precisely it connects to the contents, but there are some myths of interest....."Lizzie Borden murdered her parents", "chocolate triggers migraines", "hair can turn white overnight", an so on. What Truss's and Hargis's books had (which Barham's book lacks) is humor. There's not much here and it probably would have helped her dry writing style, although one of my favorite entries is the description of JFK's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech......did he really say, "I am a jelly doughnut"?

"The Pedant's Revolt" is a good book to take to the beach. You'll undoubtedly pick up some new tidbits of information.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars People Don't Know This?, April 20, 2011

By 

Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pedant's Revolt: Why Most Things You Think Are Right Are Wrong (Hardcover)

In The Pedant's Revolt, Ms. Barham wants to explain to us why most things we think are right are wrong. The problem is, many of the wrongs righted here are things a person of average education should know already. Do most people really think Harpo Marx was really mute? Or that George Washington really admitted to chopping down a cherry tree as a boy? Or that Conan Doyle has Holmes say "Elementary, my dear Watson."? In fact, I was surprised at how many of the things she mentions here I actually teach to my high school students: that no educated person in Columbus' time believed that the earth was flat, that "wherefore art thou, Romeo" is not about wondering where he is, that Lincoln was not an abolitionist, that "it's" means "it is", for a few examples. I could go on, but I hope I've made my point.

And then there's the problem of splitting hairs. Some of Ms. Barham's corrections seem to really be putting a fine point on things. After quoting Paul in Acts of the Apostles quoting Jesus as saying "It is more blessed to give than to receive" she says there is no reference to Jesus actually saying this in the Bible (though Acts is part of the Bible). She points out that in Hamlet the quote is "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" instead of "Methinks the lady doth protest too much". True, but worth an entry?

To be fair, I did learn some things I did not know before. I didn't know, for example, that for safety sake, most cowboys in the old west only loaded five bullets in their six shooters. I didn't know that Lizzie Borden (or nursery rhyme fame) was acquitted of the famous murder. I didn't know that milk is actually not good for cats. These are all things I am happy to know now.

In fact, this book is a short one and not without some pleasures. The fact that I've put so much thought into so many of the entries--even the ones I know--shows that there is quite a lot of interest here. Certainly, it would be a good corrective to people that actually believe some of these things. Though, somehow, I don't think these are people who are reading books anyway. But the next time someone tries to claim that Nero fiddled while Rome burned, it's nice to know the truth of the matter is right here.