Customer Reviews

Schott's Original Miscellany

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What more can you ask for when you have a book that you can sit down browse through and read again and again? This unique collection of facts and trivia will keep you entralled for many hours. All kinds of odd little facts can be found in this book. Who knew that one book would have the knights of the round table, roman numerals, who sang at the superbowl, and so much more all in one place?

I love to tuck this book into my book purse and pull out and read whenever I have to wait or have a bit of time to kill. The information is concise and this is the type of book you can pick up or put down at any time. I highly recommend this book for the person who likes odd little facts, or someone that likes unusual books. Its fun and compact, and you are likely to go to this book again and again.

There are not many books that I read in one sitting - Schott's Original Miscellany was one such book. It's difficult to explain what's so special about this little 160-page hard-backed volume. And it's even harder to explain what's inside. Imagine a cross between a Victorian English enyclopedia; the Book of Lists; and those useful pages at the back of your diary and you have something approaching the style and content of Schott's Original Miscellany.
In the spirit of Ben Schott's wonderfully haphazard organizational style, I shall open a page at random, and list what can be found there. OK ... pages 118-119 contain: a list of famous left-handers (including Bill Gates and Cole Porter); a nursery rhyme about sneezing; the traditional names for the various winds (the Sirocco is a South-easterly wind); an explanation of adult dentition; an list of temperature conversions; all of the International Washing Symbols (including the wonderful symbol for "do not wring"); and a list of countries where you have to drive on the left.
It is fantastic, funny, and (believe me) very addictive stuff. I've only just got this book, and already it has been "borrowed" from my desk countless times by colleagues! I recommend it very highly.

I had heard about Schott's Original Miscellany from friends in England - where the book has been a best-seller for ages, and is already become something of a British institution.

I've just bought a copy of the American version - and I can see exactly why it is so popular.

The book has everything.

It can't have everything, I hear you say...

Well, it does... All of the cloud types (with lovely little pictures); a wonderful list of phobias; the 33 degrees of Freemasonry; abbreviations used in personal ads; palmistry lines; the rules of fighting a duel; Greek, Roman, Norse, Hindu, Japanese and Egyptian Gods; every type of conversion you can conceive; famous Canadians; clothing-care symbols (even the ones you never understand); Morse code; cattle branding; untimely deaths of popstars; specifications of the US Flag.... the list goes on, and on, and on...

And, if this was not enough, the book is absolutely beautiful to look at. It looks like the kind of book my grandpa used to have - old-world style, elegance, and design - but with content bang up to date. The typography (a hobby of mine) is perfect and makes the book a joy to read even if your not particularly interested in an entry.

(I've just spotted a double-page about the American Presidents which has everything - everything - you might want to know... including whether they had beards, were left-handed, owned slaves, their star-sign, how much they got paid... it's that kind of book).

I can't recommend this book too highly. Come Christmas, I think we can expect to see this book in many a stocking.

If you are looking for a reference book in which you can quickly look up the population of Brazil or find a complete list of Pulitzer Prize winners, then "Schott's Original Miscellany" is not the volume you seek. On the other hand, if you're looking for a book you can pick up, open to a random page, and unearth some fascinating tidbits of trivia, then you're in the right place.

Imbued with humor, sprinkled with quotations, and arranged in completely arbitrary order, this quaint compendium of facts makes for edifying, absorbing, and essential (according to Ben Schott) reading. Although the author has taken great pains to ensure the correctness of the facts, he admits that some of the trivia he presents has been disputed; he provides a list of variations and disputations. There is a self-referential page with statistical information about the book itself. There is also an index, although the reader will not be referring to it often, if at all. Originally published in England, this edition has been updated with American trivia, but it still contains such British facts as cricket fielding positions, British poets laureate, and the order of succession to the English throne.

Move over bathroom readers... this book is far more entertaining. I recommend you buy a copy and keep it handy at all times. You never know when you'll need to find some "Q" words with no "u" or a list of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands!

The other day my husband and I were discussing religion and could not remember the name of the blue elephant Hindu god. My mother visited us the weekend before Christmas. The conversation turned to Muses and Mom could not remember the names of the nine muses. A friend knitted a beautiful scarf of blue Italian yarn for me. She gave me the yarn label saying she didn't know if Italian washing symbols were different from U.S. symbols.
You may think, "Interesting questions but what do any of these things have to do with one another?" They have absolutely nothing to do with one another but I found the answer to all these questions and so many more in a little book called Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott.
This little book has more esoteric information in it than I ever thought I would need. It is also a great conversation starter. I checked it out before Christmas thinking visiting family might find it interesting. My seventeen-year-old nephew browsed the pages for about an hour. He would share a bit of whimsical information such as how to say I love you in forty-three languages or all the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner.
In short if you need to know how to tie a sari or decipher cockney rhyming slang, curious about blood group compatibility and hey just what are the rules of dueling? This is the book for you. You can impress your friends and co-workers with bits of trivia and information they didn't know they needed.
Every wonder what the winning word in the 1951 National Spelling Bee Finals was? I suggest you pick up Mr. Schott's little book and find out.

One reviewer opines that this book is of limited use because the compiler collected only what he found interesting. By that standard, Johnson's Dictionary would get a poor Amazon review.

Although I can agree with other reviewers that there is some inconsequential fluff here, I found this book highly entertaining and mesmerizing, even if some of the arcana in it was of little direct interest to me. I loved the chart of US Presidents that included not only their ages when they took office, but whether they were left-handed, red-headed, whether they had facial hair, and whether they died on July 4. I loved the list of unusual deaths of Burmese kings (one, Nandabayin, laughed himself to death when a visiting European merchant told him that Venice was a free state without a king). I loved the recitation of the British Riot Act of 1714. I loved the list of the 33 degrees of Freemasonry hierarchy. I loved the schematic diagram of Dante's Inferno.

What use is this book to you if you're not a reference librarian or a triviaholic? Virtually none. So what? I loved it, and only wish it were much, much longer. Almanac length would be a start.

"Schott's Original Miscellany is, indeed, an entertaining collection of fabulous trivia. It's just packed with interesting little tidbits about almost everything you can think of. Ben Schott was bold enough to deviate from the normal presentation of books and step forward to do something unique and controversial. He is the only author I have ever seen who was brave enough to stick his neck out to do something different (with the possible exception of Norman Thomas Remick and his book "West Point.."), and I think, and hope, his nonconformity will pay off for him. There will be those who will call "Schott's Original Miscellany" bizarre. I call it great.

I didn't realize this book was so small until I received it. Each page measures 7.25" by 4.5". Then I noticed that there are only 142 pages. If the publisher had made the book normal size, it would barely have 100 pages. You could easily read this book in one sitting. There are other trivia books that cost a little more but contain much more information. Some of the content in this book is interesting, but some of it can easily be found in traditional sources such as an almanac (e.g., Beaufort scale, wedding anniversaries, poker hands, etc.). If you take all that out of the book, it would be even smaller. Furthermore, some of the lists are not complete. For example, a partial list of Academy Award winners for Best Picture, a partial list of patron saints, a partial list of plays that have won Tony Awards, a partial list of Kentucky Derby winners, etc. Why bother including incomplete lists? And did we really need a diagram showing directions on a compass (DUH). I really don't understand the hoopla over this book. I guess some people are easily titillated or have just now discovered trivia. As someone who has collected many trivia books over the past 30 years, I can only give this book 3 stars out of 5 (and that's being generous). Check out the following trivia books which are similar to this book but have more content without filler and fluff:

"Five Rings, Six Crises, Seven Dwarfs, and 38 Ways to Win an Argument," John Boswell and Dan Starer, 1997

"What Are the Seven Wonders of the World," Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish, 1998
"The Book of Numbered Lists," Gwen Foss, 1998
"The Odd Index," Stephen J. Spignesi, 1994
"Laws of Order," Jeff Rovin, 1992
"The Order of Things," Barbara Ann Kipfer, 1998

This is the sort of book that you should leave lying on your coffee table, or anywhere that you may leave guests for a moment while you make them coffee. It is full of all of those odd things that you wanted to know about - measurements, historical facts, odd names, pronounciations, time lines, famous horses and their riders, planets, signals - all things wierd and wonderful.

It is just enchanting, and because the information is limited to a page or two (at the most) - usually half a page or a few lines, it is one of those treasures that you can dip in and out of and never tire of. Every time you pick it up you will learn something new. And it is a valuable resource book too!

Every home should have one! And if you have that difficult someone to buy a gift for, this would be ideal. Everyone would find something interesting or amusing in it. The ultimate gift!

On one level Schott's Original Miscellany is simply a very elegant book of curious, random, eclectic information. It will tell you conversion tables, who sang the national anthem at the Superbowl, what all those washing symbols mean, etc.
But after reading it for a while, the genius of the book becomes apparent. I have no idea who Ben Schott is - I imagine some eccentric English librarian - but he has created a modern masterpiece. In many ways the book defies adequate description. Arcane information on duelling sits cheek-by-jowl with up to date miscellany like the Order of Service for Princess Di's funeral. All I can suggest is that you get a copy, open it at random and start to read.