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149 of 177 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decent bathroom reading., July 30, 2004
This review is from: 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know (Paperback)
If you're looking for earth-shattering news, this is not the book for you. While there were a couple of eye openers, most of the information is well known if you've kept up on current events.
Some information is noteworthy. The fact that people are killed or injured from prescription medication is not news. Tragic? Yes, but it's not a secret. It is something that has been studied and needs to be addressed.
Some information is pointless. Carl Sagan was a pothead? Why am I not supposed to know that? More importantly, what's the significance of that? Drug and alcohol use is hardly a rarity among great thinkers.
Some information is questionable. Someone in the goverment considered biological warfare in Afghanistan? I'd be surprised if someone didn't at least think of that. Creativity is not bad in itself, but the execution of the idea may be. Considering that Rumsfeld and Rice put the kibosh on the idea, I'd say the government acted correctly, and thus, no shocker here.
There are definitely a few winners in here. Not a great book, but okay to have in the bathroom for some short reads.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Little facts more people should know, November 17, 2003
This review is from: 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know (Paperback)
No, it's not a book that's majorly in-depth, and it won't reveal anything new to anyone at all seriously interested in things the mainstream media doesn't tend to tell us, because they'll know most of the facts already. But that isn't really the point of the book, is it? It's 50 things that most people - the most people who mostly get their information from the mainstream media, that most people - don't know about. And some of them are pretty darn important. Like the US making plans to provoke terrorist attacks as part of the war on terrorism; juries right to judge the law, not just the fact; the obligation (or rather non-obligation) of the police; medical error and prescription drug death rates (amazingly high). Other facts are more amusing and interesting than they are important, but even the entries that seemed rather obvious to me (the rather duh fact that advertisers exercise massive control over the media, for instance) contained interesting figures, facts and research. If you've already read up on these kinds of topics, this book isn't going to add anything much to your knowledge. But it's a great little book to have sitting in your bathroom or on a table in a waiting room for other people to leaf through!
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fun Romp through the World of "Secrets", April 22, 2006
This review is from: 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know (Paperback)
Russ Kick has written a fun little book that combines the "truthiness" of tabloid journalism with paranoid conspiracy theory in 50 little bite-size chunks. It's a blast to read if you don't take it too seriously.
Some of the "secrets" disclosed in Kick's book are pretty tame and obvious. For example, some African-Americans did indeed fight for the Confederacy in the Civil War. The Germans did use IBM computers to keep track of many concentration camp inmates. And of course, the government is known to lie, dissemble and distort the facts about just about anything when the political pressure is on.
On the other hand, Kick himself is way off base on several counts. His technique is pretty easy to decipher: Take a little known fact from the history books and blow it up into a massive "revelation" meant to shock and astound the reader. Examples include:
-- The police aren't legally obligated to protect you
-- The Supreme Court is wishy-washy on the use of illegal drugs
-- Many early feminists opposed abortion (for different reasons)
-- One of the Popes wrote an erotic book
-- Some environmentalists strongly support nuclear power
When you really dig into the details, you'll find that most of these claims either half-truths or overly inflated trivia. Nevertheless, "50 Things" is a great conversation starter and you can read the entire book in about an hour. Good for grins, if nothing else.
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