5087 Trivia Questions & Answers [Hardcover]

Marsha Kranes (Author), Fred Worth (Author), Steve Tamerius (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

Taking Trivial Pursuit to the extreme, this book offers trivia buffs hours of toil testing their knowledge and fact finding skills with a huge collection of intriguing but little known facts.

The book features wonderfully arcane questions with often surprising answers organized by topic, from language, art, government and sports to film, history, science, religion, business and food.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

5087 Trivia Questions and Answers is the definitive collection for diehard trivia buffs (and the rest of us who think we know a thing or two). A mammoth assortment of minutia, it's guaranteed to boggle the minds of even the most informed and eclectic readers. With entries on everything from the amount Warner Communications paid for the rights to the song "Happy Birthday" to the strange death that befell Atilla the Hun, it's an endless source of obscure and enlightening entertainment.

Based on nearly twenty years of the 365 Amazing Trivia Facts Page-A-Day Calendar--the quintessential source of fun information for trivia fanatics--5087 Trivia Questions and Answers is organized by chapter with themes like The Cinema, Language, War & The Military and The World. Questions range from science to entertainment, antiquity to the Space Age, and include some little-known facts about some well-known people, like the special clause Jimmy Stewart had worked into all his movie contracts and the president who was ticketed for speeding during his term by Washington, D.C. police. Other entries expose those undeniably entertaining trivia gems, like the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box or the difference between a nook and a cranny.

5087 Trivia Questions and Answers is virtually bursting with facts that inhabit the murky ground between essential and irrelevant--from the number of exclamation points in Tom Wolfe's bestselling The Bonfire of the Vanities to the number of grooves on the edge of a quarter. Accept the challenge and test your knowledge in this exhaustive compilation of obscure statistics and vital details, with the answers to some of life's least important but most intriguing questions, and all the facts they never taught you in school.

From the Back Cover

THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION FOR DIEHARD TRIVIA BUFFS

(AND THE REST OF US WHO THINK WE KNOW A THING OR TWO).

Language / Art , Comics & Literature / Presidential Trivia / The World / Television & Radio / Sports & Games / War & the Military / America--Past & Present / Religion, the Bible & Mythology / Music & Theater / Science / Nature & Medicine / The Cinema / Food / Business, Advertising & Inventions / Miscellaneous

Including:

What Oscar-winning film featured a scene with an estimated 300,000 extras? --GHANDI. The scene in the 1982 film was a recreation of the Indian leader's massive funeral in New Delhi on January 31, 1948.

What country once was plagued by a murderous religious sect whose members were called thugs? --INDIA. The group was wiped out by the British in the 19th century, but its name is still used to describe criminals.

What singer, as a teenager, ended up in juvenile detention center for shoplifting a Kiss T-shirt? --COURTNEY LOVE

In the late 1920s, who arranged 200 golf balls in neat rows in the hollow of a fallen tree at a public golf course in Winnnipeg, Canada? --A GOPHER, in the mistaken belief that they were eggs and would make appetizing wintertime eating.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 752 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579120865
• ISBN-13: 978-1579120863
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 5.7 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Large book packed with trivia questions and answers, November 9, 2001

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers (Hardcover)

5087 Trivia Questions and Answers is one of the most thorough collections that I have read. Of course one of the problems with trivia is that what one person finds fascinating another could care less about. So, while one person would be fascinated by the 74 pages of questions on Sports and Games, I could care less. Then again, the questions on the World and American history are great. With that in mind, knowing how much emphasis is placed on which categories should help determine if this book would be of interest to you. It is divided into fifteen chapters, each with it's own focus of questions. The chapters cover Arts, Comics & Literature, 64 pgs, Sports & Games, 74 pgs, War & the Military, 26 pgs, Television & Radio, 54 pgs, Business, Advertising & Inventions, 38 pgs, Religion, the Bible & Mythology, 14 pgs, America - Past & Present, 78 pgs, The World, 66 pgs, Language, 32 pgs, Food, 24 pgs, Music & Theater, 54 pgs, Presidential Trivia, 30 pgs, Science, Nature & Medicine, 50 pgs, The Cinema, 116 pgs, and Miscellaneous, 24 pgs.
One thing that was different about this trivia book when compared to others that I have read is that you can't really cheat with it. With most trivia books I have to admit that I end up doing something like the Jeopardy television show. It is so easy to look ahead when reading a question and kind of steal a glance at the answer. When the answer is right there, right after the question it is just so tempting to sneak a peak. After a while you can end up reading the answers and then the question. In this book the questions are on one page and the answers are on the back of the same page. No sneaking a peak. In addition, you can have two or three of you reading the book and discussing what you think the answers might be without someone looking ahead at the answers. I really liked the format, I really liked the trivia choices, I really liked most of the categories. Among trivia books, I really liked the book.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRIVIA LOVER'S DELIGHT, July 26, 2004

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers (Hardcover)

The way this book is formatted, it overcomes some problems that many other trivia books share. For starters it is neatly categorized so that the reader can easily access trivia related to a particular (broad) category, instead of everything being scrambled together as is often the case.

secondly, it is in a question and answer format with questions on one side of a page and their answers on the reverse side. Frequently, I have found myself bouncing back and forth from the front section of a book where the questions are found to the back section for their answers. Just turning the page for the answer is really helpful.

Some of the answers do amaze you, while others make you laugh, or add to your store of useful knowledge.

Some examples:

Q. "What is unusual about Mona Lisa's eyebrows in ...Davinci's Painting?
A. "She has none."

Q. "What was the hometown of Sgt. Snorkel in Beetle Bailey?" A. "Pork Corners, Kansas"

Here's a great one:

Q. "On what vegetable did an ancient Egyptian place his right hand when taking an oath?"
A. "The onion, its round shape symbolized eternity."

I could go on and on, but let me end with just one more.

Q. "Where did the British regae band UB40 get its name?"
A. "From the code number on the British unemployment benefit card."

There are 5 thousand plus entries in every category from "A" (Arts and Literature) to 2 entries under "W" (War and the Military and The World).

You can have a lot of fun with this book, I know that I do.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers (Hardcover)

I feel trivia books are helpful sources of information, however, some are not completely accurate. Unfortunately, there is a wrong answer to question#3475: In Peter and the Wolf, Sergei Prokofiev's popular symphonic fairy tale for children, what instrument is used to represent the cat? Answer: The oboe. This is incorrect. The cat is the clarinet. I hope I don't find to many other mistakes. If there is a list available for incorrect answers found in this book, I'd like a copy. Otherwise, I'll double check these answers before publicizing them.