Customer Reviews

Who Knew?: Things You Didn't Know About Things You Know Well

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

 

 

Did you know that Twinkies originally had banana-flavored filling in them rather than the vanilla we all know and love so well? They did, up until WWII when there was a banana shortage in the U.S. To quote the author, Who Knew? This is just one of the interesting tidbits of information you'll glean from this book. A must-read for any trivia lover, Who Knew? also makes enjoyable reading for the merely mildly curious. Have you ever wondered how Marilyn Monroe walked that walk? She lopped off the heel of one shoe! Highly recommended reading - and a great gift for those hard-to-buy-for folks on your gift list.

I enjoy these type of books and found it to be full of interesting facts. I can't give it a higher rating however because, for the most part, this book has one fact per page. It's not like the page is full of a lot of background information either. A fact may consist of a single sentence. You can read the entire book in 10 or 15 minutes.

What I loved about this book is that the information it contained was fresh and different from the typical trivia book. I first discovered it a year ago when a friend brought it along on a car trip and being confirmed know-it-alls, both of us were continually amused about what we didn't know (from the origins of popular phrases and products to tidbits about some of our favorite tv shows and movies). Since, I've given a number of copies as gifts. So I was extremely surprised when I read some of the dsigruntled reviews. Yes, there's only one factoid per page - but when they're all interesting, who cares? And I have to add this: The reader who claims the author said Jell-O emits brain waves, obviously misread the whole thing. What the book states is that "if Jell-O is hooked up to an EEG, it registers movements virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult." The 'it' refers to the EEG - not the Jell-O! And for the record, this isn't urban folklore. Several years ago, the Smithsonian did a symposium on Jell-O (yes, the Smithsonian!). And they concur: It's the result of a study performed in 1993 by technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia, NY, to confirm an earlier test by Dr. Adrian Upton. Hey, who knew?!?

This is a very short book filled with tones of completely random and largely useless facts. It is another collection of trivia, and not a very large one at that - the book is only 196 pages long, and each "fact" (most of which are not longer than a single sentence) occupies a whole page. Moreover, many of the "facts" presented here are in fact fallacies that have been tossed around for so long that have come to be thought of as true.

The book provides some amusing material for those situations in life when you are not going anywhere, and yet don't have the time to read something of a substance - dentist's waiting room, hairdresser, bathroom, etc. It could also serve as an inexpensive gift for people that you don't care about all that much. Otherwise, it's a rather disappointing book.

I have enjoyed this book for years, and decided to buy several copies for Teacher gifts. They loved them!!

The author asserts that Mr. Staub invented peanut butter. This is incorrect. While Staub patented a peanut butter making machine in 1903, it was Kellogg (yes, the Corn Flakes Kellogg) that popularized the "nut paste" that was the precursor of the peanut butter that we enjoy with our jelly today.

It would also have been prudent to acknowledge that renowned African-American scholar and scientist George Washington Carver is widely credited with the discovery of peanut butter.

However, while Carver invented over 300 uses for peanuts and approximately 118 uses for sweet potatoes in his efforts to decrease cotton farming and improve the commercial prospects for these alternative crops raised by predominantly black and poor rural farmers in the South, and while Carver's scientific and inventive prowess was acknowledged and sought after by American presidents, titans of industry like Henry Ford, and other international executives, Carver merely popularized the use of peanut butter and did not invent it. This would have been a more complete and accurate rendering of the history of peanut butter.

WIFE LOVES IT AND I ENJOY HER GIVING THE INFORMATION TO ME BY ASKING QUESTIONS WHICH PRODS MY THINKING AND GIVES MATERIAL FOR THE NEXT BULL SESSION WITH THE GUYS.

This is a Very Small book, I should have checked the dimensions. It has some interesting information

There are two problems with this book. The first is that it's so short - every page has only one sentence on it (most of the book is empty space). Also, there is a major fact-checking problem. For example, it says that Jello emits brain waves when attached to an EEG (this is a common, obviously false urban legend. It emits some kind of signal, but not brain waves, of course!)

I found a short Hallmark version of this book at the drugstore and picked it up after thumbing through a few pages. Imagine my dismay when I check on the 1st "fun fact" and find out its inaccurate. I love the idea of this book but bought it thinking it was true. Now every page is suspect. It kind of ruined the experience. Mr. Hoffman, please start off the first page with an accurate fun fact.....:-(