World Trivia: The Book of Fascinating Facts: Culture, Politics and Geography [Paperback]

Michael S. Smith (Author), Crystal J. Smith (Illustrator), Cash Donovan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2002

As a 2004 Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products Award Winner, "World Trivia" reveals many amazing and amusing facts of culture, politics and geography around the world. Distinctly different from most trivia books, it illustrates a broad range of cultures and political realities with enhanced geographic and map information. It is designed to enrich our knowledge of the world and its people. This book is for all readers, especially those thinking globally. It is also a great teaching resource supplementing multicultural and social studies curricula.

Sample questions include:
• Which country has a ratio of sheep to people of about 20 to 1?
• Which is the only Asian country never to have been occupied by a foreign power?
• In which country do women sometimes have more than one husband (not the other way around)?
• In which country is collecting mushrooms a major national hobby?
• Which continent has only one river?

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The 2nd edition of "World Trivia" is a 2004 Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products Award Winner

About the Author

Michael Smith is the author of the award-winning book "Questions for Kids: A book to discover a child’s imagination and knowledge". He has lectured extensively on budget travel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: East West Discovery Press; 2 Revised edition (October 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966943724
• ISBN-13: 978-0966943726
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,471,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting little book - would have liked more, July 19, 2001

By 

"busypaige" (Kansas, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Trivia: The Book of Fascinating Facts : Culture, Politics and Geography (Paperback)

This is a great little trivia book for those who have an interest in geography. It is set up in a game format, with a question asked on one page and the answer given on the back. So with 262 pages, you get 131 interesting tidbits of information. I was a bit disappointed with the empty space on the pages (the reason for the *** rating) and would have liked to have seen double or triple the content (and would have even paid a little more for it!). Also, if you are a seasoned traveler, student of anthropology, history, etc., or a die-hard fan of the evening world news, you may already know quite a few of these facts. This book would be great for those junior or senior high social studies students who are just starting to learn about the world.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but too short, July 31, 2002

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: World Trivia: The Book of Fascinating Facts : Culture, Politics and Geography (Paperback)

"World Trivia" is a small book filled with trivia questions from around the world. Each page has a single question with the answer on the reverse. It contains an excellent selection of questions that I found genuinely interesting, however, with only one question on a page it contains only just over 130 questions. It would have been nice if there were two or three questions per page.

There are very few trivia books that have the nerve to ask questions on culture and politics because they change so quickly in some parts of the world. That is the situation here, some of the questions and answers are outdated because of the rapid political and cultural changes in the Middle East. It still makes an interesting read and is a great book to leave lying around for company to pick up and leaf through.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second Edition - more interesting trivia, June 6, 2003

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: World Trivia: The Book of Fascinating Facts: Culture, Politics and Geography (Paperback)

Like the prior edition this book contains a collection of trivia questions and answers that center around world culture, politics and geography. As such it is not only interesting but also educational. So many trivia books contain such obscure information that it has no value other than as a trivia question. That is not the case with either the first or the second edition of this book. "World Trivia", second edition is a complete rewrite that contains none of the questions of the first edition. Michael Smith again tackles one of the most difficult areas of trivia because culture, politics and many aspects of geography are in a state of constant flux. So, while the trivia questions and answers are accurate today, within a few years many of them may not be. With well-chosen educational and truly interesting questions the book is a recommended purchase.