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50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know Paperback – November 1, 2003

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Russ Kick (Author)
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3.4 out of 5 stars 23 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: Things You're Not Supposed to Know
  • Paperback: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Disinformation Books (November 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0971394288
  • ISBN-13: 978-0971394285
  • Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.3 x 5.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsDecent bathroom reading.
By J. Arendt on July 30, 2004
Format: 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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4.0 out of 5 starsLittle facts more people should know
By A Customer on November 17, 2003
Format: 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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4.0 out of 5 starsA Fun Romp through the World of "Secrets"
By Peter Kobs on April 22, 2006
Format: 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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3.0 out of 5 starsTries. Does not succeed.
By Robert Beveridge HALL OF FAMEVINE VOICE on March 23, 2006
Format: Paperback
Russ Kick, 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know (disinfo,com, 2003)

Don't you love books like this? Their titles promise you the secrets of the universe (which universe, of course, depends on what you're reading into the title), but what they deliver is invariably not what you were looking for. Expect the same here.

When he's on his game, Kick does deliver some interesting and relatively obscure data to the reader. When he's not, which is unfortunately all too often, he hands us stuff that's been on at least a thousand trivia lists circling the internet at any given time. Combine this with Kick's obvious slant towards some of his subject matter, which is so predictable it's almost stereotypical, and you get a book that, despite its slimness, can be wearying at times.

Good to pick up and riffle through once in a while looking for something random. Not a keeper, though. ** ½
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2.0 out of 5 starsMixed bag---a few bombshells, but mostly hyperbole
By Jason Mierek on December 19, 2006
Format: Paperback
This 1/4" thick, 4x6 index card of a book touts itself as a "take-no-prisoners" exposé when it is, in fact, merely a collection of random "shocking" trivia. Sadly, the few real bombshells that the book DOES contain are overwhelmed by the hyperbolic tone of the rest.

Here are the bombshells, facts that might make us seriously re-evaluate our relationship with those in power:
- The US is Planning to Provoke Terrorist Attacks
- Kent State Wasn't the Only---or Even the First---Massacre of College Students During the Vietnam Era
- Juries are Allowed to Judge the Law, Not Just the Facts
- The Government Can Take Your House and Land, Then Sell Them to Private Corporations
- Prescription Drugs Kill Over 100,000 Annually
- Work Kills More People Than War

The quality of the other 44 topics ranges from moderately interesting yet trivial ("Adolf Hitler's Blood Relatives are Alive and Well in New York State" and "The Virginia Colonists Practiced Cannibalism") to no-brainers such as "Advertisers' Influence on the News Media is Widespread." There is no consistent theme linking the 50 disparate "things you're not supposed to know," other than the fact that they are "supposed" to be secrets, but that assertion is pure hyperbole. After all, all it takes to find out that the Korean War never ended, that nuclear war almost broke out in 1995, or that LSD was a used as a powerful adjunct to psychotherapy, is a glance at Wikipedia, hardly a repository of repressed esotericism.

This is a pretty good place to start learning "secret" information if you're still embedded in the indoctrination factory we call junior high or high school, and it admittedly makes for decent bathroom reading, but those interested in real bombshells would do well to look elsewhere.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsPerfect for someone who likes to know random facts about ...

Really interesting stuff in here! Perfect for someone who likes to know random facts about anything and everything.

Published 3 months ago by cdcb1787
1.0 out of 5 starsTerrible book. I wouldn't even use this as a ...

Terrible book. I wouldn't even use this as a coffee table book. At best, it belongs on the back of the commode.

Published 7 months ago by Jerry Hughes
3.0 out of 5 stars50 Things...

Much of what is in this little booklet I already knew, having read brief commentaries on them in the past, so feel it was over-priced. Read more

Published 11 months ago by great granny
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

same old thing...again and again

Published 13 months ago by Charles Richie
5.0 out of 5 starsInteresting read

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I thought this book, but it sounded interesting. The stories, whether they be fact or fiction, are all really interesting, and entertaining. Read more

Published on June 5, 2013 by video007man
4.0 out of 5 starsTeaser

Good book with a lot of information. Some things I already knew but most I didn't. Wide variety of subjects are covered.

Published on February 2, 2010 by Damian M. Daugereaux
5.0 out of 5 starsBlends compelling alt journalism, with conspiracy whackjobs

Some of the arguments are incredibly compelling, solidly documented and some of the others are just weird conpiracist nonsense, hearsay, or trivial facts. Read more

Published on June 21, 2009 by hailzoidberg
3.0 out of 5 starsNo mind blowing information here.

This is entitled _50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know_. It should be entitled _50 Quasi-interesting Factoids_. Read more

Published on February 11, 2008 by Blaster B
2.0 out of 5 starsnot recommended

This book is nowhere near the others like it and the topics it covers are boring. Dont waste your time or your money.

Published on November 6, 2007 by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsGetting the Truth Out

I got this little book in a package of discount books I received a little while ago. I didn't know anything about it and I wasn't aware it was a sequel to another book I hadn't... Read more

Published on March 2, 2007 by Timothy Haugh

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