Trivia Books

I loved the book better than the game, but it was made before Dis or Dat, 3way, Coinkydink, Wendithap'ns and Anagram Questions came out. I'm reading it now!

(Although I'm the keeper of the only site on the net about the You Don't Know Jack games, this is a completely unbiased review.)

The book is hilarious! It really does enable you and a group of friends to play the game without a cumbersome computer. Dis or Dats, Gibberish Questions, and Jack Attacks are all here. It also contains some of the best questions from the games compressed into short, quick games.

All in all, a great party game or temporary roof shingle depending on your needs at the time.

If you're thinking about buying this book, BUY IT now and stop wasting the precious time you could be spending READING this thoroughly delightful and enlightening book. It is my favorite book of all times. It is brilliantly funny, poignant, insightful, fascinating (both in the content he covers and journey he takes in the process) and one of those books that you wish wouldn't end. I've already given this book as a gift many times (the recipients also loved it) and have actually re-read it several times. The only other book I've read multiple times is "A Confederacy of Dunces." A.J., if you're reading this, PLEASE, PLEASE write more. Skeptics out there, if you're reading this, here's my disclaimer: I don't know the author or anyone in his family or his circle of friends or probably anyone in his zip code. I asked a librarian at the Larkspur Public Library what the funniest book she ever read was, and she handed his book to me. Thank you, librarian, and thank you A.J. Jacobs!!!!!

Arnold Jacobs, Jr. chronicles his quest to be the "Smartest Person in the World" by reading every word of all 32 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, with a smattering of autobiographical information to spice it up. For instance, we learn that Arnold Jacobs, Sr., author of 24 legal books, is the holder of the world's records for the most footnotes in a legal article, with 4,824 footnotes in one published article. Arnold Jr., who goes by "A.J.," also has literary talent, being an editor for Esquire magazine.

A.J.'s quest to be the "Smartest Person in the World" included becoming a member of the elite organization, Mensa (although A.J. was accepted on the strength of his old SAT scores, having failed the actual Mensa test). This entitled him to receive the Mensa Bulletin, which has announcements for Mensa's special interest groups, like M-Prisoned, for Mensans who are incarcerated. A.J. particularly enjoyed finding typos in the Mensa Bulletin, which gave him a "special immature thrill."

The Encyclopaedia project allowed A.J. to interject new knowledge into daily conversation. For example, he and Julie, his wife, visited friends for a summer barbecue and some quodlibet (free-ranging conversation on a topic of choice, as in "Louis IX allowed his courtiers to engage in quodlibet after meals"). Friends and family of A.J. did not find this practice endearing. In fact, Julie started fining A.J. for every spontaneous fact that was not directly relevant, such as, "Did you know that René Descartes has a fetish for women with crossed eyes?"

A.J. does point out some very significant historical facts unfamiliar to many people, including the Taiping Rebellion and the Tunguska event. The Taiping Rebellion occurred in south and central China from 1850 to 1865. The import of this rebellion is that it resulted in about 20 million military and civilian deaths! In comparison, our own bloody Civil War took less than 700,000 lives.

The Tunguska event was a massive aerial explosion in central Siberia in 1908 that flattened more than 80 million trees over approximately 830 sq. miles. The energy of the explosion was equivalent to that of 10-15 megatons of TNT. Although the cause of the blast is still unclear, it was likely the result of either a large meteoroid or comet fragment exploding 3-6 miles above the earth.

I can't say that I felt saddened when A.J. finished reading the last entry of the last volume, "Zywiec," as I did when I read the last paragraph of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," but the Encyclopaedia project was interesting, educational, and, sometimes, laugh-out-loud funny. I also remain solidly in the observer status of this quest, with not even a hint of desire to read the entire Britannica, or any other encyclopedia.

This book is a great read; interesting, funny, and not mentally taxing. I had to read it with 'google' close at hand- he mentions so many interesting facts that I constantly was looking them up to read more. If I had one complaint it would be that I get a little tired of Jacob's complaints on the difficult/ time consuming/ stressful aspects of reading the encyclopedia. Other than that it is great- Jacobs seems just like the kind of guy you'd enjoy having a beer with.

Once I started to read this, I couldn't put it down! It was a great read and provides a lot of interesting info about the Bible.

Essentially, Jacobs uses the Encyclopedia Britannica as a tool to describe a year of his life. Although nothing unusually interesting happens in his life during that time (albeit his wife becomes pregnant and he does appear on Who Wants to be a Millionaire), the book works because he seamlessly weaves his humor, philosophical musings, and encyclopedia entries with the mundane everyday happenings in his life. I also enjoyed the book because the idea of reading the encyclopedia from A-Z is something ridiculous that I would do (I once tried to watch all the foreign films at the local video store from A to Z in order - of course Jacobs does much better because I only made it midway through the As). Finally, I liked Jacobs' humor because it is similar to Augusten Burroughs. I'm looking forward to reading The Year of Living Biblically.

i was very dissapointed with the information in this book, it was a boring read as well.

I recently had to move and I lost a couple boxes of books. The first book I thought of was An Incomplete Education. Finding it wasn't lost made my day all by itself.

Chock full of stuff that you shoulda learned in school but didn't. I wasn't interested in it at first, but it was recommended to me by a family member and I'm glad it was. Funny And informative.

This is not a "breezy little book of interesting facts" you will have hours of fun reading. It actually assumes you know a great deal more about the items it intends to teach you than you probably do.

I would say it is as much fun as reading a text book, but in truth, it is as much fun as reading 3,684 text books. Yes, that much fun.

This is that rare book that is not merely bad, but despicable. Sadly, it serves as exemplar of the very problem it claims to attack, which according to the glib introduction, is "a world of bits and bytes, of reruns and fast forwards, of information overloads and significant shortfalls."

The authors are too much in love with their own cleverness to provide the curious reader with lucid information, preferring to sabotage clarity with cynicism and loading the text with parenthetical references to pop culture, to the reader, and of course, to the authors themselves.

"Five Composers Whose Names Begin with the Letter P" is a pithy chapter head for bookstore browsing, but should a more complete education really include Poulenc and not Debussy? And if Puccini was lucky enough to have the right initial, why not explain what makes his music perennially popular, rather than making the gratuitous observation that Verdi fans may find him vulgar? Now in its third presumably profitable edition, this book is that most vulgar of accomplishments, the triumph of marketing over content. Puccini's operas, in contrast, are awash in gorgeous melody.

This book is for fun, but many of the "facts" are wrong or debatable. To correct just one: The universe has not been assumed to be infinite for about 100 years. A very little research would have avoided this erroneous premise.

P.S. Benjamin Franklin made many clever remarks. So why attribute one to him that he didn't make?

This book is really fun to read when friends are over or at family get-togethers. The facts and trivia are really interesting!!! Perfect for giftss!!

some are interesting but most of these facts are boring and irrelivent. save your money and google what you dont know.

This isn't a bad book to have lying around. Birds that produce milk. The best-endowed animal of all!! (Barnacles!), and many other facts I thought I knew (who is America named after?) Male chickens? Etc. I had no idea...

I can't resist books like this, full of factoid essays on a wide range of subjects ranging from earwig wee-wees to the density in the asteroid belt. The book is like a box of chocolates. You read one 400-word essay and then another and then another, and the next thing you know you've read the whole book!

A mushroom is the largest living thing (it's almost all underground). The tallest mountain in the world (Mauna Kea, not Mount Everest--you knew that) is mostly underwater. (A fine distinction is made between "tallest" and "highest," but hey we're just having fun here in the spirit of trivial pursuit.) The guillotine of course was not invented in France, and French toast, well, isn't. Most of the earth's oxygen comes from algae, etc.

What Messrs John Lloyd and John Mitchinson do here that many trivial books do not do is elaborate well. For example on the entry about oxygen from algae, they let us know that oil and gas come from ancient algae. (Coal is what comes from ancient swampy forests.) They also mention spirulina, food from cyanobacteria that may one day feed humanity's hungry masses since it "yields twenty times more protein per acre than soya beans." So have another spirulina smoothie. Their entry on where you're most likely to get caught in a hailstorm (the Western Highlands of Kenya) elaborates on the size of hailstones (US record, seven inches in diameter hitting the ground in Aurora, Nebraska at 100 MPH in 2003) and how much damage they cause. But hailstorms can be good. A friend and I got caught in a furious hailstorm lasting maybe twenty minutes a couple months ago in Florida. Result: the car, which was caked with smashed-on insects from a cross country trek, as a result of the hard-driving hail, became as clean as if just out of the carwash! I kid you not.

Most of the juicy info in the book is just delicious, but of course I have a few cautionary notes to share. I like the question/answer format but sometimes, in their effort to surprise, the authors seem to be reaching for it a bit, as in "What's the single largest man-made structure on earth?" Not the Great Pyramid or the Great Wall of China, but the Fresh Kills garbage dump on Staten Island. Or, in "Where's the coolest place in the universe?" A lab in Finland in which a pieced of rhodium was cooled to within a billionth of a degree of above absolute zero. Problem here (aside from fooling us) is, how would they know? Maybe some creatures in the Andromeda Galaxy have cooled rhodium to within a trillionth of a degree above absolute zero.

But I'm nitpicking. A more serious criticism is that some of their information is not exactly accurate. They claim on page 65 that hippos are "strict vegetarians" but anybody who's seen the PBS nature special knows that hippos will muscle the crocs aside on occasion and bite into rotting flesh left on the riverbank. And on pages 105-106 they write that the word "gringos," sometimes used by people south of the border to refer to people north of the border, "is thought to come from the Spanish `griego' (Greek)--hence any foreigner (as in the English `it's all Greek to me')." Actually, "gringo" is a corruption of the words "green grow" ("...the lilacs and so does the rue") lyrics from a popular song sung by Anglos around the campfire at night as they travelled westward in covered wagons during the nineteenth century.

In some cases our clever authors equivocate and seem to have their trivia both ways. On page 19 they write "Ice cream may well be a Chinese invention...," while on page 74 they let us know that Nero (who did NOT fiddle while Rome burned) "also invented ice cream." In answer to the question, "What was the first animal to be domesticated?" they give no clear answer, instead they equivocate between reindeers and dogs around 14,000 years ago. I think most authorities would go with dogs.

Regardless of these minor criticisms, I can recommend "The Book of General Ignorance" as a "betcha can't read just one" sort of fun trivia collection.

This record book is the best that Guiness has put out. Full of large pictures, some that fold out, and more detailed explanations of the feats that are considered world records. Granted, some records are serious and important. Some, however are just silly and intertaining. This is definitely the book for the person who loves to know all the arcane things.

Great book - excellent for a gift. Great reading to see just how far some people will go to get their name in print.

Best value and great delivery. Delivered promptly as always and as I've learned to expect from Amazon.

This book did not have alot of records its more for kids a lot of 1st things done are records, glow in the dark pictures, and fold out pictures. to many pix not enough info.WWE wrestling which is fake is in there. I did not like it the old books are way better.

I got this from my library,and was so dissapointed! The book is so big and awkward to hold,and the info is no where near as detailed as I remember the paperback editions being. They can keep their 'Glow In The Dark' issue,I'm not the least bit interested in this direction,these formerly great books are now headed.

I wouldn't want this book if it was given to me free,let alone consider buying it!

If you like cocktail party nuggets of knowledge, then you'll enjoy this compendium. Each chapter contains an array of quirky topics, and each has a few paragraphs on the subject, which might be about odd subjects such as religions with supernatural females, or how certain emperors met their fate. It is the light hearted kind of tome you can pick up and put down repeatedly, and each time find something new.

Great book, which I suspected before I bought it. I was thrilled to find a topic I already had done quite a bit of research on and had also bored my family and friends to tears with... "Rock Stars who Died at 27" (might not be right on title, but you get my drift). I was so thrilled to see that I wasn't the only one expounding on it! Other than that, so much information, so interesting... well done.

There seems to be a trend over the last 10 years of books that try to make academic subjects more enjoyable and interesting--series such as the Idiot's and Dummies books, for example--which are often well done despite their light-hearted approach. This book seems to follow in their footsteps. Sure, it sometimes glosses over the subject matter, and doesn't go into a lot of technical detail, but if you consider that after reading one of the chapters in this book on, say, general science, history, or literature, the average person will probably know more than they remember from that college course of many years ago, these books do perform a useful service.

Of course, the pundits can always claim that they're just dumbing down their subject, but on the other hand, what better way to get the current semi-literate generation raised on MTV and video games to actually read something worthwhile for a change?

At this point I might fall into that category myself. :-) I was one of the "grinds," who studied sedulously and diligently while the other students were goofing off or partying, but what with the ravages of age and memory, much of that learning had been forgotten. When I read the chapter on art history, for example, I learned some new things, and many things that I had forgotten came back. Funny how powerful the principle of multiple association is, and memory psychologists have of course studied this in detail. But for me reading this book not only gave me some new insights but brought back so much that I had forgotten. So for me it was truly a little trip down "memory lane."

You'll find all the usual academic subjects here, as well as juicy tidbits and trivia such as "rock stars that died at 27." Sometimes the choice of a topic just seems to come from left field, such as in "The Ceremony of the Bambara People," in the Theater chapter, but it's all fun and you still learn a lot. (Oddly enough, my father, who was an amateur collecter of Africa art, had a Bambara antelope sculpture in his collection).

The book is well written and is just chock full of fun information, trivia, and facts. It's a fun, enjoyable, and even seductive little romp through many fields of learning, and gets points for performing a useful educational service. If people in this country just knew what was in this book they'd be a lot better off than they are now.

simply a delight to read. it's great to cram all of these random facts in when you have nothing else to do. even would make a great book for the loo.

Just as it promises, this is a fine book to get condensed knowledge on just about anything. It also stimulates you to research further on the subjects that intrigue you. Hmmm, I might have to pass this on to my teenage son and see if it stimulates his curiousity beyond video games...

I used this book to help me prepare for appearances on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "The Weakest Link" and also to study for the "Jeopardy!" exam (which I passed). One of my questions on "The Weakest Link" was even something I had specifically seen in the book the night before the taping! I have since used the book as a handy reference numerous times.

I would perhaps ruefully suggest the addition of a certain piece of (in my opinion, obscure) information that was my downfall on "Millionaire" - that the lead singer of The Sugarcubes was Bjork. For the record, the "Millionaire" audience didn't know that either.

I highly recommend this book and am grateful to the author for his work in painstakingly cataloging so many facts.

I bought the book to prepare (cram, really) with about three weeks' lead time for my Jeopardy appearance. I can't say enough about the value of a reference like this when you have limited time. My friend and I used it over lunch and flipped through different categories each day. In turn, the things we went over gave us a springboard to look into other sources.

Remember, too, that if you're on a game show you most likely won't get questions so cut-and-dried as they appear in the book. ("Here's a fact; here's its location or date.") If you're studying with someone else, have them make up questions that use the info from the book.

The most helpful parts of the book involved frequently recalled figures and events of countries or eras. If you're asked about a Norwegian composer, you'll most likely answer, "Grieg." The author focuses on this level of information so that you know no more and no less than what you'll need in this situation.

But what good is easily accessible information if it's just plain WRONG? Other reviewers have noted the errors they found; for me, it came when he listed the director of Sunset Boulevard as Cecil B. DeMille... and then listed it correctly (Billy Wilder) on the very next page. And the director of Scarface: Jonathan Demme? Please. These are bush league facts that many non-trivia-geeks could recall at a moment's notice. Unacceptable.

I also noted some slightly odd choices for lists of "notables." Maybe it's just my perspective, but in some cases I'd never heard of a particular film or book that the author listed as a major work.

It's not expensive, so I'd recommend the purchase. However, keep your skepticism handy.

Every Jeopardy winner wants to cash in , and by and large this is a decent volume, but there are too many errors that I caught for it to be truly reliable. I wouldn't use a question from it without checking one other source. Clearly not all of these were carefully checked.

This book purports to offer information necessary to do well on game shows such as Jeopardy!, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and so on. So of all things, such a source must be RELIABLE. This book is not reliable at all. It is fraught with so many errors that it's really not worth buying. Apparently Mr. Ferrill couldn't find anyone willing to edit his book. I could enumerate the errors that I found after carefully looking through the text, but I don't see what that would accomplish. Others have listed some errors that they found from quickly skimming it. That should tell you something.

Even if it were only the spelling errors and typos, I would say that this book is unforgivably sloppy; when writing a reference, especially one detailing trivia, it is essential that one proofreads carefully. One should not have typos such as "The designer of the TWA airpost" (rather than airport) being Eero Saarinen; the "probably pioneer" (rather than probability pioneer) being Blaise Pascal; a Japanese gangster being a Yasuka (rather than a Yakuza, I think); the Aztec god being Quetzaquadl (rather than Quetzalcoatl, unless that's an acceptable alternate spelling or a more recent transliteration of the spelling than I learned, which I suppose is possible); Kim Dae Jung did not win the "Noble" peace prize, but the Nobel; the Korean War Armistice Site is Panmunjon, not Panmunjom; the long wooden Swiss horn is an Alpenhorn, not an Alpinhorn; J.P. Morgan was a banking magnate, not a banking magnet; Lauasia was a "Northern" supercontinent, not a "Nouthern" one; Gneiss is "coarse" grain rock, not "course"; the author of "The Last Days of Pompeii" is Edward Bulwer-Lytton, not Edward Buliver-Litton; the Indians of Southern Florida are the Seminoles, not the Semiloles; Dave Barry is (was) the columnist for the Miami Herald, not Dave Berry; it is, shall we say, somewhat sloppy to say of James Knox Polk that "He was a ran on the platform of 'Manifest Destiny'..."; to say of Theodore Roosevelt that "he was the first president to travel outside the USA during his presidency to dedicate the Panama Canal" leads to the question, "did other presidents travel outside the USA during their presidencies for purposes OTHER than dedicating the Panama Canal?"; the ending year of Victoria's reign (1901) is left out of the table, although it is deducible by the fact that that is the year listed as the beginning of the reign of her successor; Eleanor of Aquitaine was "The Crusader Queen", not "The Cursader Queen"; Oberon is the king of the fairies, not the king of the faireis; the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984 was Walter Mondale, not Walter Monday; Marberry vs. Madison was declared unconstitutional, not "declaired" unconstitutional; the Territory bought from Mexico was the Gadsden Purchase, not the Gadsden Purchas; the Montana Freemen is a Militia, not a Malitia (although I'm sure their opponents consider the "mal" prefix appropriate); the 20th century Secretary of State from Maine was Edmund Muskie, not Edwin; the nickname of the sports teams from Wake Forest University is the Demon Deacons, not the Deamon Decons; the Senator from Texas is Phil Gramm, not Phil Grahm; Amelia Earhart was a pilot, not a pilor (whatever that may be); "Swashbucklers" is one word, not two (Swash Bucklers); Mount McKinley's native name is Denali, not Danili; the Battle of Leyte Gulf is "The largest sea battle in history; off the coast of the Philippines" NOT "The largest sea battle in history of the coast of the Philippines"; but the biggest error I found, the most truly unforgivable because it was unarguably an error of fact and not a typo or misspelling or grammatical error (as though those errors in a reference book were acceptable) was the identification of Alan Alda as "the Same Time Next Year & Catch-22 actor"; Alan Alda DID appear in "Same Time Next Year", but the Alan in Catch-22 was Alan ARKIN". Alan Alda did NOT appear in Catch-22, not even in a minor role.

Some may claim that this is picking nits, but how can you trust the information in a reference book that is so sloppily edited and proofread? It's ridiculous.

This book was jam-packed with both spelling and content errors; i am amazed that a man who considers himself a "Harry Potter authority" managed to misspell 'Ravenclaw' three times. Leading readers to believe that JK Rowling lives in Kensington (she lives in Edinburgh)and that zodiac ends in 'k', it makes me wonder a) if Lawrence pulled all his information off of casual fan sites who had no sources to back up their information, and b) whether anybody bothered to read this book before it was published.
There was some okay trivia, but none of it was incredibly challenging, and some of it was completely and utterly useless: i didn't buy the book to find out exactly how many copies of Order of the Phoenix were sold on the release date, or to find out information about some place that was used as a backdrop for one of the films. My advice: if you are an obsessive Harry Potter fan, like me, and are looking for a good trivia/companion book, DON'T choose this one.

Like others posting reviews, I can not fully enjoy any book that is jam-packed with mistakes. Blatant spelling mistakes repeated several times just chip away at an otherwise interesting compilation of facts about J.K. Rowling and the HP books and movies. The Multiple choice format could possibly be fun for a gathering of HP fans but was sometimes annoying when trying to flip forward and back between the answers. I'm rating it two stars for interesting content but horrible presentation.

A wonderfull mix of the old, new, and little known facts about Harry Potter and his creator, JK Rowling. Some people seem to forget that there is more to the Harry Potter books than paper and words. Someone actually has to WRITE them. This book rightly includes facts about JK Rowling herself along with the books and movies.

This was engaging and, like junk food, hard to put down after only a few pages. A very high degree of difficulty, especially for casual fans, but still fun.

This book delivered on the trivia exactly as promised but, I agree with the reviewer who is not interested in JK Rowling's midwife and favorite childhood book. HP fans want HP info and I think this book covered too much about the author. If I wanted a biography of JK Rowling I would have bought one. The same thing goes for the number of books published and the kind of paper they were printed on. I'm seeking a book on HP like "The Vampire Companion" published as the official guide to Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles", or like "The Cat Who... Campanion" that have brief plots and character descriptions, maps, and other info on places, themes and symbols contained in the books. If you're looking for the same thing, skip this book

Not what i thought it would be. Describes the stars life more than the deaths.

If you are the type of person who shares an interest in the movies and television with a love of reading, and has a certain curiosity, you will find this book to be both appealing and addictive. Once you start skipping through its pages you'll likely find it difficult to put down, at least for any length of time.

Don't be deceived by the title, though: it is much more about life and living than it is about death. But death sells and life doesn't. In any case, the book recounts the lives and deaths of many of Hollywood's well-known and lesser stars, both long-past and fairly recent; concentrating most heavily on their lives, successes, failures, fears, anxieties, and failings. But, as the title implies, each brief life story ends with a star's death; some accidental, others alcohol or drug related, some in obscurity, others murdered, by natural causes, simply puzzling, or by suicide. If you're a movie fan, and especially if you're a trivia fan, you can't help but be captivated.

Besides being interesting, however, these stories also tell us a bit about human nature. For many of these stars, who appeared to be on top of the world, with everything to live for, somehow felt that they were unworthy or had nothing and that nothing was of any value. Others felt threatened or overwhelmed, especially when they aged, or felt their sex appeal, fame, adulation, or simply their livelihood slipping away.

Best of all, however, besides telling its stories, this book is also a feast for trivia fans. Where else can you learn such obscure facts as these: that Florence Lawrence was the first actor named in a film and the first movie actor whose name was known by the public; that a placard placed at John Belushi's graveside reads, "He could have given us a lot more laughs, but noooooo."; that before dying penniless and alone, child actor Bobby Driscoll said of himself, "I was carried on a satin cushion and then dropped into the garbage can."; that when the not so sophisticated "It Girl," Clara Bow, was asked what "It" was," she replied, "I ain't real sure."; that Lou Costello's last words were, "That's the best ice cream soda I ever tasted."; that Greta Garbo didn't really "want to be alone," she simply wanted to be left alone; that, just before he died, Edmund Gwenn, Santa Clause in "Miracle on 34th Street", when told "It's awfully tough, isn't it?" replied, "Yes, it's tough, but not as tough as doing comedy."; that Elvis Presley's will requested that his funeral procession include 16 white Cadillacs and one white hound dog; that the supposed great movie lover, Charles Boyer, committed suicide two days after his wife of 44 years died of cancer; that the famous "Hollywood" sign was erected to promote a real estate development and originally read "Hollywoodland"; or, finally, that Herv'e Villechaize of "De plane! De plane!" fame was the youngest artist ever to have a painting hung in the prestigious Museum of Paris?

If those don't peak your interest and get your trivia juices flowing nothing will. Enjoy! Five stars.

This is a great book. Anyone interested in the seedy history of Hollywood stars will definitely enjoy this book.

The title of the book says it all. The book details the deaths and often the lives of some of Hollywoods favorite players. It is broken up into sections depending on the type of death. Some of the catagories and people in them are:
1. Mysterious:
a. Natalie Wood
b.Sal Mineo
c. Bruce and Brandon Lee
and many more

2.in obserity-these people had not been in the limelight in a while
a. Lucille Ball
b. Joan Crawford
c. Mary Pickford
as well as many more

3. suicide
a. Freddy Prinz
b. Lupe Velez
as well as others

4. Drugs/alcohol
a. Judy Garland
b. Chris Farley
c. John Barrymore
and many more

This book is full of interesting tidpits that any person who loves old Hollywood will definitly injoy

Very Good book, well written.
I for some reason have a morbid fascination into hollywood deaths and this book definately satisfies my curiosity.
Highly recommend

I very much enjoyed this third edition of 'Muggles and Magic', and it's great to have a new, up to date issue! I disagree with reviewers who have written, 'This material is all available elsewhere'; that may be the case, but why spend hours searching for it in other volumes, websites or magazines (who has time for that??) when it's all been gathered together for you here? Mr Beahm has taken the time to compile an extensive volume which gives many interesting insights into the world of HP, the thoughts of J K Rowling and even the HP fan base and their activities! If you want a manual which covers all topics related to HP - books, collectibles et al - then this is the book for you! Kirk's illustrations are wonderful and they, together with some great photos, bring extra entertainment to the pages.

I'll admit that I initially bought the book because I'd heard the fan trips were highlighted in it. And when I received the book, was delighted and tickled to find a group photo that I'm in (and it's clear enough to see everyone) was in the book! How cool is that? (Though it's too bad one of my friends got cut out due to poor cropping...and the 2005 group shot was in with the 2004 trip...but we let George know that after meeting him. :) He's very nice.)

The book is interesting in its own right but at times is a little hard to follow. It doesn't seem to be in any particular order.

Having said that, I'm still glad I got the book.

I've also had the pleasure of listening to George Beahm (and illustrator Tim Kirk) speak and they both signed my book. They are both incredibly interesting to listen to, and even if you don't favour this book, give the others by George Beahm a go.

As an adult fan of the Harry Potter series, I am fascinated by Ms. Rowling and her talent as a writer which brought this magical world to life. When I purchased 'Muggles and Magic,' I looked forward to reading more about the author and the pop culture surrounding this phenomenon.

After reading Beahm's publication, I have to say that I'm disappointed. Essentially, this book is a collection of articles highlighting Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling facts that have been featured elsewhere. (I.e. newspapers, magazines, online, etc.) While some of the articles have good information about Rowling, there were times where reading them made me feel uncomfortable. I wondered how Ms. Rowling, a famously private person who is not afraid to speak up to defend her character, would feel about the clippings that delve into her painful past. She makes a point to dissuade such stories on her personal Web page, and reading them in this "fan" book seemed more like reading gossip than fact.

Other articles in the book simply have fraudulent and outdated information that Beahm hasn't bothered to research and update, such as that Dan Radcliffe has bowed out of all of the films after 'Goblet of Fire' (he hasn't, and is telling the press he's signed on for 'Order of the Phoenix'), and that J.K. Rowling's Web site doesn't feature a F.A.Q. (it does, here: http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq.cfm).

Another problem I had with this book was the higgledy-piggledy way it seems to have been put together. There's no real rhyme or reason to the selections, and the collection doesn't flow but rather jerks, such as from an article about owning owls as pets to another about Joanne's involvement in a cancer charity.

Beahm is clearly a fan and I can tell he had fun putting this little book of Potter/Rowling odds and ends together. Had a little more research been done and a bit more time spent on fashioning the information together, this would be a fleshed-out companion worthy of the world of Harry Potter.

I like this book a lot, and I am dis-heartened to read all
the unfavorable reviews about it. it's a great general
resource book on the Harry Potter phenomenon.

I like having all this information at my finger tips in book
form. The book is divided into clear concise sections, and
has a wealth of information within each of them.

I especially like the merchandise section. I like to know
what products are out there. there is even a web-site guide
so you know where to go to find all the latest news at the
biggest and best HP sites around.

what this book is not is a theory book. it doesn't delve into
what things might mean in the books or films, it sticks simply
with the facts of the Harry Potter fandom.

there is a ton of information and trivia about JK Rowling
herself, along with a lot of great quotes and pictures.
as well as photos of some of the big Harry Potter events
around the world.

I find it a great resource to have around, and a lasting
tribute to the Harry Potter Phenomenon.

I am the author and this edition doesn't exist -- it never has. At one point, there was a plan to issue a run in hardback for libraries, but that plan was never put into effect. So don't go looking for a hardback edition of this book through used booksellers because you'd be searching in vain.

PS: Amazon.com's policies require that the author "review" his book by giving it from 1 to 5 stars. I believe the author should have his say about his own book on Amazon, but there should be an option to write about it without having to give it a ranking. It has nothing to do with being a "curious bit of self-promotion" (as one reader put it) because there's nothing curious about it, and it's bad self-promotion besides. Amazon is forcing the issue and what can any author do except give himself the benefit of the doubt?

That said, if an author does write a book, he usually feels (as I do) that he's given it his best effort and, at least, in his mind it should rate pretty high on the scale. As to what you can believe on an Amazon review, I have always felt a professionally written review (from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY or LIBRARY JOURNAL) is always fair and impartial, and usually consistent, whereas fan "reviews" (in fact, opinions) vary wildly and are therefore suspect.