Trivia Books

This fascinating read is fun, educational and truly lyrical. Entertaining for adults and great fun and inspiration for kids. I wish they'd have taught me history like this in school.

The iconic cover image sets the stage for this exuberant escapade through history and science. Essay topics are well organized and documented in the Contents and Appendix.
Encore, encore!

Poorly written. Simple, sophomoric and boring. Barely more interesting than a grammar school history book. You'll find out more and more interesting facts by spending a day watching The History Channel. The author is overly impressed with his own statements and over uses the exclamation point "Isn't this fact EXCITING!? No, not really." to try and make things that are boring, everyday knowledge interesting. This book fails at all levels. The only people I could see finding any of this interesting are young children. You'd be better off getting it from the library and then only for the bibliography at the back of the book for the reference works the author used to write this.

I enjoy history and trivia, so I snapped up this book seeking eye-opening historical perspectives - after all, the author is an award-winning writer at Jeopardy. What I found was a smattering of mildly amusing factoids, lots of basics I already knew (overview of the Big Bang, most of the human body is water, etc), and a slew kiddie jokes.

The 'biggest murderer in history', for instance, turns out to be Cain because he decimated one-fourth of the world's population at the time. See what I mean? Don't get me wrong, if you're 13 and don't know who Horatio Nelson is, don't know that the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius calcinated people where they stood, or are amused by quotes from record industry executives saying the Beatles would never make it, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, you'll find it much too short, rehashing too many history concepts any high school graduate should know, and full of lame attempts at humor.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh; just know that this books seems to have been intended for a younger audience (early teens, I would guess). Yes, it would be a fine present for a youngster interested in history, but not for people who have already been exposed to books and travel in some measure. In the end, it doesn't hold enough to captivate older readers and a free browse through Wikipedia may prove much more enlightenting.

I am a retired lawyer, a book-lover, and a loyal fan of the Bundy family. This book is near the top of my list - "The Worst Books I Have Read in the Past Fifty Years." It is poorly made, unorganized, poorly written, and replete with errors. I should have returned it for a refund but after reading it I was so annoyed that I took the satisfaction of throwing it in the trash. Fans of this great TV show can do much, much better by visiting the free Married with Children sites on the internet.

Really tests your knowledge of the show. Great companion piece for the video collection!

I was surprised, ecstatic and overjoyed to see this book. I grew up with Married with Children and am a Bundy at heart. I can relate to them better than most TV families. I go to all the MWC sites and do every trivia and quiz I can. So when I seen this MWC trivia book I just had to have it. I like how the author breaks it down into simple, medium, hard and expert. It can appeal to all levels of MWC fandom. How much do you know? I have to admit, some of the expert questions were really tough, like the Bundy's phone number and when are their birthdays. I tought I knew everything about the Bundys especially being an at home mom who has watched the show everyday for the last ten years. The
author really did his homework and took time with the layout.
Before each section of questions, the author will list different thing about the show that are special to him, like his ten favorite shows, {can anyone pick just ten?} the Christmas poem, Al's speech. This is a fun book even if you are not a MWC fanatic like I am. I would highly recommend it to other MWC fans.. Thank you, Trudy

I am not necessarily a trivia nut,but I do love this show, but I think the book was ok, but not that great, as some of this trivia is quite hard and I, personnally, did not like the way the book was laid out,but it was fun and informative.

If you want a book to read that's silly, humorous, and teaches a good idea, then you will love Table Manners by Chris Raschka and Vladimir Radunsky. This book takes table manners to the extreme and tells kids what not to do, and then what is proper. The book is somewhat believable, like don't talk with your mouth full. Other things are just nonsense like if you talk with food in your mouth then your mother's hair will be covered in colored sprinkles. Chester is trying to teach Dudunya about table manners, but sometimes it's hard because he takes things literally. These characters have two sides in showing their bad table manners and what not to do, and then showing their good manners. The characters' conversation was very real, but always silly. There was no real setting to the book. This book is hilarious, and has you turning it upside down to read, kids could learn something about table manners in a fun way from this book. Kids will read this book over and over!

For all parents who sit at mealtime giving directives, shaking their heads, and sighing as they watch their children chow down, there is finally a book about table manners kids will just eat up. Chris Raschka and Vladimir Radunsky have provided the logical reasons in word and art, for all those things you've been telling your kids for years...please chew with your mouth closed, don't play with your food, use your napkin, wash your hands before you come to the table, no dessert until you eat your vegetables... Written in hip, kid-speak language, their hilarious text is complemented by bold, bright and expressive artwork that will have readers laughing out loud and rolling in the aisles. Perfect for kids 4-8, Table Manners is a high spirited, manic romp through the ins and outs of basic eating skills, and youngsters will have such a good time poring over this busy book, they may not even realize there are subtle messages and simple lessons behind all the fun.

This book on table manners has charming art and dryly funny text -- for an adult. The manners taught in it are way, way too simple for anyone but a 2 year old (eat with a spoon--not your hands, wipe on the napkin--not your sleeve, Don't put food in your hair), while the pictures and text are far too advanced for a two year old. A Ten year old might be tickled by the elaborate Russian names, but a child young enough for those lessons can barely talk yet. I bought Tiffany's Table Manners instead, and while it describes too many advanced manners for young children, it has a sufficiency of the ones they need, with plenty more to grow into.

I've had this book for sometime (bought based on the first recommendation here ...), but found it hard to characterize this book: the humor seems to gear towards the young adolescent reader, the content--simple, simple instructions on table manners--seems to aim at the 2 or 3 year olds, the art work in the book (and the odd inclusion of photographs of headshots) seems to beg for appreciation from an adult reader (and it is not my cup of tea). I suggest that before you shell out ... look through the sample pages here to make sure that this is for you.

Still haven't received the shipment. Ordered it originally for a Christmas present but it wasn't able to be shipped in time. Very disappointed.

If your a real VH fan you will buy this book!

This book would make a perfect gift for the Van Halen-obsessed. It contains a mind-boggling amount of research, and if you care about little details like what the Edge, U2's guitarist, said about the US presidency in relation to Van Halen, or how much guacomoli was made available backstage after a VH concert, this is the book for you. It's certainly more thorough than most trivia books. Even major VH fans will find that the book stops just short of telling them more than they ever wanted to know. If you add it to your VH collection, you'll probably find that it's the single greatest source of facts on VH out there.

I got this as a gift, and the questions are just not that great. Most questions are similar to this (not a quote): "What color was Jason's nose hair in the movie 'Friday the 13th'? ", which is great if you know the answer, but pretty useless information. And some of the questions, such as "In Sweden, who leaves the eggs for easter?" they give the answer "the cuckoo" which is not correct, it's the easter bunny as it is everywhere else. Also, today's question is "How many buttons are there on a U.S. sailer's bell-bottom pants?" they say the answer is "13" but that's not true. It's only called a "13 button pant" but there are really 14 if you ever actually look at them. Anyways, those pants were replaced by zipper pants so this trivia question is old AND incorrect.

I ordered this item in early February and it never came and I was getting extremely frustrated so I canceled my order. Why wait for a dated calendar when I probably wasn't going to get it until 2008 anyways? But I'm sure it would've been a fun thing to read everyday. Especially since I love useless knowledge! Unfortunately for me, I won't have this opportunity because of the poor service at AMAZON! A little notice on the part of AMAZON.COM as to why this item was delayed would've been great. So buyer, purchase at your own risk and I hope you actually recieve this item, then maybe you can tell me if you liked it or not!

This is a great item for any trivia buff to have at their desk. I'm a trivia buff and I have one at my desk. As you rip off each day, you are presented with a new piece of trivia. Sometimes you come across something you already know. For instance, being a St. Louis Cardinals fan I already knew the answer to "What is the major league baseball record for most consecutive bases stolen without getting caught?" A: 50, set by Cardinal Vince Coleman in 1989. Others I had never heard before, such as "How did enthusiasts come to be called buffs--as in sports buffs, opera buffs, computer buffs, etc.?" A: From the buff-colored coats once worn by New York City volunteer firemen who became known as fire buffs. Learn something everyday!

She should fire her editor. Any idiot half knowledgeable in Wisconsin trivia that doesn't know to include General Billy Mitchell, Laura Ingalls or the proper names of the Indian tribes has no business writing or editing.

I never thought a trivia book could be so entertaining! Informative and clever, Conard makes learning about the state of Wisconsin fun!!

I've been a Wisconsin resident nearly all my life - (60 years) - traveled the state north to south and east to west and thought I knew alot about my state - not so!!! I found the book informative and very fun to read.

I got this book as a gift. When I opened it I was insulted at first (haha). Why would I want a book of insults?? Then I started reading it and laughed until I cried. This book contains classy insults from Shakespeare ("I do desire that we become better strangers", "you lisp and wear strange suits," and the ever classic: "Go rot") to Oscar Wilde's scathing tongue, and up to modern times. I mean, who couldn't use this one at the office: "He does the work of three men: Larry, Moe and Curly." You might never use these, and that's probably not the intent - it's just a really funny book.

I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to be in this page

This book is full of putdowns. I could have never thought of so many jokes. I think whoever sees this book should buy it. It is off the hook.

This book has all the important information you would want on the Red Sox. All the players stats are included. The only down side to this book is the section that is dedicated to crosswords.

It is really good. It includes all kinds of different trivia questions about the Red Sox history, past and present day. I suggest it.

The Red Sox Trivia Book was published in 1993, so it only covers history until 1992. It does provide a brief (50-page) history of the Red Sox, followed by crossword puzzles and trivia questions, and an all-time player list as of 1992. The questions themselves might be challenging for the average fan, but a real Red Sox trivia buff will not find them all that obscure. And they're directly based on the history chapter, so if you're going to buy the book to answer the trivia questions, try them before reading the history, or you'll likely be disappointed.

I thought this book was very interesting and I learned a few things. Somethings I had always known, some I just discovered recently like what the Emacipation Proclaimation was really all about and somethings I was surprised to learn while reading the book. The original book is almost 20 years old so many of the fallacies have been brought up a long time ago. Still if you are interested in history or myths and legends this book is great to have.

I found this book at my library and it looked intriguing so I checked it out. That was yesterday and today I'm almost done with it. Most of the entries are interesting, even if simply quibbling. Many of them I was already aware of as being fallacies (like spinach making you strong or that Columbus was one of the few of his day who thought the earth to be round) but there were still many more where I found my self going, "oh wow!" or "aha!" or "oh, interesting." (the real title of "Whistler's Mother", the mistaken identity of The Jazz Singer being the first "talkie," and finding that Thoreau was never really a recluse at all) One of my favorite sections is the one on religion and specifically the Bible--especially when the source is the Bible itself! (there was no *apple*, and Noah did not necessarily take 2 of each animal on his ark, oh and Lucifer is not the Devil.)

At other times I was just happy to see an oft misquoted passages or misconceptions corrected (like the famous lines "Play it again, Sam" being attributed to Humphry Bogart's character in Casablance--that's simply not what he said in the movie!" or the fac that Marie Antoinette never said "let them eat cake"! the poor girl has gone down in history as a horrible, unthinking, elitist pig which is just simply unfair).

Of course there are many entries that don't interest me in the least ("who invented baseball") but it's easy to skip over those and skim others. It's one of those books that you can pick up, read a few pages at random, learn a thing or two and put down again. Of course, you could also sit yourself in your room for hours determined to become one of the "enlightened ones" like yours truly and try to read the entire book in two days (only a couple hundred pages of quick reading). The writing style is very unimposing and almost chatty and I even found myself laughing out loud every now and then--although I can not garentee this response out of everyone as I have been told I have a rather dry sense of humour. Anyway, I found it fun and possibly useful for upcoming games of trivial pursuit.

There are plenty of interesting and useful facts in this book. However, some of Tuleja's "facts" are simply quibbling over technicalities. The Emancipation Proclamation freed no slaves? Well, not actually on the day it was issued, no. But since it made slaves in rebellious areas free as soon as those areas were under Union control, it did free millions of slaves. To say it freed no slaves is like saying no one died as a result of World War II because no battles between Allies and Axis took place on September 1, 1939. George Washington was not the first President of the United States? Technically, the term "president" was used earlier in U.S. history, but in every sense that we mean "president" (i.e., the Constitutional sense), Washington was first... as acknowledged by every list of U.S. presidents since Washington's time. It's not as though people of the time instantly forgot the earlier "presidents"; they just considered them irrelevant. And so on. Again, many of the facts in the book are correct and significant, but on some occasions, Tuleja lets a need for contrarianism get the better of him.

"How Well Do You Know, Jerry and his Friend's?"
This was Great, It was a lot of fun. Any Fan of the "Seinfeld" Show will Love this. It's Well Worth the Money!
Judy Faust

What fun! This is a trivia book that swings from restaurant names to the nutty quirks of each of the characters from Elaine to Kramer to George...no craziness is short-changed. The free-wheeling--and occasionally sly--juxtapositions found on many pages just add to the mix. I'm more of a fan than ever!

This is not a book, it's a pamphlet containing a few hundred random Seinfeld trivia questions followed by a few hundred answers. My first reaction was to the cover, which features a sillhouette of Jerry and his co-stars. Talk about "unofficial", the author couldn't even use Jerry's face on the cover? Anyway, the book might have been passable if the questions had been arranged in some sort of logical order, either by subject or chronology, and enough questions were included to make the book worth $8. As it was published, it's very difficult to read and enjoy. NOTE: Do not attempt to use this book as the "final word" on any Seinfeld related discussion, as there are various mistakes strewn throughout the book. Main offender? Q: What is Jerry's address? A: 129 East 81st. St. Now, any fan worth his Snapple knows Jerry lives on West 81st St. The bottom line is this. Spend a few minutes with a search engine and the words "Seinfeld trivia" and you can do much better for free on the Internet than you can with this book.