Book Review #3 - The Book Of General Ignorance

The Book of General Ignorance

This is one of the finest books under Non-Fiction category that I have read in recent times. As the title of the book itself is quite interesting “The Book of Genral Ignorance” and not the “General Knowledge”. Edited in a humorous manner, this book is a sure gripping read for those who want to expand their knowledge on various areas. Ranging from History, Animals, Food till new age inventions, everything that has been covered that gives a good chance to understand it better.

One more interesting thing is the tagline of this book, “Everything you think you know is (Still) wrong”. Yes, as the book suggests, what we thought right was always a wrong one.

This book was written by authors John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. These 2 creative heads thought of educating the whole world about the true facts, which is usually distorted versions of what we read and understood.

This is not a single one time book, rather, it is a series of updates every 2 or 3 years.

This book is basically the collection of the famous British Game Show QI. Hosted by John Lloyd with research head John Mitchinson. They invite people from across the world to participate in the game show and a random question is posed for them. The structure of this book is quite interesting, every book contains atleast 230 random question on various topics that was being played on the QI game show. Later, it will be collected and for each question, the answers are researched and given with complete details in the book.

Some sample questions goes like this:

Q: How many nostrils have you got ?
The immediate answer would be, 2. But, its wrong. The answer is 4. The other 2 migrated back inside the head to become internal nostrils called choannae – Greek for ‘funnels’. These connect to the throat and are what allow us to breathe through our noses.

Q: Where is the driest place on earth ?
If you think it would some desert area. Then again you are wrong. The answer is Antartica. Parts of this continent has seen no rain for almost 2 million years.

Q: Where is the highest Mountain in our universe ?
Its not Mount Everest. It is on Mars. The giant volcano Mount Olympus Mons is the highest mountain in the solar universe known to humans.

Q: Who Invented the Telephone ?
Again you got it wrong, it’s not Grahambell. It is Antonio Meucci.

Q: From where does Chicken Tikka Masala came from ?
Not from India. It is from Glasgow, England. Or plainly, it is British who introduced it to India.

Q: From where does Panama hats came from ?
It’s not Panama. It is Ecuador.

Q: What does the poem “Ring-a-ring Roses” means ?
It’s not a kids poem. It is written for Plague.

Q: How many planets are there in the solar system ?
No it’s not 9. Pluto has been demoted from the status of planet, to a dwarf planet.

Q: What is the main ingredient of Air ?
It is not oxygen. It is Nitrogen.

Q: Who fought the battle at culloden ?
It’s Scotland Versus Scotland.!!

Q: What does cindrella’s slippers made from ?
Not Glass. It is Squirrile’s Fur.

Q: What is the unluckiest date ?
It is not Friday the 13th. It is Monday the 27th.!!

Q: What Rhymes with Orange ?
There are proper nouns in English mainly Blorenge and Gorringe.

Q: How long is a day ?
It depends. Certainly not 24 hours. There is slight seconds of difference on everday.

Q: What effects does alcohol have on brain ?
It doesn’t kills the brain cells. It just slows the process of new cells generation.

Q: What produces the most of earth’s oxygen ?
Algae.

Q: Was the first computer Bug a real insect ?
Yes.

Q: What is the name of captial city of Thailand ?
Krungthep Mahanakhon Amorn Rattanakosin Mahintara Yudthaya Mahadilok Pohp Noparat RajathaneeBureerom Udomrajniwes Mahasatarn Amorn Pimarn Avaltarnsatit Sakatattiya Visanukram Prasit.

And the list goes on and on and on.

People interested can go and search for the answers on their own..!!

People looking out to spend some quality and fun time with a book. Then this book is a must read for everyone. It’s not only entertaining, also a great source to expand one’s knowledge.

My Rating: 5/5