Download or read book The Essential Book of Useless Information written by Don Voorhees and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-10-27 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More facts! Less substance! The newest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Useless Information series. The useless information never ends in the newest, most crucially meaningless entry in the Useless Information series. This latest cornucopia of amazingly pointless facts and figures will have trivia buffs marveling at all the things they never needed to know.
Download or read book The Perfectly Useless Book of Useless Information written by Don Voorhees and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It doesn't get any more useless than this! The most inconsequential entry yet in the #1 New York Times bestselling series proves that information is overrated. Your life won't be improved by knowing that... ? Frank Sinatra's mother was a convicted felon. ? Bugs Bunny was born in Brooklyn. ? The average American home contains $90 in loose change. ? It is illegal to use the American flag in advertising. And there's no good reason to also discover... ? Which game show host previously worked as a garbageman. ? Which day of week is the most popular to rob a bank. ? Which millionaire loaned his kidnapped grandson ransom money at 4 percent interest. ? Which country once had a dog for a king.
Download or read book The Super Book of Useless Information written by Don Voorhees and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-10-04 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faster than a speeding bullet, more useless than ever before. The #1 New York Times bestselling series reaches new heights of irrelevance with this powerfully pointless, all-new collection of the things you never need to know. Do you actually care that... there are three feet of DNA in every cell? Saturn has 47 moons? March is National Frozen Foods Month? in 2010 a traffic jam in China lasted ten days? Would it improve your life to know... which movie star wanted to be a funeral director? which state has the most horses per square mile? which dictator was obsessed with Cheetos? what day of the year the most cars are stolen in the United States?
Download or read book The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge written by Abraham Flexner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A short, provocative book about why "useless" science often leads to humanity's greatest technological breakthroughs A forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus on the most identifiable and urgent problems, right? Actually, it doesn't. In his classic essay "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge," Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the man who helped bring Albert Einstein to the United States, describes a great paradox of scientific research. The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries but also to the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips. This brief book includes Flexner's timeless 1939 essay alongside a new companion essay by Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Institute's current director, in which he shows that Flexner's defense of the value of "the unobstructed pursuit of useless knowledge" may be even more relevant today than it was in the early twentieth century. Dijkgraaf describes how basic research has led to major transformations in the past century and explains why it is an essential precondition of innovation and the first step in social and cultural change. He makes the case that society can achieve deeper understanding and practical progress today and tomorrow only by truly valuing and substantially funding the curiosity-driven "pursuit of useless knowledge" in both the sciences and the humanities.
Download or read book Children s Miscellany written by Samantha Borges and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2012-07-06 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you know . . . . . . how to milk a cow? . . . the symptoms of a venomous spider's bite? . . . where to find the fastest rollercoasters? You won't find such an eclectic collection of fascinating facts anywhere else. Whether you want to know how to beat an alligator in a fight, ways to speak in secret code, which insects are edible, or what the heck scolionophobia means, this is the book for readers both young and old.
Download or read book The Incredible Book of Useless Information written by Don Voorhees and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 New York Times bestselling series continues to delight and astound with an all-new collection of surprisingly unnecessary facts and figures. Would it surprise you to learn… •it takes a sloth about a month to digest a meal? •more tourists visit France than any other nation in the world? •the United States still has debt from the Revolutionary War? Do you think you ever need to know… •what type of trees are most frequently struck by lightning? •how much a clerk was paid for penning the U.S. Constitution? •which celebrity uses the pseudonym Slappy White?
Download or read book The Children s Miscellany written by and published by . This book was released on 1788 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Children s Miscellany Too written by Matthew Morgan and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2012-07-06 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you know... ...how to hypnotize a chicken? ...why the sky is blue? ...which animals are most commonly named "Jaws"? ...how to make invisible ink? ...where to find the town of Ding Dong? ...how to turn your watch into a compass? ...what you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman? Find out, in this essential collection of the smart, the silly, and the strange. You won't find such a collection of bizarre knowledge and fascinating facts anywhere else. Whether you want to know how to talk to foreign animals, what to do if zombies attack, when to eat jellyfish, what a cryptid is, or how to be a phrenologist, this book is for you.
Download or read book The Half Life of Facts written by Samuel Arbesman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New insights from the science of science Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing. Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives. He takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries.
Download or read book The Essential Book of Useless Information Holiday Edition written by Don Voorhees and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The useless information never ends in the newest, most crucially meaningless addition to the #1 New York Times bestselling series. More facts! Less substance! This cornucopia of amazingly pointless facts and figures will have you marveling at all the things you never needed to know. There's no good reason for you to know... ? that Mickey Mouse was banned in Romania. ? that a company sells bikinis made from salmon skin. ? that Brigham Young had fifty-five wives. ? that the Romans used to pay their legions in salt. But we'll tell you anyway, along with... ? where the world's largest ant colony is. ? which country invented figure skating. ? the name of America's bestselling ice cream brand. ? how many muscles make up the tongue.
Download or read book The Usefulness of the Useless written by Nuccio Ordine and published by Paul Dry Books. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A little masterpiece of originality and clarity.”—George Steiner “A necessary book.”—Roberto Saviano “A wonderful little book that will delight you.”—François Busnel International Best Seller / Now in English for the First Time In this thought-provoking and extremely timely work, Nuccio Ordine convincingly argues for the utility of useless knowledge and against the contemporary fixation on utilitarianism—for the fundamental importance of the liberal arts and against the damage caused by their neglect. Inspired by the reflections of great philosophers and writers (e.g., Plato, Dante, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Borges, and Calvino), Ordine reveals how the obsession for material goods and the cult of utility ultimately wither the spirit, jeopardizing not only schools and universities, art, and creativity, but also our most fundamental values—human dignity, love, and truth. Also included is Abraham Flexner’s 1939 essay “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge,” which originally prompted Ordine to write this book. Flexner—a founder and the first director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton—offers an impassioned defense of curiosity-driven research and learning.
Download or read book The Book of Royal Useless Information written by Noel BothaM & Bruce Montague and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2012-02-23 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continuing the sensational success of the Useless Information Series, the Official Useless Information Society brings you another essential compendium of everything you never needed but always wanted to know. A celebration of the Queens Diamond Jubilee this amazing volume contains all things royal such as: The popular misconception that the royal family cannot vote in political elections. It is only the Queen, herself, who is not allowed to vote. Other members of the family merely choose not to; • The Queen learned to drive in 1945 when she joined the wartime army but has never held a driving license; On the occasion of the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday, a Royal gun salute is fired, and the Union Jack is flown on government buildings from 8am until sunset; Lord Mountbatten, Prince Charles's uncle, tried to arrange a betrothal between his own grand-daughter, Amanda Knatchbull and Charles. Amanda's father and Prince Philip did not approve and put a stop to it; Harry has two secretaries to handle his fan-mail, which invariably comes from teenage girls asking him for a date. Hopefuls should be made aware that no royal contender may be adopted, divorced, Catholic or born of unmarried parents. In Tudor times Catholics were forbidden from living within 10 miles of the throne.
Download or read book Fewer Better Things written by Glenn Adamson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age. Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects that have nurtured human development for thousands of years. The objects are still here, but we seem to care less and know less about them. In his presentations to groups, he often asks an audience member what he or she knows about the chair the person is sitting in. Few people know much more than whether it's made of wood, plastic, or metal. If we know little about how things are made, it's hard to remain connected to the world around us. Fewer, Better Things explores the history of craft in its many forms, explaining how raw materials, tools, design, and technique come together to produce beauty and utility in handmade or manufactured items. Whether describing the implements used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the use of woodworking tools, or the use of new fabrication technologies, Adamson writes expertly and lovingly about the aesthetics of objects, and the care and attention that goes into producing them. Reading this wise and elegant book is a truly transformative experience.
Download or read book Uncle John s Actual and Factual Bathroom Reader written by Bathroom Readers' Institute and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s an actual fact—Uncle John is the most entertaining thing in the bathroom! Uncle John and his team of devoted researchers are back again with an all-new collection of weird news stories, odd historical events, dubious “scientific” theories, jaw-dropping lists, and more. This entertaining 31st anniversary edition contains 512 pages of all-new articles that will appeal to readers everywhere. Pop culture, history, dumb crooks, and other actual and factual tidbits are packed onto every page of this book. Inside, you’ll find . . . Dogs and cats who ran for political office The bizarre method people in Victorian England used to resuscitate drowning victims The man who met his future pet—a stray dog—while running across the Gobi Desert Searching for Planet X—the last unknown planet in our solar system Twantrums—strange Twitter rants that had disastrous effects The true story of Boaty McBoatface And much more!
Download or read book No Useless Mouth written by Rachel B. Herrmann and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rachel B. Herrmann's No Useless Mouth is truly a breath of fresh air in the way it aligns food and hunger as the focal point of a new lens to reexamine the American Revolution. Her careful scrutiny, inclusive approach, and broad synthesis―all based on extensive archival research―produced a monograph simultaneously rich, audacious, insightful, lively, and provocative."―The Journal of American History In the era of the American Revolution, the rituals of diplomacy between the British, Patriots, and Native Americans featured gifts of food, ceremonial feasts, and a shared experience of hunger. When diplomacy failed, Native Americans could destroy food stores and cut off supply chains in order to assert authority. Black colonists also stole and destroyed food to ward off hunger and carve out tenuous spaces of freedom. Hunger was a means of power and a weapon of war. In No Useless Mouth, Rachel B. Herrmann argues that Native Americans and formerly enslaved black colonists ultimately lost the battle against hunger and the larger struggle for power because white British and United States officials curtailed the abilities of men and women to fight hunger on their own terms. By describing three interrelated behaviors—food diplomacy, victual imperialism, and victual warfare—the book shows that, during this tumultuous period, hunger prevention efforts offered strategies to claim power, maintain communities, and keep rival societies at bay. Herrmann shows how Native Americans, free blacks, and enslaved peoples were "useful mouths"—not mere supplicants for food, without rights or power—who used hunger for cooperation and violence, and took steps to circumvent starvation. Her wide-ranging research on black Loyalists, Iroquois, Cherokee, Creek, and Western Confederacy Indians demonstrates that hunger creation and prevention were tools of diplomacy and warfare available to all people involved in the American Revolution. Placing hunger at the center of these struggles foregrounds the contingency and plurality of power in the British Atlantic during the Revolutionary Era. Thanks to generous funding from Cardiff University, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.
Download or read book The Book of Totally Useless Information written by Don Voorhees and published by M J F Books. This book was released on 1998-08 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides answers to such questions as "Was there ever a real Aunt Jemima?" "What is the difference between bourbon and Scotch?" "Why do trains have a caboose?" and "Why do we give names to hurricanes?"
Download or read book The Last House on Needless Street written by Catriona Ward and published by Tor Nightfire. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The buzz...is real. I've read it and was blown away. It's a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end." —Stephen King Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel! A World Fantasy Award Finalist! An Indie Next Pick! A LibraryReads Top 10 Pick! A Library Journal Editors' Pick! STARRED reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly! Named one of the "50 Best Horror Books of All Time" by Esquire! "Brilliant....[a] deeply frightening deconstruction of the illusion of the self." —The New York Times Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all. “The new face of literary dark fiction.” —Sarah Pinborough At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
