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kakapokhaos's review
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I have great love for British comedy shows - and I’ve often thought that the most obnoxiously brilliant of them is QI. The third part of their trilogy - the Third Book of General Ignorance - provides a much needed counterpart to any round of ‘general knowledge’ trivia.
I particularly loved learning about the long history of ‘Textspeak’, why light moves much slower and shadows are much lighter than one would think, and how the Famous Five’s ‘famous’ meals may not be as famous as once thought. If you like nerdy facts, ‘Mythbusting’, or winning trivia nights - this is the book for you! My one main critique is that is isn’t as much a single ‘narrative’ than a collection of short stories, but the ‘Elves’ have done a marvellous job of ordering them.
Verdict: A Blue Whale full of facts!!
I particularly loved learning about the long history of ‘Textspeak’, why light moves much slower and shadows are much lighter than one would think, and how the Famous Five’s ‘famous’ meals may not be as famous as once thought. If you like nerdy facts, ‘Mythbusting’, or winning trivia nights - this is the book for you! My one main critique is that is isn’t as much a single ‘narrative’ than a collection of short stories, but the ‘Elves’ have done a marvellous job of ordering them.
Verdict: A Blue Whale full of facts!!
rachel_abby_reads's review
3.0
Trivia about things you think you know are true that really aren't: The largest pyramid isn't in Egypt, Pythagoras didn't invent the equation, all snakes ARE poisonous, and all fish don't live in water are just some bits I remember.
It's trivia - interesting read while eating a meal, but nothing that's going to get into my brain and change my life.
Also, some of the "humor" interspersed around the trivia articles isn't that funny. Or maybe you need a particularly British sense of humor and I don't have it.
It's trivia - interesting read while eating a meal, but nothing that's going to get into my brain and change my life.
Also, some of the "humor" interspersed around the trivia articles isn't that funny. Or maybe you need a particularly British sense of humor and I don't have it.
librarianlk's review
5.0
An antidote to the fake information floating around out there. Not only informative and interesting, but downright fun.
caterinaanna's review
4.0
Picked out to read because I had a non-appointment visit to the hairdresser and a train journey to meet a not-very-punctual friend coming up. This proved to be, as anticipated, long enough to keep me going but bitty enough not to care about the interruptions. Not really a book to read all the way through, but one with lots of fascinating - although entirely useless - information. As a fan of the series I knew some and remembered more, but not all of the trivia contained in it and the snippets of dialogue help give a flavour of the programme to those poor people who have never watched it. Next step, DVDs ...