Alex Ill take potpourri for 1000 please
Discover fascinating trivia with this potpourri book list, from 'Everything You Pretend to Know' to Bill Bryson's 'Made in America'—perfect for curious minds.
Book
Everything You Pretend to Know and Are Afraid Someone Will Ask
by Lynette Padwa
You can fool some of the people all of the time—but wouldn’t you rather really know what you’re talking about? Why are conservatives on the “right” and liberals on the “left”? What is an archetype? Most people drop these and other cultural references in conversation all the time without really knowing much about them. But with this witty, information-packed book, you can quickly bone up on the actual facts behind the multitude of data, events, and words that come at you each day—and that you’ve been casually bandying about without really understanding. Here are invaluable explanations of a wide range of topics that are assumed to be common knowledge, from deciphering newsspeak (What is a spin doctor?) to psychobabble (What’s the difference between the ego and the id?) to cyberlingo (What is cyberlingo?); from the supposedly obvious (What makes cholesterol good or bad?) to the deceptively simple (What is a formula race car?). Perfect as a quick reference tool, for browsing, or simply for sharing impressive, newfound knowledge with family and friends, this handbook will endow you with genuine cultural literacy in just a few hours of fun-filled reading.
Book
Made in America
by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson, who gave glorious voice to The Mother Tongue, now celebrates her magnificent offspring in the book that reveals once and for all how a dusty western hamlet with neither woods nor holly came to be known as Hollywood...and exactly why Mr. Yankee Doodle call his befeathered cap "Macaroni."
Book
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
by Daniel Pool
Essays provide a view of British life during the nineteenth century.
