Product Description

Looking like a course catalog, Useless Knowledge offers to replace all that important stuff its taken years to accumulate with a ton of amusing and nonsensical tidbits. For hardcore or casual trivia buffs, it includes topics and entries like:Animals: The sound a camel makes is called nuzzing Film: Warren Beattys first job in theater was a rat-catcher... backstage` History: Not that he was immature, but Napoleon concocted his battle strategies in a sandbox.The Useless Schools of Anthropology, Biology, Geography, Music, Sports, and Television are also covered.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #399295 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780312290177
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Joe Edelman is the Useless-Infomaster who founded this popular website. He is an award-winning commercial, editorial, and fashion photographer. He lives in Lansdale, PA.

David Samson has written or co-written 11 books, including humorous, self-help, and autobiographical titles. He has worked as a senior creative executive at some of America's most prestigious advertising agencies. He divides his time between Beverly Hills and New York.

Customer Reviews

Don't believe everything you read
This book is a fun collection of obscure "facts", but shouldn't be taken too seriously, as there are errors on almost every page. The Philco Predicta wasn't the first TV set made (it dates from 1958)... Those of us who watched Howdy Doody on NBC in 1950 will be surprised to hear that Captain Kangaroo was the first network TV kid show in 1954... Napoleon certainly didn't appoint Louis Pasteur to a committee to study food preservation for his invasion of Russia in 1812, since Pasteur was born in 1822... Nor is chi a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet.

My favorite entry is the one for the legendary Betsy Ross, alleged not only to have made the first American flag, but to have designed it (!), and to have been born with a full set of teeth in her mouth (!!).

Read with a grain of salt
I got a lot of laughs from the book. The "facts" are not always true -- kind of like what you'd expect from a cocktail party flippant sort of reply. Great book for 2 truths and a lie or just for making the reader or other go "I wonder if..." and rush off to look up the information.

Don't really care for it.
This was a gift for my husband who loves "useless knowledge." This book never seemed to captivate him and it sits on a shelf now, unread.