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Jump to navigationJump to search1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller (view source)
Revision as of 11:20, 1 November 2016
, 11:20, 1 November 2016Created page with "{{infobox |title=1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted |author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller |reviewer=John Lloyd |genre=Trivia |summary=One mo..."
{{infobox
|title=1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted
|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Trivia
|summary=One more entrant in the best series of trivia books, with unusual statements about the world distilled to their essence and presented in oddly linked fashion.
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=368
|publisher=Faber and Faber
|date=November 2016
|isbn=9780571332465
|website=http://qi.com/feed
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571332463</amazonuk>
}}
I love the way the QI elves play games with us with [[:Category:John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|these books]]. That's not to say it's a game of pulling the wool over our eyes, for every entrant in this series has had the equivalent online version for the sources, so every page is replicated with the due links you need to search for proof of their statements. No, the game is Six Degrees of Separation. And they're so good at it, they can do most things in three. So in just three standalone, but thematically linked, phrases, you can get from how to make the sound of an Orc army for ''Lord of the Rings'' films to record-breaking nipple hair. From illicit wartime barbers in Italy to American founding father bedroom arrangements, is only three steps – and the path carries on to reach that erstwhile novice stand-up, Ronald Reagan, in two more. It's only two jumps between Donald Trump and Charles Darwin, disconcertingly.
And some of these one-off sentences are world-class conversation openers (which makes it really annoying for us review readers, as the source website is seldom live when I'm perusing these books). Here you learn that sabre-toothed tigers never existed, and that our Queen owns a drive-thru McDonalds, in Slough. Sometimes you definitely need more context than the blunt contents allow us – here it's alleged you are not allowed to travel in a lift with liquid nitrogen – whereabouts? It won't be worldwide statute. Belgium is the world's leading exporter of billiard balls. Invading Romans found local youths in the UK uncouth, for having too many tattoos – has nothing changed?! Tanks are exempt from London's congestion charge.
People who know these books – and there are many, for they do sell, and you don't have to produce Radio Two afternoon shows to make use of them – know what to expect, a sterling, readable, hard-to-ration collection of data. And nothing much has changed this time round, either. No, this time there is not a full page of trivia to justify the choice of the title number – you'll have to see inside to find out just what there is regarding it – but this is just as good and just as commendable as any other entrant to the series. And on Radio Two himself, John Lloyd (one of the head QI honchos – great name, by the way) seemed to imply there's a further book planned, making six in all. Trivia is too serious for me to not be there in the queue for it.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
[[The American Presidents in 100 Facts by Jem Duducu]] is one example of how the smallest details about the biggest subjects leaves the status of 'trivia' behind.
{{amazontext|amazon=0571332463}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=0571332463}}
{{commenthead}}
[[Category:John Lloyd]]
[[Category:John Mitchinson]]
[[Category:James Harkin]]
[[Category:Anne Miller]]
|title=1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted
|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Trivia
|summary=One more entrant in the best series of trivia books, with unusual statements about the world distilled to their essence and presented in oddly linked fashion.
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=368
|publisher=Faber and Faber
|date=November 2016
|isbn=9780571332465
|website=http://qi.com/feed
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571332463</amazonuk>
}}
I love the way the QI elves play games with us with [[:Category:John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|these books]]. That's not to say it's a game of pulling the wool over our eyes, for every entrant in this series has had the equivalent online version for the sources, so every page is replicated with the due links you need to search for proof of their statements. No, the game is Six Degrees of Separation. And they're so good at it, they can do most things in three. So in just three standalone, but thematically linked, phrases, you can get from how to make the sound of an Orc army for ''Lord of the Rings'' films to record-breaking nipple hair. From illicit wartime barbers in Italy to American founding father bedroom arrangements, is only three steps – and the path carries on to reach that erstwhile novice stand-up, Ronald Reagan, in two more. It's only two jumps between Donald Trump and Charles Darwin, disconcertingly.
And some of these one-off sentences are world-class conversation openers (which makes it really annoying for us review readers, as the source website is seldom live when I'm perusing these books). Here you learn that sabre-toothed tigers never existed, and that our Queen owns a drive-thru McDonalds, in Slough. Sometimes you definitely need more context than the blunt contents allow us – here it's alleged you are not allowed to travel in a lift with liquid nitrogen – whereabouts? It won't be worldwide statute. Belgium is the world's leading exporter of billiard balls. Invading Romans found local youths in the UK uncouth, for having too many tattoos – has nothing changed?! Tanks are exempt from London's congestion charge.
People who know these books – and there are many, for they do sell, and you don't have to produce Radio Two afternoon shows to make use of them – know what to expect, a sterling, readable, hard-to-ration collection of data. And nothing much has changed this time round, either. No, this time there is not a full page of trivia to justify the choice of the title number – you'll have to see inside to find out just what there is regarding it – but this is just as good and just as commendable as any other entrant to the series. And on Radio Two himself, John Lloyd (one of the head QI honchos – great name, by the way) seemed to imply there's a further book planned, making six in all. Trivia is too serious for me to not be there in the queue for it.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
[[The American Presidents in 100 Facts by Jem Duducu]] is one example of how the smallest details about the biggest subjects leaves the status of 'trivia' behind.
{{amazontext|amazon=0571332463}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=0571332463}}
{{commenthead}}
[[Category:John Lloyd]]
[[Category:John Mitchinson]]
[[Category:James Harkin]]
[[Category:Anne Miller]]
