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[[Category:New Reviews|Trivia]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove --><!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Julian Holland1780724047|title=Railways (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|rating=3|genre=Travel|summary=How and when did Laurel and Hardy replace the Duke of York (George VI)? They reopened the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway when peacetime resumed, at whose launch the latter had officiated before the War. What's the worst that can happen when you travel internationally and arrive on a London goods train with no further destination documents? Well, if you're an unidentifiable Peruvian mummy you can get buried as an unknown corpse before the invoice turns up to prove you were wanted in Belgium. After so many miles and so much drama, it's no surprise odd facts and fun trivia derive from our country's trains. This book is designed to be an ideal source A Dictionary of quick articles Interesting and fun mini-essays for use in the smallest room.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910821004</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewImportant Dogs|author=Graeme Donald|title=Words of a FeatherPeter J Conradi
|rating=4
|genre=ReferencePets|summary= Words of I struggle to resist a Feather. The title alone suggests an engaging read book about language, and the book certainly delivers. It pairs seemingly unrelated wordsdogs, digs up their etymological roots and reveals their common ancestry. The English language, of course, provides rich pickings indeed for a book of but I did wonder why this type and it is fascinating to see the hidden meaning behind common and not-one was so-common words. Some connections are fairly obvious once you read them. For example, the link between ''grotto'' and 'thin'grotesque'' is easy to grasp: the word given that I've never encountered a dog who wasn'grotesquet interesting or important - and probably both, I was expecting a massive tome. But '' derives from unpleasant figures depicted in murals in Ancient Roman A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs''grottoesis actually ''. Other connections are just extraordinary, like a rich compendium of the so-crazy-you-couldn't-make-it-up connection between world''furnaces most significant and beloved dogs'' and it''fornicate''s certainly a rich treasure trove. These two words date back to Ancient Rome when prostitutes took over the city We begin with Peter J Conradi's abandoned baking domesfour collies: Cloudy, Sky. Bradley and Max. And some connections are more They're consecutive rather than a little tenuoussimultaneous dogs, seemingly just a collection of words banded together, as but what comes over is the case with the ''insult'Conradi' s love for each and ''salmon'' pairingevery one of them. One of my personal favourites: the Italian word ''schiavo'' for ''slave'' I knew that I was used to summon or dismiss a slave; this word became corrupted to ''ciao'', a word the more well-heeled among us use instead of ''goodbye''in safe hands.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178418814X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ruth BinneyDon Behrend|title=The English Countryside (Amazing Copernicus! What Have You Done?: ...and Extraordinary Facts)Other Interesting Questions|rating=4.5|genre=Animals and WildlifeTrivia|summary=Hello! Would this review be okay if I live in the countryside and spend as much time as the weather will allow exploring it, so the chance to read Ruth Binneysimply said 's 'I LOVED THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE BOOK AND SO WILL YOU. FIN'The English Countryside'' was too good to be missed. We've met Ruth [[The Allotment Experience by Ruth Binney|before]] at Bookbag and we know that she writes well and interestingly, but just one thing was worrying me about this book?! Because I did. It's a hardback and beautifully presented but its the size of book that And you slip into a pocket or handbagwill. Would it be rather superficial?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910821012</amazonuk>1789016770
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James HarkinLloyd_1423|title=1,234 423 QI Facts to Leave Bowl You SpeechlessOver|author=John Lloyd, James Harkin and Anne Miller
|rating=5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=''No US President has ever died You may think me lazy, but there is an inherent satisfaction for book reviewers in May.hitting upon a book such as this – you know you will have very little bearing on its sales, and what'' ''There are fewer women on corporate boards s more you hardly even need describe it – just dip in America than here and there are men named John.'' ''Dogs investigate bad smells with their right nostril for a few quotes, and sit back and good smells with their leftrelax knowing your job is done.'' ''Apollo 11's fuel consumption was seven inches to Only 1% of people who buy marmalade are under the gallonage of 28.'' ''The first occupational disease ever recorded in medical literature was 'chimney sweep's scrotum'Treadmills were once the harshest form of punishment after the death penalty.'' ''The song 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' was written Naked mole-rats can survive for 18 minutes without oxygen by Leon Trotsky's nephewturning themselves into plants.'' ''In And the 18th Century, King George I declared all pigeon droppings to be property whole of the Crown''page 52. I hardly think I need say any more. Review overThere, job done – and the creators of this book certainly have done their job to perfection.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571326684</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Fred BenensonBrightside_101|title= How 101 Things to Speak EmojiTake the Stress Out of Christmas|author=Robin Snow|rating= 4|genre= Trivia|summary= Emojis are funFor many years one of my guiding principles has been that the C word should not be mentioned until the beginning of December but, unfortunately, C seems to be coming earlier each year and there's so much more are even shops where it never ceases to them than the smileys of days gone by ? They can be a language unto themselvesimminent, thoughwhich ramps up the stress levels considerably. So, and I've found that some members a book which promises 101 things to take the stress out of C seemed like a good idea. What’s it about? Tips like putting the, ahem, older generation can find themselves sprouts on to boil in November or joining a little troubled by them. This bookreligion which avoids the celebration altogether? Well, then, sounds perfect for anyone who needs a little help with this 'language'not quite.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178503202X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Andrew Hunter MurrayBrightside_Worry|title=QI: The Third Book 101 Things to do instead of General Ignoranceworrying about the world|author=Felicity Brightside|rating=4.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Well done, Hartlepool. You didnI don't put on trial think that I've ever been quite so worried about the state of the world as I have been of late - and kill a shipwrecked monkey thinking it a Napoleonic spy – any more than I speak as someone who lived through the several Cuban Missile Crisis and various other places thusly accused ever didapocalyptic moments. Well done, Italy, for making the ciabatta such It almost certainly comes down to a global phenomenon it seems like a traditional foodstuff, even if it was invented lack of confidence in 1982. And well done to that famous ice hockey player, Charles Darwin – the people who was probably playing itare supposedly in charge, seeing as whether it was a British invention, long before the Canadians ever realised they might be good at it. Yes, for from a book that spends a lot political point of view or of our stewardship of its time saying 'this didn’t happen,planet we call home. But what can be done about it? We' 'hoojamaflip didn't do thisve tried voting,arguing and demonstrating. Now we' re down to pulling up the drawbridge and 'that was never thus', it's one that's incredibly easy doing our best to be most positive think aboutsomething else.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571308988</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Caroline TaggartLloyd 1342|title=New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller|rating=3.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=I never declare myself off to have a 'kip'love the way the QI elves play games with us with [[:Category:John Lloyd, as I recall reading that it originally meant the same amount of sleeping – John Mitchinson and activity – as happens in a whorehouseJames Harkin|these books]]. The word That'cleaves not to say it' can mean either to split aparts a game of pulling the wool over our eyes, for every entrant in this series has had the equivalent online version for the sources, or so every page is replicated with the due links you need to connect togethersearch for proof of their statements. No, and Ithe game is Six Degrees of Separation. And they'm sure there's another word that has completely changed its meaning from one end of re so good at it, they can do most things to another although I can't remember whichin three. CertainlySo in just three standalone, but thematically linked, phrases, you can get from how to make the sound of an Orc army for ''literallyLord of the Rings'' has tried its best films to make a full switch through rampant misuserecord-breaking nipple hair. Such is the nature of our language – fluid both From illicit wartime barbers in spelling until moderately recentlyItaly to American founding father bedroom arrangements, and definitely in meaning. This attempt at capturing a corner of the trivia/words/novelty market is interested in such tales from the etymological world only three steps – and the way we have adapted old words for our ownpath carries on to reach that erstwhile novice stand-up, Ronald Reagan, modern and perhaps very different usagesin two more. Certainly, having browsed it over a weekIt's only two jumps between Donald Trump and Charles Darwin, I can declare it a pretty strong attemptdisconcertingly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782434720</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Steve TribeLloyd_1411|title=The All New University Challenge Quiz Book: Questions, Answers1, 411 QI FactsTo Knock You Sideways|author=John Lloyd, Figures John Mitchinson and everything in betweenJames Harkin|rating=34.5|genre=EntertainmentTrivia|summary=[Cue theme musicHandsome is as handsome does. Lights up on presenterAnd you know what else benefits from being curt and succinct, who waffles on about establishments providing contestants alongside old housewives' saws like that one? Trivia. I always thought the QI books such as this one to be handsome things – De Montfort Universityperfectly presenting trivia, local pubfour (on rare occasion, family unit. Contestants don'tthree) statements to the page, for once, introduce themselves as it's probably in a given that very nice little cubical hardback. Now they know each other. Contestants imbibe nervous sips of 'water're being represented in paperback, and settle back.] ''You all but you know the rules, so letwhat? They's not waste time – here's your first starter for tenre still handsome things.'' Yes, this book throws no punches and attempts to put you in the spotlight of one of the nation's most superlative televisual institutions – but does it manage it?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184949701X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Gabrielle Balkan and Sol Linero|title=The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 fact-filled maps!|rating=2.5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary= I've often shouted at people on UK quiz programmes for their ignorance of geography about their nation. People just don't seem to have learnt about or been to other areas of the place they call home. But while they get little sympathy from me when they lose the programme's cash prize, I can imagine that it would be much harder for them if they actually lived in a large country, such as the USA. 50 whole states of different size, all with a rich history of their own, their own famous places and their own noted people – the facts involved in absorbing all that's relevant would take a lot of research – or, paradoxically, this handy child-friendly book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847807119</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|authorisbn=Rob TempleLloyd_1339|title=Very British Problems Abroad|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Meet, if you haven't already, the phenomenon of the Very British Problem. In this format they're in pithy little comments (of, ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) and detail the minor things in life that we like nothing more than to inflate to a major factor of life. They can involve manners1, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or the fact that nobody apart from you and I know how to queue properly. And if the idea hits the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have a book full of content regarding our attitude and ineptitude abroad.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>}}{{newreview339 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop|author=Kevin Flude|title=Divorced, BeheadedJohn Lloyd, Died...: The History of Britain's Kings John Mitchinson and Queens in Bite-Sized ChunksJames Harkin
|rating=4.5
|genre=HistoryTrivia|summary=History livesA spermologer ''is a collector of trivia''. Proof of Just that sweeping statement can be had in this book, and sentence tells you a lot – we're once more in the fact that while it only reached realm of the grand old age of sixcurt, it has had succinct approach to the dust brushed off it world's information and has been reprinted oddities. It says more, however – and while beyond the present royal incumbent it ends its main narrative with has not changed, other things have. This has quietly been updated to include weirdness of the reburial of Richard III in Leicester, and seems to have been rereleased at a perfectly apposite time, as only word is the week before I write these words obvious necessity for the Queen has surpassed all those who came before her as our longest serving ruler. Such details may be trivia word to some exist – especially those without people that could be called collectors of us of a more royalist bent – and important facts to otherstrivia you would not need the term. The perfect balance of And rest assured, there are currently few people that coupling – trivia and detail – is what makes this book so worthwhilestand as better spermologers than the chief QI elves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782434631</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dr Gareth MooreMetcalf_Skedaddle|title=Clever CommuterFrom Skedaddle to Selfie: Puzzles, Tests and Problems to Solve on Your Journey|rating=3.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=The week before I reviewed this book I saw a newspaper article that said that so-called brain-training apps are a waste of time, that they merely replace what we should be doing anyway to keep our grey cells active (multi-tasking, observing, REAL LIFE etc). This is the puzzle book version Words of a brain training app, and so with all those electronic titles on the market it already had opposition, even before that news came in. But let's face it – who on earth would risk the science being wrong on this occasion? Surely this kind of book should be an inherently essential purchase?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782433953</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|title=There Are Tittles in This Title: The Weird World of WordsGeneration|author=Mitchell SymonsAllan Metcalf
|rating=3.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=I love spending time have to go a roundabout way to introduce this book, so bear with Mitchell Symons me. It stems partly from dictionaries and the etymology of the language we use, but more so if anything from a different couple of books, and their ideas of generations. The authors of those posited the idea that all those archetypical generations – the Baby Boomers, the Millennials, and those before, in between and since – have their own cyclical pattern, and the history of humanity has been and will be formed by the interplay of just four different kinds, running (with only one exception) in regular order. If you I don't know him, he's written this book, really hold much store by that book, and a book actually called I certainly didn't know we'This Book'' and a book actually called d started one since the Millennials – who the heck decides such things, for one? ''That BookSomebody must have put out an order'', as someone here says of something else. He knows his trivia, he gets a lot of info on But in the pagesame way as generations get defined by collective persons unknown, so do words – and can really come across at the best of times as those words are certainly a convivial host. So pair him, as has happened hereclue to what was important, with the weird predominant and wonderful world of words and only great things could be expected. Unfortunately, then, only just above average things were expectedcourse spoken in each decade.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782432574</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Halliday_Cathedrals|title=An Unkindness of Ravens: A Book of Collective NounsCathedrals and Abbeys (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Chloe RhodesStephen Halliday|rating=4.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=We have all heard What makes a cathedral? It's not automatically the principal church of anywhere that is made a ''Pride city – St Davids is a village of Lions'2,000 people and wasn't always a city, but always had a cathedral, as did Chelmsford. It''Herd s not the seat of Cattlea bishop – Glasgow has the building but not the person, and hasn't had a bishop since 1690. It' and s not a minster – that''Flock of Birds''s something completely different, but what about and if you can understand the sign in the delightful Beverley Minster describing the less commondifference, long forgotten collective nounsthat I saw only the other month, like: you're a better man I, Gunga Din. Luckily this book doesn't touch on minsters much, and we can understand abbeys, so it'Bloat s only the vast majority of Hippopotami'this book that is saddled with the definition problem. It's clearly not a real problem, and those it does have are by-passable, for this successfully defines a ''Mutation cathedral as somewhere of Thrushes''major importance, a ''Herd of Harlots'' or a ''Superfluity of Nuns''? If you are interested in the English language fine trivia and the origin greatly worthy of words, then you will really enjoy browsing this bookour attention.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782433082</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Bramley_Shakespeare|title=Who Invented The Stepover? (And Other Crucial Football Conundrums)Shakespeare Trail|author=Paul Simpson and Uli HesseZoe Bramley
|rating=4
|genre=SportTrivia|summary=In 1982It has been 400 years since William Shakespeare, second division Charlton Athletic staged an unlikely transfer coup by signing former European Footballer the man heralded as the greatest writer in the English language, and England's national poet, died. Shakespeare has made a profound mark on our culture and heritage, yet many aspects of his life remain in the Year Allan Simonsenshadows, and many places throughout England have forgotten their association with him. If Here, Zoe Bramley takes the thought reader on a journey through hundreds of places associated with Shakespeare – many whose connections will come as a surprise to most. Filled with intriguing tidbits of information about Shakespeare, Elizabethan England, and the Danish superstar forsaking the glamour of Barcelona for south east London seemed unlikely then consider places that Simonsen had previously faked his own death during a World Cup qualifiershe talks about, this is no mere travel guide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250065</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|title=Outraged of Tunbridge Wells: Original Complaints from Middle England|author=Nigel Cawthorne|rating=4|genreisbn=Humour|summary=It was ever thus… cyclists go too fast, without using a hooter or lights; there are hoodlums everywhere one looks, and no public conveniences; people pretend to have qualifications and degrees they haven't rightfully earned; buses are too busy with shopping women who should be indoors already, cooking for their working menfolk… It's a very clever idea to show exactly what is behind the 'disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' tag, and as a book to be shelved alongside those with the wackier letters sent to the ''Daily Telegraph'', these selections from the Royal town's press itself make a great eye-opener to the complaints and complainants of Kent.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908096918</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewHalliday_London|title=Dedicated to...: The Forgotten Friendships, Hidden Stories London (Amazing and Lost Loves found in Second-hand BooksExtraordinary Facts)|author=W B GooderhamStephen Halliday
|rating=4.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=This book just had to be called ''The Horologicon''. What makes a city? Originally Is it meant a daily diary the materials, such as the very London Stone itself, of mythological repute, that has moved around several times, and now forms part of devotion for a priest or monk. WH Smith's branch? Our author knows it is a rare word these days and gives it to his modern Book (This has nothing, of Hourscourse, on Temple Bar, which is a guide has also been known to similarly obsoletewalk.) Is it the people – the butchers [[Jack the Ripper: CSI: Whitechapel by John Bennett and Paul Begg|(Jack the Ripper)]], charming the bakers (or unusually whimsical words whoever set outfire to the entire city from Pudding Lane) and the candlestick makers? Is it the infrastructure, not as others dofrom the Underground, as whose one-time boss got a dictionarymedal from Stalin for his success, but to the London Bridge itself, that in essays its own wanderlust means it's highly unlikely the Thames will freeze again? However you define a city, London certainly has a lot going for every waking hour of the dayit as regards weird and wonderful, and the subject they're most likely to covertrivial yet fascinating. And, luckily for us, so has this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848314159</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Arthur PlotnikHolland_Railways|title=Better Than GreatRailways (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Julian Holland|rating=53
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Better Than Great is How and when did Laurel and Hardy replace the Duke of York (George VI)? They reopened the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway when peacetime resumed, at whose launch the latter had officiated before the War. What's the worst that can happen when you travel internationally and arrive on a bravuraLondon goods train with no further destination documents? Well, ingeniously inventiveif you're an unidentifiable Peruvian mummy you can get buried as an unknown corpse before the invoice turns up to prove you were wanted in Belgium. After so many miles and so much drama, roaringly intelligent thesaurus it's no surprise odd facts and fun trivia derive from our country's trains. This book is designed to be an ideal source of praise quick articles and acclaim fun mini- oh, momma! Where has this paean-worthy, distressingly excellent book, which certainly goes essays for use in the whole hog, been all my life?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0285641336</amazonuk>smallest room.
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joel LevyDonald_Words|title=Why?Words of a Feather|author=Graeme Donald|rating=54
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Why does Words of a Feather. The title alone suggests an engaging read about language, and the Titanic float but book certainly delivers. It pairs seemingly unrelated words, digs up their etymological roots and reveals their common ancestry. The English language, of course, provides rich pickings indeed for a brick sink? And that water they’re sinking or floating book of this type and it is fascinating to see the hidden meaning behind common and not-so-common words. Some connections are fairly obvious once you read them. For example, the link between ''grotto'' and ''grotesque'' is easy to grasp: the word ''grotesque'' derives from unpleasant figures depicted in murals inAncient Roman ''grottoes''. Other connections are just extraordinary, why is like the so-crazy-you-couldn't-make-it wet? -up link between ''furnace'' and ''fornicate''. These two words date back to Ancient Rome when prostitutes took over the city's abandoned baking domes. And what colour some connections are more than a little tenuous, seemingly just a collection of words banded together, as is it, ‘cos it ain’t clear? These questions the case with the ''insult'' and many more are answered in ''salmon'' pairing. One of my personal favourites: the Italian word ''schiavo'' for ''slave'' was used to summon or dismiss a slave; this book which may not be word became corrupted to ''ciao'', a new concept but which is executed extremely word the more well-heeled among us use instead of ''goodbye''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843179512</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David AstleBinney_English|title=PuzzledThe English Countryside (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Ruth Binney
|rating=4
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Words are wonderful enough when they’re I live in the countryside and spend as much time as the weather will allow exploring it, so the chance to read Ruth Binney's ''The English Countryside'' was too good to be missed. We've met Ruth [[The Allotment Experience by Ruth Binney|before]] at Bookbag and we know that she writes well and interestingly, but just telling you things straight up, one thing was worrying me about this book. It's a hardback and beautifully presented but who can resist them when they’re really being playful? Not David Astle, its the author size of this new title book that blows the lid on it all with what he calls 'secrets and clues from you slip into a life in words'pocket or handbag.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685427</amazonuk> Would it be rather superficial?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joseph PiercyLloyd_1234|title=The Story of English1,234 QI Facts to Leave You Speechless|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|rating=35
|genre=Trivia
|summary=''The Story of EnglishNo US President has ever died in May.'' ''There are fewer women on corporate boards in America than there are men named John.'' ''Dogs investigate bad smells with their right nostril and good smells with their left.'' ''Apollo 11' sets out s fuel consumption was seven inches to be a potted history of the influences that have shaped our languagegallon.'' ''The first occupational disease ever recorded in medical literature was 'chimney sweep's scrotum'.'' ''The song 'Yes, from the Lindisfarne Gospels to LOLcatsWe Have No Bananas' was written by Leon Trotsky's nephew.com. Starting with '' ''In the pre-Roman Celts and their Ogham alphabet18th Century, it goes crashing through fifteen hundred years of linguistic history at a terrific pace King George I declared all pigeon droppings to end with an almost audible sigh be the property of relief at the internet ageCrown''. I hardly think I need to say any more. Review over.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843178834</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Phil Daoust (editor)Berenson_How|title=Write.|rating=4.5|genre=Reference|summary=The Guardian newspaper has for some years now been publishing articles and interviews on how How to write. Successful authors, agents and publishers have offered pearls of wisdom in the Guardian Masterclasses for genres as wide-ranging as travel writing, picture books and screenplays. Now their wisdom and their insights have been collected together in this slim volume which will intrigue both the readers and the writers among us.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085265328X</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewSpeak Emoji|author=Nigel Fountain|title=Cliches: Avoid Them Like the PlagueFred Benenson
|rating=4
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Cliché is such an awful word with all its connotations of the triteEmojis are fun, the hackneyed and the overused. Itthere's a word you'd hate so much more to have associated with your writing, even if you produce nothing more public them than a shopping list but for the benefit smileys of the discerning reader Nigel Fountain has compiled days gone by ;) They can be a list in alphabetical order of these dreaded phrases. I began readinglanguage unto themselves, though, confident that I couldn't be caught out and then blushed when I realised that I'd just pointed out to someone ve found that avoiding clichés wasnsome members of the, ahem, older generation can find themselves a little troubled by them. This book, then, sounds perfect for anyone who needs a little help with this 't rocket science. They agreed that it isnlanguage't brain surgery either.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843174863</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alison MaloneyLloyd_3rd|title=Bright Young ThingsQI: The Third Book of General Ignorance|rating=4|genre=History|summaryauthor=According to the summary I read of ''Bright Young Things'' before choosing the book to read, it 'takes a sweeping look at the changing world of the Jazz Age'. I was expecting it to be something of a narrative account of the Roaring Twenties – in actual factJohn Lloyd, it's set out as a collection of trivia about the decade. SimilarlyJohn Mitchinson, the 'first person accounts' mentioned on the inside front cover are limited to two or three sentence quotes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753540975</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=E Foley James Harkin and B Coates|title=Homework for Grown UpsAndrew Hunter Murray
|rating=4.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=School days can sometimes seem like a very long time agoWell done, Hartlepool. You most likely spent 12 to 14 years of early life learning in didn't put on trial and kill a shipwrecked monkey thinking it a classroom, but how much can you remember? Sure, you can count, and you know your alphabet, but all those Napoleonic spy – any more than the several other lessons you hadplaces thusly accused ever did. Well done, how much can you really remember of those? If you want or need to remember back to your school lessons (to help your own children with their homeworkItaly, to win pub quizzesfor making the ciabatta such a global phenomenon it seems like a traditional foodstuff, whatever the reason) then this book can helpeven if it was invented in 1982. Covering ten subjects from English and Maths And well done to Sciencethat famous ice hockey player, Home Ec and HistoryCharles Darwin – who was probably playing it, it’s seeing as it was a crash course to refresh your knowledge – all those things you kinda know deep downBritish invention, but at long before the same time have forgotten Canadians ever realised they might be good at least it. Yes, for a book that spends a little bitlot of its time saying 'this didn’t happen,' 'hoojamaflip didn't do this,' and 'that was never thus', it's one that's incredibly easy to be most positive about.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099540029</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mikael Krogerus and Roman TschappelerTaggart_New|title=The Question Book|rating=4.5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Most of us have probably made at least one of those end-of-the-year lists of the best books, albums and parties we have been to in the previous twelve months. But can you, with some effort, locate the one you made in 1987? Have you ever constructed a graph of your ups and downs in a given period, and then decided to expand it by separating emotional, intellectual, sexual and financial aspects and colour coding them? Have you made a list of all your lovers, bosses or friends and then rated them from 1 to 10 on several dimensions each? Do you have one of the books that list ''100 things to do before you die'' or ''500 books to read in your life'' (and ticked off the ones you have done)? Did you ever spend a whole evening and half of a night filling in dubious 'personality' questionnaires on the Internet? Have you ever doodled something, decided that it beautifully expresses the deepest essence of your personality and then proceeded to draw such icons New Words for all your friends? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685389</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Francesca Simon|title=Horrid Henry's A - Z of Everything Horrid|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry is a very popular little boy, although you might have a different opinion if you actually had to put up with his antics yourself. A slightly modernised embodiment of 'slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails' concept of boyhood, Henry is naughtiness personified, combining irreverence Old: Recycling Our Language for authority with a huge dose of gross-out crude humour that really appeals to the target readership of early primary school children. Add a somewhat nostalgic, timeless feel, trademark alliterations, subtle (and not so subtle) digs at family dynamics, sibling rivalry and particularly at modern middle-class manners and sensibilities and you have a winning character and a base for a very successful edutainment franchise.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444002260</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewModern World|author=Mark Forsyth|title=The Etymologicon|rating=5|genre=Trivia|summary=I like words. Words are awesome. End of. But I also like trivia. I like knowing things that perhaps other people don’t, and helpfully passing on this knowledge to them. So a book about word-related trivia is just a win-win, and this one is so good I think we’ll have to call it a win-win-win.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848313071</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Philip Ardagh|title=Philip Ardagh's Book of Kings, Queens, Emperors and Rotten Wart-Nosed CommonersCaroline Taggart
|rating=3.5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=In I never declare myself off to have a world 'kip', as I recall reading that it originally meant the same amount of diamond-encrusted skulls, gold-leafed iPhones sleeping – and luxury yachts ten activity – as happens in a pennywhorehouse. The word 'cleave' can mean either to split apart or to connect together, of blingy shit (or should that be shitty bling?) itand I'm sure there's a relief another word that has completely changed its meaning from one end of things to know people are still spending money on unique one-offs that are more worthwhileanother although I can't remember which. The records for costliest photoCertainly, artwork''literally'' has tried its best to make a full switch through rampant misuse. Such is the nature of our language – fluid both in spelling until moderately recently, musical instrument and manuscript have all been broken definitely in the twenty four months leading up to this book's releasemeaning. Our collators This attempt at capturing a corner of the trivia/words/novelty market is interested in such tales from the etymological world – the way we have scoured the press adapted old words for those our own, modern and otherperhaps very different usages. Certainly, similarly noteworthy auctionshaving browsed it over a week, and found what other people paid for what you didn't know you would have wanted given the moneyI can declare it a pretty strong attempt.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684900</amazonuk>
}}
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