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{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{Frontpage<!-- Lloyd -->|isbn=1780724047|-title=A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Peter J Conradi|rating=4[[image:Lloyd_1423.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0571339107?ie|genre=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0571339107]] Pets| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[1I struggle to resist a book about dogs, but I did wonder why this one was so ''thin'': given that I've never encountered a dog who wasn't interesting or important - and probably both,423 QI Facts to Bowl You Over by John Lloyd, James Harkin I was expecting a massive tome. But ''A Dictionary of Interesting and Anne Miller]]=== [[imageImportant Dogs'' is actually ''a rich compendium of the world's most significant and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly a rich treasure trove. We begin with Peter J Conradi's four collies:5starCloudy, Sky.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] You may think me lazyBradley and Max. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogs, but there what comes over is an inherent satisfaction Conradi's love for book reviewers each and every one of them. I knew that I was in hitting upon a book such as this – you know you will have very little bearing on its sales, safe hands.}}{{Frontpage|author=Don Behrend|title=Copernicus! What Have You Done?: ...and whatOther Interesting Questions|rating=4.5|genre=Trivia|summary= Hello! Would this review be okay if I simply said 's more 'I LOVED THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE BOOK AND SO WILL YOU. FIN''?! Because I did. And you hardly even need describe it – just dip in here and there for a few quotes, and sit back and relax knowing your job is donewill. ''Only |isbn=1789016770}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Lloyd_1423|title=1% of people who buy marmalade are under the age of 28. Treadmills were once the harshest form of punishment after the death penalty. Naked mole-rats can survive ,423 QI Facts to Bowl You Over|author=John Lloyd, James Harkin and Anne Miller|rating=5|genre=Trivia|summary=You may think me lazy, but there is an inherent satisfaction for 18 minutes without oxygen by turning themselves into plants.'' And the whole of page 52. There, job done book reviewers in hitting upon a book such as this – and the creators of this book certainly you know you will have done their job to perfection. [[1very little bearing on its sales,423 QI Facts to Bowl You Over by John Lloyd, James Harkin and Anne Miller|Full Review]] <!-- Snow-->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Brightside_101what's more you hardly even need describe it – just dip in here and there for a few quotes, and sit back and relax knowing your job is done.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780723296?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag ''Only 1% of people who buy marmalade are under the age of 28. Treadmills were once the harshest form of punishment after the death penalty. Naked mole-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1780723296]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[101 Things to Take the Stress Out of Christmas rats can survive for 18 minutes without oxygen by Robin Snow]]=== [[image:4starturning themselves into plants.'' And the whole of page 52. There, job done – and the creators of this book certainly have done their job to perfection.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]]}}For many years one of my guiding principles has been that {{Frontpage|isbn=Brightside_101|title=101 Things to Take the C word should not be mentioned until the beginning Stress Out of December but unfortunately Christmas|author=Robin Snow|rating=4|genre=Trivia|summary=For many years one of my guiding principles has been that the C seems word should not be mentioned until the beginning of December but, unfortunately, C seems to be coming earlier each year and there are even shops where it never ceases to be imminent, which ramps up the stress levels considerably. So, a book which promises 101 things to take the stress out of C seemed liked like a good idea. What’s it about? Tips like putting the sprouts on to boil in November or joining a religion which avoids the celebration altogether? Well, not quite. [[}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Brightside_Worry|title=101 Things to Take the Stress Out do instead of Christmas by Robin Snowworrying about the world|Full Review]] <!-- author=Felicity Brightside -->|-rating=4| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Brightside_Worry.jpg|left|linkTrivia|summary=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780723180?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1780723180]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[101 Things to do instead I don't think that I've ever been quite so worried about the state of worrying about the world by Felicity Brightside]]=== [[image:4staras I have been of late - and I speak as someone who lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and various other apocalyptic moments.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]]I don't think that I've ever been quite so worried about the state It almost certainly comes down to a lack of confidence in the people who are supposedly in charge, whether it be from a political point of view or of the world as I have been our stewardship of late - this planet we call home. But what can be done about it? We've tried voting, arguing and I speak as someone who lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and various other apocalyptic momentsdemonstrating. It almost certainly comes Now we're down to a lack of confidence in pulling up the people who are supposedly in chargedrawbridge and doing our best to think about something else.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Lloyd 1342|title=1, whether it be from a political point of view or of our stewardship of this planet we call home. But what can be done about it? We've tried voting342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted|author=John Lloyd, arguing John Mitchinson, James Harkin and demonstrating. Now we're down to pulling up Anne Miller|rating=5|genre=Trivia|summary=I love the way the drawbridge and doing our best to think about something else. QI elves play games with us with [[101 Things to do instead of worrying about the world by Felicity Brightside:Category:John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|Full Reviewthese books]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd 1342.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0571332463?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0571332463]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[1 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,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted by John Lloydbut thematically linked, John Mitchinsonphrases, James Harkin and Anne Miller]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] I love you can get from how to make the sound of an Orc army for ''Lord of the way the QI elves play games with us with [[:Category:John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|these books]]Rings'' films to record-breaking nipple hair. That's not From illicit wartime barbers in Italy to say it's a game of pulling American founding father bedroom arrangements, is only three steps – and the wool over our eyes, for every entrant in this series has had the equivalent online version for the sourcespath carries on to reach that erstwhile novice stand-up, Ronald Reagan, so every page is replicated with the due links you need to search for proof of their statementsin two more. NoIt's only two jumps between Donald Trump and Charles Darwin, the game is Six Degrees of Separationdisconcertingly. And they're so good at it}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Lloyd_1411|title=1, they can do most things in three. So in just three standalone411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways|author=John Lloyd, 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 hairJohn Mitchinson and James Harkin|rating=4.5|genre=Trivia|summary=Handsome is as handsome does. From illicit wartime barbers in Italy to American founding father bedroom arrangementsAnd you know what else benefits from being curt and succinct, is only three steps – and the path carries on to reach alongside old housewives' saws like that erstwhile novice stand-up, Ronald Reagan, in two moreone? Trivia. It's only two jumps between Donald Trump and Charles DarwinI always thought the QI books such as this one to be handsome things – perfectly presenting trivia, disconcertingly. [[1four (on rare occasion,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted by John Lloydthree) statements to the page, John Mitchinsonin a very nice little cubical hardback. Now they're being represented in paperback, James Harkin and Anne Miller|Full Review]]but you know what? They're still handsome things.}}<!-- LLOYD -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=Lloyd_1339| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"1,339 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin[[image:Lloyd_1411.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571329845/ref5|genre=nosim?tagTrivia|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[1A spermologer ''is a collector of trivia''. Just that sentence tells you a lot – we're once more in the realm of the curt,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways by John Lloydsuccinct approach to the world's information and oddities. It says more, John Mitchinson and James Harkin]]=== [[image:4.5starhowever – beyond the weirdness of the word is the obvious necessity for the word to exist – without people that could be called collectors of trivia you would not need the term.jpg|link=Category:{{{ratingAnd rest assured, there are currently few people that stand as better spermologers than the chief QI elves.}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia{{Frontpage|Trivia]]isbn=Metcalf_SkedaddleHandsome is as handsome does. And you know what else benefits from being curt and succinct, alongside old housewives' saws like that one? Trivia. I always thought the QI books such as this one to be handsome things – perfectly presenting trivia, four (on rare occasion, three) statements to the page, in a very nice little cubical hardback. Now they're being represented in paperback, but you know what? They're still handsome things. [[1,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_1339.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571308953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[1,339 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] A spermologer ''is a collector of trivia''. Just that sentence tells you a lot – we're once more in the realm of the curt, succinct approach to the world's information and oddities. It says more, however – beyond the weirdness of the word is the obvious necessity for the word to exist – without people that could be called collectors of trivia you would not need the term. And rest assured, there are currently few people that stand as better spermologers than the chief QI elves. [[1,339 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|Full Review]] <!-- Metcalf -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Metcalf_Skedaddle.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/019992712X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[From Skedaddle to Selfie: Words of the Generation by Allan Metcalf]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] I have to go a roundabout way to introducing this book, so bear with 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. I don't really hold much store by that, and I certainly didn't know we'd started one since the Millennials – who the heck decides such things, for one? ''Somebody must have put out an order'', as someone here says of something else. But in the same way as generations get defined by collective persons unknown, so do words – and those words are certainly a clue to what was important, predominant and of course spoken in each decade. [[From Skedaddle to Selfie: Words of the Generation by Allan Metcalf|Full Review]] <!-- Halliday -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Halliday_Cathedrals.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910821047/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cathedrals and Abbeys (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Stephen Halliday]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] What makes a cathedral? It's not automatically the principal church of anywhere that is made a city – St Davids is a village of 2,000 people, and wasn't always a city, but always had a cathedral, as did Chelmsford. It's not the seat of a bishop – Glasgow has the building but not the person, and hasn't had a bishop since 1690. It's not a minster – that's something completely different, and if you can understand the sign in the delightful Beverley Minster describing the difference, that I saw only the other month, you're a better man I, Gunga Din. Luckily this book doesn't touch on minsters much, and we can understand abbeys, so it's only the vast majority of 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 cathedral as somewhere of major importance, fine trivia and greatly worthy of our attention. [[Cathedrals and Abbeys (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Stephen Halliday|Full Review]] <!-- Bramley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Bramley_Shakespeare.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445646846/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Shakespeare Trail by Zoe Bramley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] It has been 400 years since William Shakespeare, 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 shadows, and many places throughout England have forgotten their association with him. Here, Zoe Bramley takes the reader on a journey through hundreds of places associated with Shakespeare – many whose connections will come as a surprise to most. Filled with intriguing titbits of information about Shakespeare, Elizabethan England, and the places that she talks about, this is no mere travel guide. <!-- Halliday -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Halliday_London.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910821020/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[London (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Stephen Halliday]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] What makes a city? Is it the materials, such as the very London Stone itself, of mythological repute, that has moved around several times, and now forms part of a WH Smith's branch? (This has nothing, of course, on Temple Bar, which has also been known to walk.) Is it the people – the butchers [[Jack the Ripper: CSI: Whitechapel by John Bennett and Paul Begg|(Jack the Ripper)]], the bakers (or whoever set fire to the entire city from Pudding Lane) and the candlestick makers? Is it the infrastructure, from the Underground, whose one-time boss got a medal from Stalin for his success, to the London Bridge itself, that in 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 it as regards weird and wonderful, and the trivial yet fascinating. And, luckily for us, so has this book. [[London (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Stephen Halliday|Full Review]] <!-- Holland -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Holland_Railways.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910821004/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Railways (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Julian Holland]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] 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 of quick articles and fun mini-essays for use in the smallest room. [[Railways (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Julian Holland|Full Review]] <!-- Donald -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Donald_Words.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178418814X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Words of a Feather by Graeme Donald]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] Words of a Feather. The title alone suggests an engaging read about language, and the 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 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 in Ancient Roman ''grottoes''. Other connections are just extraordinary, like the so-crazy-you-couldn't-make-it-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 some connections are more than a little tenuous, seemingly just a collection of words banded together, as is the case with the ''insult'' and ''salmon'' pairing. One of my personal favourites: the Italian word ''schiavo'' for ''slave'' 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''. [[Words of a Feather by Graeme Donald|Full Review]] <!-- Binney -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Binney_English.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910821012/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The English Countryside (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Ruth Binney]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]], [[:Category:Animals and Wildlife|Animals and Wildlife]] 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 one thing was worrying me about this book. It's a hardback and beautifully presented but its the size of book that you slip into a pocket or handbag. Would it be rather superficial? [[The English Countryside (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Ruth Binney|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_1234.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571326684/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[1,234 QI Facts to Leave You Speechless by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] ''No 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's fuel consumption was seven inches to the gallon.'' ''The first occupational disease ever recorded in medical literature was 'chimney sweep's scrotum'.'' ''The song 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' was written by Leon Trotsky's nephew.'' ''In the 18th Century, King George I declared all pigeon droppings to be property of the Crown''. I hardly think I need say any more. Review over. [[1,234 QI Facts to Leave You Speechless by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|Full Review]] <!-- Benenson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Berenson_How.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178503202X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[How to Speak Emoji by Fred Benenson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] Emojis are fun, and there's so much more to them than the smileys of days gone by ;) They can be a language unto themselves, though, and I've found that some 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 'language'. [[How to Speak Emoji by Fred Benenson|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_3rd.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571308988/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[QI: The Third Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Andrew Hunter Murray]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] Well done, Hartlepool. You didn't put on trial and kill a shipwrecked monkey thinking it a Napoleonic spy – any more than the several other places thusly accused ever did. Well done, Italy, for making the ciabatta such a global phenomenon it seems like a traditional foodstuff, even if it was invented in 1982. And well done to that famous ice hockey player, Charles Darwin – who was probably playing it, seeing as it was a British invention, long before the Canadians ever realised they might be good at it. Yes, for a book that spends a lot 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. [[QI: The Third Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Andrew Hunter Murray|Full Review]]<!-- Taggart -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taggart_New.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782434720/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World by Caroline Taggart]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] I never declare myself off to have a 'kip', as I recall reading that it originally meant the same amount of sleeping – and activity – as happens in a whorehouse. The word 'cleave' can mean either to split apart, or to connect together, and I'm sure there's another word that has completely changed its meaning from one end of things to another although I can't remember which. Certainly, ''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, 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 – the way we have adapted old words for our own, modern and perhaps very different usages. Certainly, having browsed it over a week, I can declare it a pretty strong attempt. [[New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World by Caroline Taggart|Full Review]] <!-- Halliday -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Halliday_London.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910821039/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[London Underground (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Stephen Halliday]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Trivia|Trivia]] From initial worries about smutty, enclosed air with a pungent smell to decades of human hair and engine grease causing escalator fires; from just a few lines connecting London termini to major jaunts out into Metro-land for the suburbia-bound commuters; and from a few religious-minded if financially dodgy pioneer investment managers to Crossrail; the history of the world's most extensive underground system (even when a majority is actually above ground) is fascinating |title=From Skedaddle to many. This book is a repository of much that is entirely trivial, but is also pretty much thoroughly interesting. [[London Underground (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts) by Stephen Halliday|Full Review]]  <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|} {{newreviewSelfie: Words of the Generation|author=Steve Tribe|title=The All New University Challenge Quiz Book: Questions, Answers, Facts, Figures and everything in betweenAllan Metcalf

|genre=EntertainmentTrivia|summary=[Cue theme musicI have to go a roundabout way to introduce this book, so bear with 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. Lights up on presenterThe authors of those posited the idea that all those archetypical generations – the Baby Boomers, the Millennials, and those before, who waffles on about establishments providing contestants in between and since – De Montfort Universityhave their own cyclical pattern, local puband the history of humanity has been and will be formed by the interplay of just four different kinds, family unitrunning (with only one exception) in regular order. Contestants I don'treally hold much store by that, and I certainly didn't know we'd started one since the Millennials – who the heck decides such things, for onceone? ''Somebody must have put out an order'', introduce themselves as itsomeone here says of something else. But in the same way as generations get defined by collective persons unknown, so do words – and those words are certainly a clue to what was important, predominant and of course spoken in each decade.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Halliday_Cathedrals|title=Cathedrals and Abbeys (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Stephen Halliday|rating=4.5|genre=Trivia|summary=What makes a cathedral? It's probably not automatically the principal church of anywhere that is made a given that they know each other. Contestants imbibe nervous sips city – St Davids is a village of 2,000 people and wasn'water't always a city, but always had a cathedral, and settle backas did Chelmsford.] It''You all know s not the seat of a bishop – Glasgow has the building but not the rulesperson, so letand hasn't had a bishop since 1690. It's not waste time a minster – herethat's your first starter for ten.something completely different, and if you can understand the sign in the delightful Beverley Minster describing the difference, that I saw only the other month, you''  Yesre a better man I, Gunga Din. Luckily this book throws no punches doesn't touch on minsters much, and attempts to put you in we can understand abbeys, so it's only the spotlight of one vast majority of this book that is saddled with the nationdefinition problem. It's most superlative televisual institutions – but clearly not a real problem, and those it does it manage it?have are by-passable, for this successfully defines a cathedral as somewhere of major importance, fine trivia and greatly worthy of our attention. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=Bramley_Shakespeare|title=The Shakespeare Trail|author=Zoe Bramley|rating=4|genre=Trivia|amazonuksummary=<amazonuk>184949701X</amazonuk>It has been 400 years since William Shakespeare, 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 shadows, and many places throughout England have forgotten their association with him. Here, Zoe Bramley takes the 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 places that she talks about, this is no mere travel guide.

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Halliday_London|title=London (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Gabrielle Balkan Stephen Halliday|rating=4.5|genre=Trivia|summary=What makes a city? Is it the materials, such as the very London Stone itself, of mythological repute, that has moved around several times, and now forms part of a WH Smith's branch? (This has nothing, of course, on Temple Bar, which has also been known to walk.) Is it the people – the butchers [[Jack the Ripper: CSI: Whitechapel by John Bennett and Paul Begg|(Jack the Ripper)]], the bakers (or whoever set fire to the entire city from Pudding Lane) and Sol Linerothe candlestick makers? Is it the infrastructure, from the Underground, whose one-time boss got a medal from Stalin for his success, to the London Bridge itself, that in 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 it as regards weird and wonderful, and the trivial yet fascinating. And, luckily for us, so has this book.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Holland_Railways|title=Railways (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Julian Holland|rating=3|genre=Trivia|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 of quick articles and fun mini-essays for use in the smallest room.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Donald_Words|title=Words of a Feather|author=Graeme Donald|rating=4|genre=Trivia|summary=Words of a Feather. The 50 Statestitle alone suggests an engaging read about language, and the 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 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: Explore the Uword ''grotesque'' derives from unpleasant figures depicted in murals in Ancient Roman ''grottoes''.SOther connections are just extraordinary, like the so-crazy-you-couldn't-make-it-up link between ''furnace'' and ''fornicate''.AThese two words date back to Ancient Rome when prostitutes took over the city's abandoned baking domes. And some connections are more than a little tenuous, seemingly just a collection of words banded together, as is the case with 50 factthe ''insult'' and ''salmon'' pairing. One of my personal favourites: the Italian word ''schiavo'' for ''slave'' was used to summon or dismiss a slave; this word became corrupted to ''ciao'', a word the more well-filled maps!heeled among us use instead of ''goodbye''.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Binney_English|title=The English Countryside (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)|author=Ruth Binney|rating=2.54|genre=Children's Non-FictionTrivia|summary= Ilive 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 often shouted met Ruth [[The Allotment Experience by Ruth Binney|before]] at people Bookbag and we know that she writes well and interestingly, but just one thing was worrying me about this book. It's a hardback and beautifully presented but its the size of book that you slip into a pocket or handbag. Would it be rather superficial?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Lloyd_1234|title=1,234 QI Facts to Leave You Speechless|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin|rating=5|genre=Trivia|summary=''No US President has ever died in May.'' ''There are fewer women on UK quiz programmes for corporate boards in America than there are men named John.'' ''Dogs investigate bad smells with their ignorance of geography about right nostril and good smells with their nationleft. '' People just don't seem 'Apollo 11's fuel consumption was seven inches to have learnt about or been the gallon.'' ''The first occupational disease ever recorded in medical literature was 'chimney sweep's scrotum'.'' ''The song 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' was written by Leon Trotsky's nephew.'' ''In the 18th Century, King George I declared all pigeon droppings to other areas be the property of the place they call homeCrown''. I hardly think I need to say any more. But while they get little sympathy from me when they lose the programmeReview over.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Berenson_How|title=How to Speak Emoji|author=Fred Benenson|rating=4|genre=Trivia|summary=Emojis are fun, and there's cash prizeso much more to them than the smileys of days gone by ;) They can be a language unto themselves, though, and I 've found that some members of the, ahem, older generation can imagine that find themselves a little troubled by them. This book, then, sounds perfect for anyone who needs a little help with this 'language'.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Lloyd_3rd|title=QI: The Third Book of General Ignorance|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Andrew Hunter Murray|rating=4.5|genre=Trivia|summary=Well done, Hartlepool. You didn't put on trial and kill a shipwrecked monkey thinking it would be much harder a Napoleonic spy – any more than the several other places thusly accused ever did. Well done, Italy, for them making the ciabatta such a global phenomenon it seems like a traditional foodstuff, even if they actually lived it was invented in 1982. And well done to that famous ice hockey player, Charles Darwin – who was probably playing it, seeing as it was a large countryBritish invention, such as long before the USACanadians ever realised they might be good at it. 50 whole states of different sizeYes, all with for a book that spends a rich history lot of their ownits time saying 'this didn’t happen,' 'hoojamaflip didn't do this, their own famous places ' and their own noted people – the facts involved in absorbing all 'that was never thus', it's one that's relevant would take incredibly easy to be most positive about.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Taggart_New|title=New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World|author=Caroline Taggart|rating=3.5|genre=Trivia|summary=I never declare myself off to have a lot 'kip', as I recall reading that it originally meant the same amount of research sleeping – and activity – as happens in a whorehouse. The word 'cleave' can mean either to split apart orto connect together, paradoxicallyand I'm sure there's another word that has completely changed its meaning from one end of things to another although I can't remember which. Certainly, ''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, this handy child-friendly bookand definitely in meaning.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847807119< This attempt at capturing a corner of the trivia/words/amazonuk>novelty market is interested in such tales from the etymological world – the way we have adapted old words for our own, modern and perhaps very different usages. Certainly, having browsed it over a week, I can declare it a pretty strong attempt.