The Book of General Ignorance - Hardcover

"Trivia buffs and know-it-alls alike will exult to find so much repeatable wisdom gathered in one place."
--New York Times

"The Book of General Ignorance won't make you feel dumb. It's really a call to be more curious."
--The Associated Press

"Ignorance may be bliss, but so is learning surprising information."
--Hartford Courant

"You, too, can banish social awdwardness by having its endless count of facts and factoids at the ready. Or you could just read it and keep what you learned to yourself. Betcha can't."
--New York Daily News

"To impress friends with your cleverness, beg, borrow or buy John Lloyd and John Mitchinson's The Book of General Ignorance, an extraordinary collection of 230 common misperceptions compiled for the BBC panel game QI (Quite Interesting)."
--Financial Times

"This book would make even Edison feel small and silly, for it offers answers to questions you never thought to ask or had no need of asking as you already knew, or thought you knew, the answer."
--The Economist

"Trivia books, like any kind of mental or physical addiction, are both irresistible and unsatisfying. By the standards of the genre, this one has something approaching the force of revelation. Answering silly questions suddenly seems less important than taking the trouble to ask a few."
--Melbourne Age

"Eye-watering, eyebrow-raising, terrific . . . moving slightly faster than your brain does, so that you haven't quite absorbed the full import of one blissful item of trivial information before two or three more come along. Such fine and creative research genuinely deserves to be captured in print."
--Daily Mail

"This UK bestseller redefines 'common knowledge' with factoids that will inform and entertain (or at least liven up your next cocktail party)."
-OK! Magazine

Presents a whimsical compendium of popular misconceptions, misunderstandings, and common mistakes based on "common knowledge," culled from the fields of history, science, literature, and biography, presenting such "helpful" facts as French toast comes from Rome, camels originated in North America, coffee is not made from beans, and more. 80,000 first printing.