The Book of Useless Information,   ISBN:9780399532696

Customer Rating: 

Let's get one thing right. Just because the book has both useless and untrue information doesn't mean that knowing the information doesn't make a great conversation starter or a walking encylopedia.
What I am trying to say is that the only people who know that the information is not true are the people who just happan to have heard the real truth recently. No one (or at least no one should) looks up the information after they hear it unless it sounds like it is untrue. The point is to make sure the people do not find out that the facts are wrong. Like any news network.
And one more thing. In one of the reviews I read, it said that the license plate on the VW on the Abby Road album said 2817 unstead of 28I7. I think, "big difference". Anyone could easily miss that. These are the examples they put, which prove that they missed afew things in a book. Doesn't every book make a mkstake at one point. No book is perfect.

Customer Rating: 

Many reviewers have commented on the glaring factual errors, though none have pointed out that the license plate on the VW on the cover of Abbey Road is not 281F, it's 28IF, meaning that Paul McCartney would be 28 years old if he were alive then.

However, there is another set of errors too, in the statistical facts, like "Americans eat 10 million tons of turkey on Thanksgiving." Do the math, Neil. That would be almost 100 pounds per non-vegetarian over the age of 10. Or that Dunkin Donuts sells 112,000 donuts a day. Well, Neil, seeing as there about 5000 outlets, that would be 20 donuts a day per store. When I was a kid I myself could eat that many. Or that the Australian half-dollar once had $100 of silver in it. If you work out the math based on the price of silver when the half-dollar was introduced, each one would weigh more than a pound.

The thing is, these statistics aren't just off by a little. They are off by more than an order of magnitude. What happened to the concept of editing?

Customer Rating: 

The book arrived on time and in good condition. We are enjoying the book very much.

Customer Rating: 

I enjoyed this book, especially the information which contradicted the other information. As a connoisseur of trivia books, this one IS truly useless. Some information within the book contradicts other information within the same book, for instance, on page 249, it states "the penguin is the only bird that can swim, but not fly." However, on page 244, it is stated that "the emu...can't fly, but it can swim." Not only does this book contradict itself, it is not well researched and some of the information is just wrong. Interesting how the title is Useless (which it is) and Information (which it also is - not fact or even good trivia.) If there ever was a book worth reading by it's cover, this is it! I did not finish reading it, for fear of learning more incorrect information.
Compared to the ultimate (my choice of descriptor - not referring to the specific book) Uncle John's Bathroom Readers, Mental Floss and the newer Armchair Reader, the Book of Useless Information book just doesn't "fly."

Customer Rating: 

This is part of a series of books of Useless Information...so much fun to read, so interesting...facts we may or may not have heard in the past are here for us now! If you're a trivia lover, get this book, as well as the others in the series---you won't be disappointed! This isn't another of those typical Bathroom Reader trivia books, it's much better! (And for those of you who enjoy the trivia games, these books are great for making your own---in today's economy, you get more bang for the buck with these books!)