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 Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
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QI: The Book of General Ignorance
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John LloydJohn Mitchinson;
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Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £2.43
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
QI , 08 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it more than "Quite Interesting". Unfortunately though, if you are an avid fan of the television series like I am it offers nothing new. Most, if not all, of the material is taken from the series.
Perfect bedtime reading, 13 Sep 2008
As has been mentioned before, this loose tie-in to the BBC QI programme feels rather like shuffling through a box of randomly shuffled Trivial Pursuit cards and peeking at the (often surprising) answers.
There is a bit more to it than that though. The subjects are grouped together into some approximation of commonality - the animal world, war, inventors, science, colours etc. and each topic does go into some depth about its subject. Often, and most fascinatingly, this includes exploring how myths have grown around the subject.
Many of the facts will surprise you (one of my eye-openers was that the Celtic ethnicity as we understand it today has only existed since 21st June 1792), whereas many will already be widely known (as one of the non-carnivorous persuasion myself, I sincerely hope this book knocks on the head once and for all the calumnious lie that Hitler was a vegetarian!).
The expectation as you turn the page eagerly awaiting the next topic is palpable! I savoured this book by reading just a half dozen or so facts at bedtime and have genuinely found myself adding some snippets of information from this book into my conversations.
Anything that makes us all a tiny bit less generally ignorant can't be bad!
Great fun for trivia nerds, 05 Sep 2008
This is a very entertaining book that you can pick up and browse for short periods. It helps you to challenge all the things that you assume you know. It delights in debunking popular misconceptions - for example that glass is really a very slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid. At times it is a little precious and pedantic. I am sure that some of its claims can be challenged. However, it remains one of my favourite bedside books. Recommended.
fun but tedious at times, 31 Jul 2008
This is a fun book to pick up and put down at leisure but it loses something for not being delivered by the dry tones of Stephen Fry. If you are an avid watcher of the series you will have heard most of these entries before but there are still some gems among them. Some of the explanations do go on and there seems to be a fascintaion with space that just doesn't excite me but there were a few chuckles along the way. At the end there is a disclaimer inviting readers to send in alternative answers or explanations which does dilute the whole thing a bit. Good for picking up trivia to delight your mates at the pub.
Not entirely fact..., 26 Jun 2008
It's a good book, easy to read, informative and amusing. In fact, it's so informative that one is tempted to learn parts of it as ammunition for showing off how impressively clever you are to your friends; dismissing common knowledge as fiction is a satisfying thing to do. That is, until you come across something that the book claims to be true which you know in fact to be false (or more likely, not the entire truth). And by "know" I mean parts that cross over with my degree and which I have studied actual research journals on. Once I realised that the book takes liberties for the sake of sounding a bit impressive and sensational, I lost faith in pretty much everything else it claimed to be true. I'm sure alot of it is genuine, but how do you know which bits? And if it's not necessarily true, where's the fun in knowing it?
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
QI , 08 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it more than "Quite Interesting". Unfortunately though, if you are an avid fan of the television series like I am it offers nothing new. Most, if not all, of the material is taken from the series.
Perfect bedtime reading, 13 Sep 2008
As has been mentioned before, this loose tie-in to the BBC QI programme feels rather like shuffling through a box of randomly shuffled Trivial Pursuit cards and peeking at the (often surprising) answers.
There is a bit more to it than that though. The subjects are grouped together into some approximation of commonality - the animal world, war, inventors, science, colours etc. and each topic does go into some depth about its subject. Often, and most fascinatingly, this includes exploring how myths have grown around the subject.
Many of the facts will surprise you (one of my eye-openers was that the Celtic ethnicity as we understand it today has only existed since 21st June 1792), whereas many will already be widely known (as one of the non-carnivorous persuasion myself, I sincerely hope this book knocks on the head once and for all the calumnious lie that Hitler was a vegetarian!).
The expectation as you turn the page eagerly awaiting the next topic is palpable! I savoured this book by reading just a half dozen or so facts at bedtime and have genuinely found myself adding some snippets of information from this book into my conversations.
Anything that makes us all a tiny bit less generally ignorant can't be bad!
Great fun for trivia nerds, 05 Sep 2008
This is a very entertaining book that you can pick up and browse for short periods. It helps you to challenge all the things that you assume you know. It delights in debunking popular misconceptions - for example that glass is really a very slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid. At times it is a little precious and pedantic. I am sure that some of its claims can be challenged. However, it remains one of my favourite bedside books. Recommended.
fun but tedious at times, 31 Jul 2008
This is a fun book to pick up and put down at leisure but it loses something for not being delivered by the dry tones of Stephen Fry. If you are an avid watcher of the series you will have heard most of these entries before but there are still some gems among them. Some of the explanations do go on and there seems to be a fascintaion with space that just doesn't excite me but there were a few chuckles along the way. At the end there is a disclaimer inviting readers to send in alternative answers or explanations which does dilute the whole thing a bit. Good for picking up trivia to delight your mates at the pub.
Not entirely fact..., 26 Jun 2008
It's a good book, easy to read, informative and amusing. In fact, it's so informative that one is tempted to learn parts of it as ammunition for showing off how impressively clever you are to your friends; dismissing common knowledge as fiction is a satisfying thing to do. That is, until you come across something that the book claims to be true which you know in fact to be false (or more likely, not the entire truth). And by "know" I mean parts that cross over with my degree and which I have studied actual research journals on. Once I realised that the book takes liberties for the sake of sounding a bit impressive and sensational, I lost faith in pretty much everything else it claimed to be true. I'm sure alot of it is genuine, but how do you know which bits? And if it's not necessarily true, where's the fun in knowing it?
they keep delivering, 10 Nov 2008
I love buying these kinds of books for presents - you can read them first before wrapping-up! I bought this along with a Joined-Up Thinking by Colgan (Stephen Fry gave a quote on the front cover) and both books entertained me hugely on these cold, wet, darker days. great stuff.
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
QI , 08 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it more than "Quite Interesting". Unfortunately though, if you are an avid fan of the television series like I am it offers nothing new. Most, if not all, of the material is taken from the series.
Perfect bedtime reading, 13 Sep 2008
As has been mentioned before, this loose tie-in to the BBC QI programme feels rather like shuffling through a box of randomly shuffled Trivial Pursuit cards and peeking at the (often surprising) answers.
There is a bit more to it than that though. The subjects are grouped together into some approximation of commonality - the animal world, war, inventors, science, colours etc. and each topic does go into some depth about its subject. Often, and most fascinatingly, this includes exploring how myths have grown around the subject.
Many of the facts will surprise you (one of my eye-openers was that the Celtic ethnicity as we understand it today has only existed since 21st June 1792), whereas many will already be widely known (as one of the non-carnivorous persuasion myself, I sincerely hope this book knocks on the head once and for all the calumnious lie that Hitler was a vegetarian!).
The expectation as you turn the page eagerly awaiting the next topic is palpable! I savoured this book by reading just a half dozen or so facts at bedtime and have genuinely found myself adding some snippets of information from this book into my conversations.
Anything that makes us all a tiny bit less generally ignorant can't be bad!
Great fun for trivia nerds, 05 Sep 2008
This is a very entertaining book that you can pick up and browse for short periods. It helps you to challenge all the things that you assume you know. It delights in debunking popular misconceptions - for example that glass is really a very slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid. At times it is a little precious and pedantic. I am sure that some of its claims can be challenged. However, it remains one of my favourite bedside books. Recommended.
fun but tedious at times, 31 Jul 2008
This is a fun book to pick up and put down at leisure but it loses something for not being delivered by the dry tones of Stephen Fry. If you are an avid watcher of the series you will have heard most of these entries before but there are still some gems among them. Some of the explanations do go on and there seems to be a fascintaion with space that just doesn't excite me but there were a few chuckles along the way. At the end there is a disclaimer inviting readers to send in alternative answers or explanations which does dilute the whole thing a bit. Good for picking up trivia to delight your mates at the pub.
Not entirely fact..., 26 Jun 2008
It's a good book, easy to read, informative and amusing. In fact, it's so informative that one is tempted to learn parts of it as ammunition for showing off how impressively clever you are to your friends; dismissing common knowledge as fiction is a satisfying thing to do. That is, until you come across something that the book claims to be true which you know in fact to be false (or more likely, not the entire truth). And by "know" I mean parts that cross over with my degree and which I have studied actual research journals on. Once I realised that the book takes liberties for the sake of sounding a bit impressive and sensational, I lost faith in pretty much everything else it claimed to be true. I'm sure alot of it is genuine, but how do you know which bits? And if it's not necessarily true, where's the fun in knowing it?
they keep delivering, 10 Nov 2008
I love buying these kinds of books for presents - you can read them first before wrapping-up! I bought this along with a Joined-Up Thinking by Colgan (Stephen Fry gave a quote on the front cover) and both books entertained me hugely on these cold, wet, darker days. great stuff.
Indulge yourself!, 19 Jun 2008
This is a little gem of a book; I bought it thinking it would give me helpful ways of knowing and remembering more about grammar - but it's so much more than this.
The whole book is about mnemonics and rhymes as memory aids, grouped into 17 themed categories as listed in the contents page, which is viewable on the 'Search Inside' feature.
This book is ideal for flicking open and dipping into whatever page it lands on as it not only cites fascinating facts/trivia it also provides the means for remembering them!
To give a flavour of the diversity of information in this book, here's a rhyme which caught my attention (I hope the information's accurate!) on what's good to choose for firewood:
Beech wood fires are bright and clear,
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long it's laid away.
Birch and fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
Even the very flames are cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills you eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room,
With an incense like perfume.
Oak and maple, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet and ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Brimming with fun ways to remember useful and useless facts, 17 Mar 2008
I was given this fun, nostalgic and potentially very useful book for Christmas, and I've enjoyed dipping in and out of it.
The mnemonics and aide-memoires in ` I Before E (Except After C)', are divided into thematic sections such as `Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and `Musical Interlude', and include everything from practical ways of remembering spellings and scientific formulae to old-fashioned rhymes to remind one of delightfully pointless information.
The factor that really limits the usefulness of the book as a reference work, is the absence of any sort of index. Let's say, for example, you're after an easy way to remember trigonometry. All you can do to locate the information is to identify the chapter it's likely to be listed in, and flick your way through that until you stumble upon it. Despite this minor frustration, the book is ideal for anyone wishing to find better, or more fun ways of recalling key facts - from fans of trivia to older people struggling with memories less reliable than they used to be. In fact, every household should have one - in the smallest room and on the book shelf.
30 days hath september, April June and November , 15 Jan 2008
Only one minor criticism of this book is that it does not have an index. With computers it is very easy to do an index and any serious book should have one.
I still use the rhyme for the days of the month the famous Thirty days hath September etc
To spell or not to spell taught me that the mnemonic for DIARRHOEA which is a very difficult word to remember and is Dash In a A Real Rush Hurry Or Else Accident.
A common mistake because people get confused with the American spelling is licence / license and practice/ practise
s is the verb and c is the noun, that's the rule that runs the town.
A great little book which deserves a lot of study. It is a must for fans of arcane trivia. There were things in there that I had never heard of such as the taxonomic classification and the Buddhist ten states of mind.
A great present for those who think they know it all. They will soon realise they do not.
If you take time to memorise the contents of this book you might achieve number ten being Buddha, the state of perfection.
Memorable, 04 Jan 2008
Recommended
excellent
work
about
remembering
data
in
neat
groups
I enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to browse through, with catchy memory titbits that stick with you after the book was completed. Also the simple yet fun cartoons add to the over quality of the book.
Memory, but Imagining is More, 20 Nov 2007
Great memory aids, but they need imaginative use. Try adding Peter Cave's CAN A ROBOT BE HUMAN? - to make the memory aids worthwhile. While I BEFORE E is great at what it does, using it to think imaginatively about lots of dilemmas adds another dimension. I'd not have thought of this, until I came across both Parkinson's book and Cave's - Parkinson reminds us all of stuff we may have forgotten, but Cave's helps us then to make use of our thinking powers over a whole range of mind-blowing dilemmas and paradoxes, from grammar to rationality to religion. Yes, make use of the past - but to be trite - look also to the imagination and future.
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
QI , 08 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it more than "Quite Interesting". Unfortunately though, if you are an avid fan of the television series like I am it offers nothing new. Most, if not all, of the material is taken from the series.
Perfect bedtime reading, 13 Sep 2008
As has been mentioned before, this loose tie-in to the BBC QI programme feels rather like shuffling through a box of randomly shuffled Trivial Pursuit cards and peeking at the (often surprising) answers.
There is a bit more to it than that though. The subjects are grouped together into some approximation of commonality - the animal world, war, inventors, science, colours etc. and each topic does go into some depth about its subject. Often, and most fascinatingly, this includes exploring how myths have grown around the subject.
Many of the facts will surprise you (one of my eye-openers was that the Celtic ethnicity as we understand it today has only existed since 21st June 1792), whereas many will already be widely known (as one of the non-carnivorous persuasion myself, I sincerely hope this book knocks on the head once and for all the calumnious lie that Hitler was a vegetarian!).
The expectation as you turn the page eagerly awaiting the next topic is palpable! I savoured this book by reading just a half dozen or so facts at bedtime and have genuinely found myself adding some snippets of information from this book into my conversations.
Anything that makes us all a tiny bit less generally ignorant can't be bad!
Great fun for trivia nerds, 05 Sep 2008
This is a very entertaining book that you can pick up and browse for short periods. It helps you to challenge all the things that you assume you know. It delights in debunking popular misconceptions - for example that glass is really a very slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid. At times it is a little precious and pedantic. I am sure that some of its claims can be challenged. However, it remains one of my favourite bedside books. Recommended.
fun but tedious at times, 31 Jul 2008
This is a fun book to pick up and put down at leisure but it loses something for not being delivered by the dry tones of Stephen Fry. If you are an avid watcher of the series you will have heard most of these entries before but there are still some gems among them. Some of the explanations do go on and there seems to be a fascintaion with space that just doesn't excite me but there were a few chuckles along the way. At the end there is a disclaimer inviting readers to send in alternative answers or explanations which does dilute the whole thing a bit. Good for picking up trivia to delight your mates at the pub.
Not entirely fact..., 26 Jun 2008
It's a good book, easy to read, informative and amusing. In fact, it's so informative that one is tempted to learn parts of it as ammunition for showing off how impressively clever you are to your friends; dismissing common knowledge as fiction is a satisfying thing to do. That is, until you come across something that the book claims to be true which you know in fact to be false (or more likely, not the entire truth). And by "know" I mean parts that cross over with my degree and which I have studied actual research journals on. Once I realised that the book takes liberties for the sake of sounding a bit impressive and sensational, I lost faith in pretty much everything else it claimed to be true. I'm sure alot of it is genuine, but how do you know which bits? And if it's not necessarily true, where's the fun in knowing it?
they keep delivering, 10 Nov 2008
I love buying these kinds of books for presents - you can read them first before wrapping-up! I bought this along with a Joined-Up Thinking by Colgan (Stephen Fry gave a quote on the front cover) and both books entertained me hugely on these cold, wet, darker days. great stuff.
Indulge yourself!, 19 Jun 2008
This is a little gem of a book; I bought it thinking it would give me helpful ways of knowing and remembering more about grammar - but it's so much more than this.
The whole book is about mnemonics and rhymes as memory aids, grouped into 17 themed categories as listed in the contents page, which is viewable on the 'Search Inside' feature.
This book is ideal for flicking open and dipping into whatever page it lands on as it not only cites fascinating facts/trivia it also provides the means for remembering them!
To give a flavour of the diversity of information in this book, here's a rhyme which caught my attention (I hope the information's accurate!) on what's good to choose for firewood:
Beech wood fires are bright and clear,
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long it's laid away.
Birch and fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
Even the very flames are cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills you eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room,
With an incense like perfume.
Oak and maple, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet and ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Brimming with fun ways to remember useful and useless facts, 17 Mar 2008
I was given this fun, nostalgic and potentially very useful book for Christmas, and I've enjoyed dipping in and out of it.
The mnemonics and aide-memoires in ` I Before E (Except After C)', are divided into thematic sections such as `Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and `Musical Interlude', and include everything from practical ways of remembering spellings and scientific formulae to old-fashioned rhymes to remind one of delightfully pointless information.
The factor that really limits the usefulness of the book as a reference work, is the absence of any sort of index. Let's say, for example, you're after an easy way to remember trigonometry. All you can do to locate the information is to identify the chapter it's likely to be listed in, and flick your way through that until you stumble upon it. Despite this minor frustration, the book is ideal for anyone wishing to find better, or more fun ways of recalling key facts - from fans of trivia to older people struggling with memories less reliable than they used to be. In fact, every household should have one - in the smallest room and on the book shelf.
30 days hath september, April June and November , 15 Jan 2008
Only one minor criticism of this book is that it does not have an index. With computers it is very easy to do an index and any serious book should have one.
I still use the rhyme for the days of the month the famous Thirty days hath September etc
To spell or not to spell taught me that the mnemonic for DIARRHOEA which is a very difficult word to remember and is Dash In a A Real Rush Hurry Or Else Accident.
A common mistake because people get confused with the American spelling is licence / license and practice/ practise
s is the verb and c is the noun, that's the rule that runs the town.
A great little book which deserves a lot of study. It is a must for fans of arcane trivia. There were things in there that I had never heard of such as the taxonomic classification and the Buddhist ten states of mind.
A great present for those who think they know it all. They will soon realise they do not.
If you take time to memorise the contents of this book you might achieve number ten being Buddha, the state of perfection.
Memorable, 04 Jan 2008
Recommended
excellent
work
about
remembering
data
in
neat
groups
I enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to browse through, with catchy memory titbits that stick with you after the book was completed. Also the simple yet fun cartoons add to the over quality of the book.
Memory, but Imagining is More, 20 Nov 2007
Great memory aids, but they need imaginative use. Try adding Peter Cave's CAN A ROBOT BE HUMAN? - to make the memory aids worthwhile. While I BEFORE E is great at what it does, using it to think imaginatively about lots of dilemmas adds another dimension. I'd not have thought of this, until I came across both Parkinson's book and Cave's - Parkinson reminds us all of stuff we may have forgotten, but Cave's helps us then to make use of our thinking powers over a whole range of mind-blowing dilemmas and paradoxes, from grammar to rationality to religion. Yes, make use of the past - but to be trite - look also to the imagination and future.
Well-organised reference book, but too short, 07 Oct 2008
This book is split into chapters based on the traditional school subjects, such as geography, history, maths, and then within each chapter split into 'typical things we were taught', ranging from the list of British kings to trigonometry to Charles Dickens.
There are certain chapters you'll skip, either because they were your specialist subject at university or because you're still not interested years later. But there are chapters you'll definitely be saying "I used to know that!" for.
It doesn't take very long to read the entire book, but that's only half the usefulness, because my copy will be taking a prominent place on my shelf- because next time anything that relates to these subjects comes up, I'll remember (I hope) that if I've forgotten it, this is the first book to turn to.
My only criticism is that perhaps 192 pages is a little ungenerous and the authors could easily have found an extra 50% of stuff that we've also forgotten from school. Or maybe that's being saved for a sequel.
Careful - not for everybody, 27 Aug 2008
I had high hopes for this book but was left a little disappointed.
There was lots of stuff in here that I had forgotten but most of it I will surely forget again because I'm not too interested. The bits I was interesting in (maths and science) I found that I did know (because I read sciencey books anyway) and it felt a bit lightweight in that area.
The book mostly covers early secondary school topics and touches on some of the basics from 'O' level (I guess that's GCSE now).
Overall, I think it is worth a read and it does deliver what it tries to. My problem is that my expectations were unrealistic (but that's not the author's fault).
a feast of bite sized information , 16 Aug 2008
This is the age of bite ( or is it byte) sized information. The older generation i.e. me think we are divided from the younger by the fact that we learnt our information by rote. The old exam system was based you learning what the teacher told you or wrote on the board and you passed exams by regurgitating it .
As a result we confused knowledge with intelligence.These days you do not have to know the capital of Kazakhstan ( Astana) as the Internet will tell you.
I am often told by the less intelligent that most human endeavours are easy or straightforward because you can look it up on the Internet. They forget it is raw information and you have to intelligently apply it.
I constantly tell people that no doubt it tells me on the Internet how to build a car or a house but I will not be attempting to do so.
This book is the information we oldies think we should know. I have to say that even though I went to a Grammar school have a fair collection of A levels and a professional qualification there is a lot in there that they neglected to tell me. or I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is handily divided into English language literature, maths, science, history, geography and general studies.
Some of the don't tend to change but whole countries have disappeared and been replaced by new ones. If you knew Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso and the capital is Ouagadougou you need to get out more or maybe you do to pub quizzes.
Like i before e this is a great book but again suffers form one minor criticism it should have an index.
Highly recommended and a joy to read.
...I Do Now!, 18 Jun 2008
Leafing through this in the book shop my smug, 'I still know that!' expression was rapidly replaced with an, 'I never knew that!' look of horror!... So I bought it immediately, and having just finished this delightfully ingenious tome I am now happy to say that although I may not have 'Known That', I do now!
A great book, birthday and Christmas presents for this year are taken care of!
Great Stuff, 18 Jun 2008
I bought this book for my Dad, trying to look clever whilst reminding him he is old. When he started asking me if "I knew this or that" I realized how much I had forgotten from school, and I made a complete fool of myself.
I asked my father to lend me the book now! I needed a quick read through, but he wouldn't let me have it!!
Great fun.
Mark
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
QI , 08 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it more than "Quite Interesting". Unfortunately though, if you are an avid fan of the television series like I am it offers nothing new. Most, if not all, of the material is taken from the series.
Perfect bedtime reading, 13 Sep 2008
As has been mentioned before, this loose tie-in to the BBC QI programme feels rather like shuffling through a box of randomly shuffled Trivial Pursuit cards and peeking at the (often surprising) answers.
There is a bit more to it than that though. The subjects are grouped together into some approximation of commonality - the animal world, war, inventors, science, colours etc. and each topic does go into some depth about its subject. Often, and most fascinatingly, this includes exploring how myths have grown around the subject.
Many of the facts will surprise you (one of my eye-openers was that the Celtic ethnicity as we understand it today has only existed since 21st June 1792), whereas many will already be widely known (as one of the non-carnivorous persuasion myself, I sincerely hope this book knocks on the head once and for all the calumnious lie that Hitler was a vegetarian!).
The expectation as you turn the page eagerly awaiting the next topic is palpable! I savoured this book by reading just a half dozen or so facts at bedtime and have genuinely found myself adding some snippets of information from this book into my conversations.
Anything that makes us all a tiny bit less generally ignorant can't be bad!
Great fun for trivia nerds, 05 Sep 2008
This is a very entertaining book that you can pick up and browse for short periods. It helps you to challenge all the things that you assume you know. It delights in debunking popular misconceptions - for example that glass is really a very slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid. At times it is a little precious and pedantic. I am sure that some of its claims can be challenged. However, it remains one of my favourite bedside books. Recommended.
fun but tedious at times, 31 Jul 2008
This is a fun book to pick up and put down at leisure but it loses something for not being delivered by the dry tones of Stephen Fry. If you are an avid watcher of the series you will have heard most of these entries before but there are still some gems among them. Some of the explanations do go on and there seems to be a fascintaion with space that just doesn't excite me but there were a few chuckles along the way. At the end there is a disclaimer inviting readers to send in alternative answers or explanations which does dilute the whole thing a bit. Good for picking up trivia to delight your mates at the pub.
Not entirely fact..., 26 Jun 2008
It's a good book, easy to read, informative and amusing. In fact, it's so informative that one is tempted to learn parts of it as ammunition for showing off how impressively clever you are to your friends; dismissing common knowledge as fiction is a satisfying thing to do. That is, until you come across something that the book claims to be true which you know in fact to be false (or more likely, not the entire truth). And by "know" I mean parts that cross over with my degree and which I have studied actual research journals on. Once I realised that the book takes liberties for the sake of sounding a bit impressive and sensational, I lost faith in pretty much everything else it claimed to be true. I'm sure alot of it is genuine, but how do you know which bits? And if it's not necessarily true, where's the fun in knowing it?
they keep delivering, 10 Nov 2008
I love buying these kinds of books for presents - you can read them first before wrapping-up! I bought this along with a Joined-Up Thinking by Colgan (Stephen Fry gave a quote on the front cover) and both books entertained me hugely on these cold, wet, darker days. great stuff.
Indulge yourself!, 19 Jun 2008
This is a little gem of a book; I bought it thinking it would give me helpful ways of knowing and remembering more about grammar - but it's so much more than this.
The whole book is about mnemonics and rhymes as memory aids, grouped into 17 themed categories as listed in the contents page, which is viewable on the 'Search Inside' feature.
This book is ideal for flicking open and dipping into whatever page it lands on as it not only cites fascinating facts/trivia it also provides the means for remembering them!
To give a flavour of the diversity of information in this book, here's a rhyme which caught my attention (I hope the information's accurate!) on what's good to choose for firewood:
Beech wood fires are bright and clear,
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long it's laid away.
Birch and fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
Even the very flames are cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills you eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room,
With an incense like perfume.
Oak and maple, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet and ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Brimming with fun ways to remember useful and useless facts, 17 Mar 2008
I was given this fun, nostalgic and potentially very useful book for Christmas, and I've enjoyed dipping in and out of it.
The mnemonics and aide-memoires in ` I Before E (Except After C)', are divided into thematic sections such as `Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and `Musical Interlude', and include everything from practical ways of remembering spellings and scientific formulae to old-fashioned rhymes to remind one of delightfully pointless information.
The factor that really limits the usefulness of the book as a reference work, is the absence of any sort of index. Let's say, for example, you're after an easy way to remember trigonometry. All you can do to locate the information is to identify the chapter it's likely to be listed in, and flick your way through that until you stumble upon it. Despite this minor frustration, the book is ideal for anyone wishing to find better, or more fun ways of recalling key facts - from fans of trivia to older people struggling with memories less reliable than they used to be. In fact, every household should have one - in the smallest room and on the book shelf.
30 days hath september, April June and November , 15 Jan 2008
Only one minor criticism of this book is that it does not have an index. With computers it is very easy to do an index and any serious book should have one.
I still use the rhyme for the days of the month the famous Thirty days hath September etc
To spell or not to spell taught me that the mnemonic for DIARRHOEA which is a very difficult word to remember and is Dash In a A Real Rush Hurry Or Else Accident.
A common mistake because people get confused with the American spelling is licence / license and practice/ practise
s is the verb and c is the noun, that's the rule that runs the town.
A great little book which deserves a lot of study. It is a must for fans of arcane trivia. There were things in there that I had never heard of such as the taxonomic classification and the Buddhist ten states of mind.
A great present for those who think they know it all. They will soon realise they do not.
If you take time to memorise the contents of this book you might achieve number ten being Buddha, the state of perfection.
Memorable, 04 Jan 2008
Recommended
excellent
work
about
remembering
data
in
neat
groups
I enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to browse through, with catchy memory titbits that stick with you after the book was completed. Also the simple yet fun cartoons add to the over quality of the book.
Memory, but Imagining is More, 20 Nov 2007
Great memory aids, but they need imaginative use. Try adding Peter Cave's CAN A ROBOT BE HUMAN? - to make the memory aids worthwhile. While I BEFORE E is great at what it does, using it to think imaginatively about lots of dilemmas adds another dimension. I'd not have thought of this, until I came across both Parkinson's book and Cave's - Parkinson reminds us all of stuff we may have forgotten, but Cave's helps us then to make use of our thinking powers over a whole range of mind-blowing dilemmas and paradoxes, from grammar to rationality to religion. Yes, make use of the past - but to be trite - look also to the imagination and future.
Well-organised reference book, but too short, 07 Oct 2008
This book is split into chapters based on the traditional school subjects, such as geography, history, maths, and then within each chapter split into 'typical things we were taught', ranging from the list of British kings to trigonometry to Charles Dickens.
There are certain chapters you'll skip, either because they were your specialist subject at university or because you're still not interested years later. But there are chapters you'll definitely be saying "I used to know that!" for.
It doesn't take very long to read the entire book, but that's only half the usefulness, because my copy will be taking a prominent place on my shelf- because next time anything that relates to these subjects comes up, I'll remember (I hope) that if I've forgotten it, this is the first book to turn to.
My only criticism is that perhaps 192 pages is a little ungenerous and the authors could easily have found an extra 50% of stuff that we've also forgotten from school. Or maybe that's being saved for a sequel.
Careful - not for everybody, 27 Aug 2008
I had high hopes for this book but was left a little disappointed.
There was lots of stuff in here that I had forgotten but most of it I will surely forget again because I'm not too interested. The bits I was interesting in (maths and science) I found that I did know (because I read sciencey books anyway) and it felt a bit lightweight in that area.
The book mostly covers early secondary school topics and touches on some of the basics from 'O' level (I guess that's GCSE now).
Overall, I think it is worth a read and it does deliver what it tries to. My problem is that my expectations were unrealistic (but that's not the author's fault).
a feast of bite sized information , 16 Aug 2008
This is the age of bite ( or is it byte) sized information. The older generation i.e. me think we are divided from the younger by the fact that we learnt our information by rote. The old exam system was based you learning what the teacher told you or wrote on the board and you passed exams by regurgitating it .
As a result we confused knowledge with intelligence.These days you do not have to know the capital of Kazakhstan ( Astana) as the Internet will tell you.
I am often told by the less intelligent that most human endeavours are easy or straightforward because you can look it up on the Internet. They forget it is raw information and you have to intelligently apply it.
I constantly tell people that no doubt it tells me on the Internet how to build a car or a house but I will not be attempting to do so.
This book is the information we oldies think we should know. I have to say that even though I went to a Grammar school have a fair collection of A levels and a professional qualification there is a lot in there that they neglected to tell me. or I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is handily divided into English language literature, maths, science, history, geography and general studies.
Some of the don't tend to change but whole countries have disappeared and been replaced by new ones. If you knew Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso and the capital is Ouagadougou you need to get out more or maybe you do to pub quizzes.
Like i before e this is a great book but again suffers form one minor criticism it should have an index.
Highly recommended and a joy to read.
...I Do Now!, 18 Jun 2008
Leafing through this in the book shop my smug, 'I still know that!' expression was rapidly replaced with an, 'I never knew that!' look of horror!... So I bought it immediately, and having just finished this delightfully ingenious tome I am now happy to say that although I may not have 'Known That', I do now!
A great book, birthday and Christmas presents for this year are taken care of!
Great Stuff, 18 Jun 2008
I bought this book for my Dad, trying to look clever whilst reminding him he is old. When he started asking me if "I knew this or that" I realized how much I had forgotten from school, and I made a complete fool of myself.
I asked my father to lend me the book now! I needed a quick read through, but he wouldn't let me have it!!
Great fun.
Mark
Quite Poor, 15 Nov 2008
Some game guides (such as the ones for Final Fantasy XII or the fantastic hardback for the Collector's Edition of Fallout 3) are well-designed mines of information that deserve to be almost permanently open by your side when playing the game. You would think from its size that this guide deserves to join that illustrious company. Think again.
Full colour printing may seem like no expense has been spared, but most of the screenshots here are pretty ugly, uninformative, too large (so they are pixellated) or so small that they tell you nothing at all. Visually, the book has very little pleasure to offer.
As far as content goes, the story is even worse. There are some useful tips on dungeons and the quest series for the new class (Death Knight) but nothing so useful that you would really want it, and telling players who have already devoted over a hundred hours to the game (on several occasions) that they are going to need a healer, a tank and DPS for an instance is a waste of time.
In some cases the guide is actually less informative than the in-game information. It doesn't list cooldowns or casting times on spells and only gives the same text that you can see in the game, with no further advice. In the case of the Death Knight class you are given some pointers on abilities, but no real information at all on the talent paths. For no talent does the guide tell you the percentage enhancement: possibly for fear that the developers will change this and render the guide obsolete. Nevertheless - even if you make allowances for the fact that the guide was produced as the game was being balanced by its creators - the talent trees in this book are less useful than any on-line calculator because the icons are not even labelled with the name of the talent. This is unforgivably bad design, because you would have to remember the icon and find on the next page if you wanted to make sense of it.
I spent some minutes trying to find information on the new Priest top tier ability (Penance) before realising that the authors have separated spell abilities available to all members of a class from those awarded by talent points. (I think that most players will want to be able to find a list of the things they can put on their spellbar separate from the talents that affect the mathematics behind the game.) The way in which abilities are arranged (alphabetically rather than by the level at which they become available) is also confusing. For ease of use, I'd give this book a very low overall score.
For the new Inscription profession you get a list of all glyphs but no account of what effect they have, which again renders it almost completely useless as a guide. There should have been a guide to all the glyphs for each class since existing players will want advice on how best to employ a powerful new enhancement system.
Page after page is taken up with lists of quests with no account of how to complete them or the stats on the quest rewards. No one with an up-to-date quest add-on will even bother with this, whereas really useful knowledge about developing appropriate stats on characters is completely ignored.
This book is quite cheap given all the work that went into producing it, and obsessive fans of the game will certainly find some useful pages here and there, such as the detailed list of the new Achievement system. If you don't buy this, though, you really aren't going to miss it.
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The Dangerous Book for Boys
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Conn IgguldenHal Iggulden;
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Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £6.24
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pity...
QI , 08 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it more than "Quite Interesting". Unfortunately though, if you are an avid fan of the television series like I am it offers nothing new. Most, if not all, of the material is taken from the series.
Perfect bedtime reading, 13 Sep 2008
As has been mentioned before, this loose tie-in to the BBC QI programme feels rather like shuffling through a box of randomly shuffled Trivial Pursuit cards and peeking at the (often surprising) answers.
There is a bit more to it than that though. The subjects are grouped together into some approximation of commonality - the animal world, war, inventors, science, colours etc. and each topic does go into some depth about its subject. Often, and most fascinatingly, this includes exploring how myths have grown around the subject.
Many of the facts will surprise you (one of my eye-openers was that the Celtic ethnicity as we understand it today has only existed since 21st June 1792), whereas many will already be widely known (as one of the non-carnivorous persuasion myself, I sincerely hope this book knocks on the head once and for all the calumnious lie that Hitler was a vegetarian!).
The expectation as you turn the page eagerly awaiting the next topic is palpable! I savoured this book by reading just a half dozen or so facts at bedtime and have genuinely found myself adding some snippets of information from this book into my conversations.
Anything that makes us all a tiny bit less generally ignorant can't be bad!
Great fun for trivia nerds, 05 Sep 2008
This is a very entertaining book that you can pick up and browse for short periods. It helps you to challenge all the things that you assume you know. It delights in debunking popular misconceptions - for example that glass is really a very slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid. At times it is a little precious and pedantic. I am sure that some of its claims can be challenged. However, it remains one of my favourite bedside books. Recommended.
fun but tedious at times, 31 Jul 2008
This is a fun book to pick up and put down at leisure but it loses something for not being delivered by the dry tones of Stephen Fry. If you are an avid watcher of the series you will have heard most of these entries before but there are still some gems among them. Some of the explanations do go on and there seems to be a fascintaion with space that just doesn't excite me but there were a few chuckles along the way. At the end there is a disclaimer inviting readers to send in alternative answers or explanations which does dilute the whole thing a bit. Good for picking up trivia to delight your mates at the pub.
Not entirely fact..., 26 Jun 2008
It's a good book, easy to read, informative and amusing. In fact, it's so informative that one is tempted to learn parts of it as ammunition for showing off how impressively clever you are to your friends; dismissing common knowledge as fiction is a satisfying thing to do. That is, until you come across something that the book claims to be true which you know in fact to be false (or more likely, not the entire truth). And by "know" I mean parts that cross over with my degree and which I have studied actual research journals on. Once I realised that the book takes liberties for the sake of sounding a bit impressive and sensational, I lost faith in pretty much everything else it claimed to be true. I'm sure alot of it is genuine, but how do you know which bits? And if it's not necessarily true, where's the fun in knowing it?
they keep delivering, 10 Nov 2008
I love buying these kinds of books for presents - you can read them first before wrapping-up! I bought this along with a Joined-Up Thinking by Colgan (Stephen Fry gave a quote on the front cover) and both books entertained me hugely on these cold, wet, darker days. great stuff.
Indulge yourself!, 19 Jun 2008
This is a little gem of a book; I bought it thinking it would give me helpful ways of knowing and remembering more about grammar - but it's so much more than this.
The whole book is about mnemonics and rhymes as memory aids, grouped into 17 themed categories as listed in the contents page, which is viewable on the 'Search Inside' feature.
This book is ideal for flicking open and dipping into whatever page it lands on as it not only cites fascinating facts/trivia it also provides the means for remembering them!
To give a flavour of the diversity of information in this book, here's a rhyme which caught my attention (I hope the information's accurate!) on what's good to choose for firewood:
Beech wood fires are bright and clear,
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long it's laid away.
Birch and fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
Even the very flames are cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills you eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room,
With an incense like perfume.
Oak and maple, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet and ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Brimming with fun ways to remember useful and useless facts, 17 Mar 2008
I was given this fun, nostalgic and potentially very useful book for Christmas, and I've enjoyed dipping in and out of it.
The mnemonics and aide-memoires in ` I Before E (Except After C)', are divided into thematic sections such as `Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and `Musical Interlude', and include everything from practical ways of remembering spellings and scientific formulae to old-fashioned rhymes to remind one of delightfully pointless information.
The factor that really limits the usefulness of the book as a reference work, is the absence of any sort of index. Let's say, for example, you're after an easy way to remember trigonometry. All you can do to locate the information is to identify the chapter it's likely to be listed in, and flick your way through that until you stumble upon it. Despite this minor frustration, the book is ideal for anyone wishing to find better, or more fun ways of recalling key facts - from fans of trivia to older people struggling with memories less reliable than they used to be. In fact, every household should have one - in the smallest room and on the book shelf.
30 days hath september, April June and November , 15 Jan 2008
Only one minor criticism of this book is that it does not have an index. With computers it is very easy to do an index and any serious book should have one.
I still use the rhyme for the days of the month the famous Thirty days hath September etc
To spell or not to spell taught me that the mnemonic for DIARRHOEA which is a very difficult word to remember and is Dash In a A Real Rush Hurry Or Else Accident.
A common mistake because people get confused with the American spelling is licence / license and practice/ practise
s is the verb and c is the noun, that's the rule that runs the town.
A great little book which deserves a lot of study. It is a must for fans of arcane trivia. There were things in there that I had never heard of such as the taxonomic classification and the Buddhist ten states of mind.
A great present for those who think they know it all. They will soon realise they do not.
If you take time to memorise the contents of this book you might achieve number ten being Buddha, the state of perfection.
Memorable, 04 Jan 2008
Recommended
excellent
work
about
remembering
data
in
neat
groups
I enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to browse through, with catchy memory titbits that stick with you after the book was completed. Also the simple yet fun cartoons add to the over quality of the book.
Memory, but Imagining is More, 20 Nov 2007
Great memory aids, but they need imaginative use. Try adding Peter Cave's CAN A ROBOT BE HUMAN? - to make the memory aids worthwhile. While I BEFORE E is great at what it does, using it to think imaginatively about lots of dilemmas adds another dimension. I'd not have thought of this, until I came across both Parkinson's book and Cave's - Parkinson reminds us all of stuff we may have forgotten, but Cave's helps us then to make use of our thinking powers over a whole range of mind-blowing dilemmas and paradoxes, from grammar to rationality to religion. Yes, make use of the past - but to be trite - look also to the imagination and future.
Well-organised reference book, but too short, 07 Oct 2008
This book is split into chapters based on the traditional school subjects, such as geography, history, maths, and then within each chapter split into 'typical things we were taught', ranging from the list of British kings to trigonometry to Charles Dickens.
There are certain chapters you'll skip, either because they were your specialist subject at university or because you're still not interested years later. But there are chapters you'll definitely be saying "I used to know that!" for.
It doesn't take very long to read the entire book, but that's only half the usefulness, because my copy will be taking a prominent place on my shelf- because next time anything that relates to these subjects comes up, I'll remember (I hope) that if I've forgotten it, this is the first book to turn to.
My only criticism is that perhaps 192 pages is a little ungenerous and the authors could easily have found an extra 50% of stuff that we've also forgotten from school. Or maybe that's being saved for a sequel.
Careful - not for everybody, 27 Aug 2008
I had high hopes for this book but was left a little disappointed.
There was lots of stuff in here that I had forgotten but most of it I will surely forget again because I'm not too interested. The bits I was interesting in (maths and science) I found that I did know (because I read sciencey books anyway) and it felt a bit lightweight in that area.
The book mostly covers early secondary school topics and touches on some of the basics from 'O' level (I guess that's GCSE now).
Overall, I think it is worth a read and it does deliver what it tries to. My problem is that my expectations were unrealistic (but that's not the author's fault).
a feast of bite sized information , 16 Aug 2008
This is the age of bite ( or is it byte) sized information. The older generation i.e. me think we are divided from the younger by the fact that we learnt our information by rote. The old exam system was based you learning what the teacher told you or wrote on the board and you passed exams by regurgitating it .
As a result we confused knowledge with intelligence.These days you do not have to know the capital of Kazakhstan ( Astana) as the Internet will tell you.
I am often told by the less intelligent that most human endeavours are easy or straightforward because you can look it up on the Internet. They forget it is raw information and you have to intelligently apply it.
I constantly tell people that no doubt it tells me on the Internet how to build a car or a house but I will not be attempting to do so.
This book is the information we oldies think we should know. I have to say that even though I went to a Grammar school have a fair collection of A levels and a professional qualification there is a lot in there that they neglected to tell me. or I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is handily divided into English language literature, maths, science, history, geography and general studies.
Some of the don't tend to change but whole countries have disappeared and been replaced by new ones. If you knew Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso and the capital is Ouagadougou you need to get out more or maybe you do to pub quizzes.
Like i before e this is a great book but again suffers form one minor criticism it should have an index.
Highly recommended and a joy to read.
...I Do Now!, 18 Jun 2008
Leafing through this in the book shop my smug, 'I still know that!' expression was rapidly replaced with an, 'I never knew that!' look of horror!... So I bought it immediately, and having just finished this delightfully ingenious tome I am now happy to say that although I may not have 'Known That', I do now!
A great book, birthday and Christmas presents for this year are taken care of!
Great Stuff, 18 Jun 2008
I bought this book for my Dad, trying to look clever whilst reminding him he is old. When he started asking me if "I knew this or that" I realized how much I had forgotten from school, and I made a complete fool of myself.
I asked my father to lend me the book now! I needed a quick read through, but he wouldn't let me have it!!
Great fun.
Mark
Quite Poor, 15 Nov 2008
Some game guides (such as the ones for Final Fantasy XII or the fantastic hardback for the Collector's Edition of Fallout 3) are well-designed mines of information that deserve to be almost permanently open by your side when playing the game. You would think from its size that this guide deserves to join that illustrious company. Think again.
Full colour printing may seem like no expense has been spared, but most of the screenshots here are pretty ugly, uninformative, too large (so they are pixellated) or so small that they tell you nothing at all. Visually, the book has very little pleasure to offer.
As far as content goes, the story is even worse. There are some useful tips on dungeons and the quest series for the new class (Death Knight) but nothing so useful that you would really want it, and telling players who have already devoted over a hundred hours to the game (on several occasions) that they are going to need a healer, a tank and DPS for an instance is a waste of time.
In some cases the guide is actually less informative than the in-game information. It doesn't list cooldowns or casting times on spells and only gives the same text that you can see in the game, with no further advice. In the case of the Death Knight class you are given some pointers on abilities, but no real information at all on the talent paths. For no talent does the guide tell you the percentage enhancement: possibly for fear that the developers will change this and render the guide obsolete. Nevertheless - even if you make allowances for the fact that the guide was produced as the game was being balanced by its creators - the talent trees in this book are less useful than any on-line calculator because the icons are not even labelled with the name of the talent. This is unforgivably bad design, because you would have to remember the icon and find on the next page if you wanted to make sense of it.
I spent some minutes trying to find information on the new Priest top tier ability (Penance) before realising that the authors have separated spell abilities available to all members of a class from those awarded by talent points. (I think that most players will want to be able to find a list of the things they can put on their spellbar separate from the talents that affect the mathematics behind the game.) The way in which abilities are arranged (alphabetically rather than by the level at which they become available) is also confusing. For ease of use, I'd give this book a very low overall score.
For the new Inscription profession you get a list of all glyphs but no account of what effect they have, which again renders it almost completely useless as a guide. There should have been a guide to all the glyphs for each class since existing players will want advice on how best to employ a powerful new enhancement system.
Page after page is taken up with lists of quests with no account of how to complete them or the stats on the quest rewards. No one with an up-to-date quest add-on will even bother with this, whereas really useful knowledge about developing appropriate stats on characters is completely ignored.
This book is quite cheap given all the work that went into producing it, and obsessive fans of the game will certainly find some useful pages here and there, such as the detailed list of the new Achievement system. If you don't buy this, though, you really aren't going to miss it.
Tasty Morsels, 16 Nov 2008
Undoubtedly an unusual book, but this 40+ found it good for occasional dipping into. It goes into all kinds of stuff that might interest boys, and quite a few girls too I reckon. There's bound to be inaccuracies in a book like this, and in that carping vein I would point out that some of the comments on how to play chess were not even wrong. But that doesn't matter at all. Its contribution will be to get its reader interested in a topic, not as a reference in its own right.
An excellent book by Hal (with a little help from Conn!), 09 Oct 2008
As the cliche goes: I sooo wish I'd had this book as a kid. Nearly everything inside could be found with 5 minutes determined google searching, but it is the lucidity and compiling that makes this book so compelling.
Somehow it makes you feel invigourated reading it - you feel that it is entirely possible to do all the things listed and be a swiss army man or stg.
The one weakness (if it has a weakness) that this book has is that it does have an ever so slightly condescending tone. However, given the tone of the many inferior versions (eg the 'How to be best at everything...' series - as if they are), this book is remarkably down to earth.
So, what are you waiting for? If you've got this far then you clearly spend too much time on t'internet rather than reading books like these (irony not intended). Get up off your arse and go read this book!
Not So Brilliant Books For Boys, 01 Apr 2008
Sorry to disagree with some of the reviewers on here but I would like to disagree and rename the book 'The Dangerous Book for Dads!'
Don't get me wrong - it IS a great book - but not for boys!
I think it is Dads and Grandads who love it most.
We bought it on impulse because WE liked it! Our son looked at and took a polite interest in the activities but didn't choose to refer to it again.
A lovely book, but not for boys to actually read?
PERFECT, 13 Mar 2008
The Dangerous Book for Boys shows how much better a book can be compared to videogames or activities that involve being sat down in front of a TV. Illustrating fun, creative activities and promoting outdoor exercise as well as a variety of games that will put readers' mind to the test, this book is simply perfect.
To top it up, it isn't all just fun and games, it is also educational thanks to the interesting historical and geographical facts, which top up the readers' experience with knowledge.
I strongly recommend this intelligent, beautifully illustrated, very entertaining book that will satisfy everyone, not just boys.
Got For XMas, what rubbish!, 27 Dec 2007
Each double page is like the center fold from the old Funday Times, full of useless 'factoids' out of context.
OK, i do admit that this book was never aimed at my age group (20+) but i would consider it a waste of brain space for any one younger who can't sort the useful information from the majority of junk.
Most of the content should be learnt in a social context, i.e. at clubs such as scouts rather than read by ones self.
Final point: all of the articles in the book are what i concider Final Summeries that leave the reader whithout any background or true understanding unless you have encountered them before.
Better Alternatives:
Something like the SAS survival guide
A Ray Mears book
Conclusion:
A present for some one you don't know(like) very well, that will be binned or sent to a car-boot in a couple of years.
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Customer Reviews
FUNNY, 19 Nov 2008
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
A 'Marmite' book, if ever there was one..., 17 Nov 2008
You have to be a fan of the show to even have a chance of liking it (too many in-jokes for anyone who doesn't watch it regularly) but even then it's still gonna divide readers into two groups, lovers and haters.
To love it you'll most likely have to be either a teenager or one of those spikey-haired Evo-with-big-exhaust owners (or wanabee owners) who really think all the lads' messing about on-screen is GENUINELY funny, rather than just very mildly amusing and worth putting up with in order to see the good bits of the show.
I am a die-hard fan of the show - have been for years - but honestly...
Another reviewer compared it to one of those kiddie 'Annuals' - I agree, I think what they've done here is create a niche product, an Annual for teenagers rather than kids. This is NOT the TV show in book form - the show is SO MUCH better.
Excellent value and fun!!!, 17 Nov 2008
This easy read is this years ultimate stocking filler. It will make you want to re-watch all of the Top Gear episodes, so would be the perfect accompaniment to a box set.
It is appropriate for any age, and you don't even have to be a fan of the show. Be prepared to experience `lol' moments, and don't take it too seriously. excellent value for money!!!
Unworthy..., 15 Nov 2008
It is simply nothing like as good as the TV show. Way too superficial and childish (if you think the TV show is getting a bit silly nowadays, you certainly won't like the book - but if you think the show needs more silliness, then you just might like the book...)
As for content, they just seem to have put all the 'challenges' in comic-strip form (why not watch the DVDs) and thrown in a load of childish stuff about the Stig (isn't all the Stig stuff getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, it used to be funny, but...)
Not the way to go...U-turn needed, 15 Nov 2008
I am an avid viewer of the TG show, a subscriber to the the TG magazine, and a regular reader of Mr. C's columns in the Sunday Times, BUT I have to be honest - this book is a stinker - a complete cash-in - as a throwaway stocking-filler, OK - but I was expecting something a bit meatier in terms of content (closer to TG magazine's style), especially as there's also a separate 'TG Annual' aimed at kids. All I can say is, goodness knows what that Annual is like, because most of what's in THIS should be in the annual - it just looks like someone's decided 'let's milk the name for all it's worth' - big pit | | |