If you want to know weird but essential facts, ask Nick!

I thought that this would be a great book to review in conclusion of our HISTORY month here on Surviving a Teachers Salary! Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can't Live Without has certainly lived up to my expectations! This book has shown me a deeper appreciation for many things that I never stopped to think about. The author certainly has a way to bring out the strangness of past existence and many oddities along the way. This is one of those books that you love just picking up and flipping through the pages- always finding some unique piece of information to pass along to someone else you meet that day!

Some of the trivia is astounding, and others leave you wondering if it is really true. There is so much about history (and even modern day) that we don't even know! Just look at the maps from the 16th century till now- it's always changing! Does any one person really know exactly where all the borders in the world are placed? What about Tecumseh's death in 1812? The Native American tribes were at a very important time in US history- and yet no one can seem to agree on how he died or who killed him!

You'll learn more about 2 military men who deserted the Japanese army and went in hiding for over 60 years, the Egyptian theme which lays amongst our capital, the strange smoke in Roanoke, and tidbits about anything from puzzling ailments to dinosaurs! What about the live mosquitoes lost en route from London's Natural History Museum?

My favorite part of the book? ODD OCCUPATIONS! Yep- how would you like to be a dog treat taster? Or maybe a Fortune Cookie Fortune writer? A golf ball diver....a sheepskin factory worker...a salmon stunner....and many more interesting occupations can by found in this book!!

There are sections for odd trivia about movies, authors, art, even cannibals and weird places on Earth! I definitely recomend this book for anyone who enjoys the odd trivia! It is guaranteed to give you an interesting read and "wow" your friends with odd tidbits!

Leave it in the bathroom, sneak it in your office drawer, take it on an airplane- wherever you find the need for an interesting quirk of information- this book will certainly never let you down!

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I did receive a book to read.

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What to drink while you read reference books!

Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can't Live Without - Nick Belardes

Genre: "Reference," but, please -- it's a trivia book.

While there are more books of weird facts, quirky stories, and mind-bending figures than there are dimples on a golf ball, Nick Belardes’ Random Obsessions leaves the rest of the trivia book genre looking puny and sophomoric by comparison. Divided into eight chapters covering such themes as weird scientific anomalies, freakish illnesses, the strangest jobs ever, and assorted tales of films, authors, inventions, and artists, the sections read more like an amusing free-association Mensa exercise than a run-of-the-mill book of random information.

 

Take Chapter 6: Eccentric Authors and Fantastic Art. A typical trivia book would list interesting factoids under clearly defined, encyclopedia-boring headings. Not Random Obsessions. The chapter starts with information about expatriate writer V.S. Naipaul, leaps to random expatriation facts, moves on to J.R.R. Tolkein, then on to info about famous art depicting war. Each chapter follows this setup: leaping from one topic to another, related, if off-beat topic, to still another. The entire book is like an intellectual and oddly fascinating playground. Goody, goody.

 

What to drink while reading Random Obsessions: I'd suggest a festive, yet sophisticated, cocktail for this one. My choice would be a Gimlet. As Julie Powell of Julie and Julia fame (and soon to be released bookish movie) says, Gimlets are "exquisitely civilized and not at all girly." Well said, ma'am. Although the traditional Gimlet recipe is about 2 oz. gin, 1/2 oz. Rose's lime juice, and 1/4 to 1/2 oz. simple syrup, that's sissy stuff, in my opinion. I'm with Terry Lennox from Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye when he tells Philip Marlowe that, "a real Gimlet is half gin and half Rose's Lime Juice and nothing else." Get thee behind me, simple syrup.

 

Verdict?: This is one trivia book that won't be relegated to Bathroom Status.