Lists You'll Want to Check Twice: Mental_Floss: The Book

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers….the place where yours truly laughs in the face of sleepiness to bring you bookish goodness every day of the week, or almost every day.  ^_^

Yes my friends….sleep is allusion sometimes around these parts what with the world the way it is today, life in general and of course all the books you just want to read READ rEaD ReAd.  Sleep is a luxury and I laugh in the face of it…Ha ha HA!  *yawn*  Okay, so it catches up to me every now and again but you know how it goes, I’m sure.  Anywho, enough of my ramblings about pillows and things, it’s time to get bookish.

Today we are traveling the intellectual reading rainbow but in a totally neato-mosquito sorta way.  What’s that?  Are you SCOFFING at me?  O-O  No one dares scoff at THE Insatiable Reader!?!  Just kidding!  Scoff if you want to…but still read the post because although you will learn A LOT from this particular selection, it’s so much fun it’ll feel like a walk in the park.  Put your fuzzy, light-up, bedazzled thinking caps on…today’s book of choice is….

mental_floss:  The Book

…Only the Greatest Lists in the History of Listory

Edited by

Ethan Trex, Will Pearson, and Mangesh Hattikudur

Let me break it down for you.  In it’s most basic form, this book is fact, not fiction…but it deals with a myriad of subjects both intellectually stimulating and funny bone jostling (pop culture, gotta love it) that you’ll be hooked, lined, and sinker-ed whether you read it cover to cover or in wee little bites like a too rich cheesecake (yes, I was hungry when I wrote this).  That’s right my friends; a book of lists with room to spare for both laughter and learning….quite the combo, right?

In keeping with the spirit of the book, may I present my first of two lists…this one’s entitled…

COOL THINGS I LEARNED BY READING THIS BOOK OF AWESOMENESS

(…in no particular order…)

• Humpty Dumpty MAY have sat on a wall…but the rhyme of old never said he was an egg…or a “he” for that matter. 

• The solution to an “ice cream headache”….don’t let it touch the roof of your mouth…or eat it when it’s cold outside.  (Seems they occur from the blood vessels dilating to…well, you’ll see….)

• Alton Brown (you know, the foodie guy) was the director of photography for R.E.M.’s 1987 video for “The One I Love”.  Rock on Mr. Brown!

• There are many odd ways to die and rest assured if it happens to you, you’ll end up on a list.  Death by toothpick anyone?  How about being smothered with adoration?

• Rudolph was not the forerunner for being the red nosed reindeer.  Originally, it was Rollo or Reginald.  Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it…

• The average person would make $600 a day from a penny for their thoughts.  *blink blink*  _watches mailbox for check with lotsa zeros_

• Remember ‘Eureka’s Castle’?  So does R.L. Stine…he was a co creator and head writer for the show!

• Harper Lee worked as a reservation clerk for 8 years…not surprising since most authors had another job other than writing back in the day.  What IS surprising however is that one year for Christmas, she was given a year off from that place of business to do whatever she wished…the results?  That was the year she penned the infamous ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’…talk about time off well spent!

That my friend is just the tip, the very pinnacle, of the proverbial iceberg we are looking at here.  The editors did a GREAT job in finding and consolidating the information presented.  From the varied in length lists to the tidbits of factoids that run across the bottom of each and every page, you’ll find out about everything from whose mouth is cleaner, yours or your dogs (both are equally “dirty” in their own right) to what the Monopoly guy’s REAL name is (not telling…you’ll have to read it!) and everything in between.  In short….

1. …a great book for fun time readers as well as the most studious amongst you.
2. …a great gift for the holiday season to educate AND entertain.
3. …you’ll learn something new, guaranteed…and you’ll have a great time doing it.
4. …you will find yourself spouting out random fun facts JUST to impress your friends after absorbing this wealth of information.  (Trust me, been there…done that.)
5. I enjoyed this book and think you will too….in case there was any doubt.  ^_^
6. I am one SMOOT tall.  Just sayin.  ^_^  Bonus points for knowing what that means or reading the book to find out.

Review copy courtesy of Mary at HarperCollins Publishers.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title as well as their full catalog, feel free to check them out online.  For more mental_floss fun, be sure to check out their official website, ‘like’ them on Facebook (and take their nifty quiz!), or follow along on Twitter.

Until next time…happy reading!