Book of Useless Information

by Keith Waterhouse

In 1995, a secret society was formed comprising Britain's foremost thinkers, writers and artists, to explore the world's most bizarre nooks and crannies, to trade and share in useless information. In this book, they reveal their findings to the public. Playwright, author and "Daily Mail" columnist, Keith Waterhouse, together with author and "Sun" columnist Richard Littlejohn, present a collection of information that details all you never needed to know and didn't need to ask.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Humor

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE, was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.

Reviews

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, simply put, a long list of really useless trivia. I loved it. From the vaguely amusingly ironic (In New Hampshire, the motto on the license plate is 'Live Free or Die.' Know where they're made? At a prison.), to the scientifically interesting (Shrimp hearts are in their heads.), to the really absurd (out of the 60 people who've ever been shot from a cannon, 31 have died).

It was fun, pithy, and I'm driving all my work-mates and Mr. Dude nuts by mentioning all the ones I can remember when anything remotely like them comes up in conversation (and, when nothing like them comes up in conversation, too). Fun in an abstract way, this book is an easy one-day read-through.

[Gary James · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's well-known that I love lists, and that I love quirky information, but something about the way this book presented its' information didn't quite sit right with me. The entries are too bitty, with little to no details rounding out the questions entries raise - so we know that "The longest Monopoly game in a bathtub was 99 hours long" (which lives up to the title of the book admirably), but we never find out who was playing, or (more importantly) why. It's this lack of supporting material which has dragged the score down to two stars, though if this was remedied (and, perhaps, references cited for the facts) I would happily say that this had the potential to become a solid four or five-star read.

I really do want to know the stories behind some of these facts, and - even if they are as ridiculous as they appear - the background is as important as the bare minimum of information we get. It's frustrating to read something like this, because there are questions raised with every few entries... all of which are worthy of an in-depth piece to themselves. For once I am force to completely and unreservedly agree with a cover quote:

"This book is totally bloody useless." Keith Waterhouse.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether you would call all of these useless that's up to you. I quite like the little bits of randomness compiled here. Well random I guess is the wrong word for as I said some like the names given to groups of certain animals some people like myself like to know. I mean a crash of Rhinos just sounds awesome.
But there are some really useless bits and bobs like the exact amount of ham that sunk with the Titanic sort of thing.
But if you like lists and odd bits and bobs this book is a must read.

[TheDenizen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting tidbits, but often lacking the context that transforms a snippet of information into a useful piece of knowledge.