Stuff You Should Have Learned at School by Michael Powell

by Michael Powell

If you spent your school days in a haze and you feel like you're missing some essential bits of knowledge everyone's supposed to have, here's the perfect pocket guide to bring you up to speed! Within these pages are eminently readable — even browsable, skimmable — refreshers on:

Algebra, geometry, averages, numbers, angles, and ratios Literary terms, Shakespeare's plays, great poets, and novelist, the rudiments of spelling and grammar The human body, laws of physics, theory of evolution, discovery of the atom, meaning of E=MC2, and birth of the universe Major world battles, names of all the United States presidents, different types of dinosaurs, historic inventions and discoveries How a volcano works, who wrote the Odyssey, why there are twelve notes in a musical scale, and much, much more!
Covering fifty basic curriculum points in seven disciplines fundamental to cultural literacy (English, mathematics, science, history, geography, the classics, and music), Stuff You Should Have Learned at School will make you the center of cocktail conversation, a whiz in the boardroom, an impressive figure to potential lovers, and a child your parents can finally boast about. (Well, at the very least it'll allow you to lay legitimate claim to a decent education).

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, History, Education, Trivia

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to see that the subjects I loved in school and excelled at are the ones that I retained a great amount of detailed understanding. There were several subjects that I wasn't very fond of in school but now have a passion for and then there were a couple of areas of study that I still have little interest in and those proved challenging to even read through in the book. The book is broken down into seven subjects; English, Math, Science, History, Geography, The Classics and Music. Each section gives you some of the essential learning you should have received in school. It is a nice overview for subjects that perhaps weren't your cup of tea at the time but now capture your interest.

[Nikoleta · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of those random books I picked up at Goodwill for $0.50, not really knowing anything about it or having any expectations. This book is what the title suggests - a slew of topics and facts you would've/might've learned at school and forgotten, or stuff your high-school didn't bother to teach you. I did find some information useless (all the different types of dinosaurs), and some interesting (brief summaries of Shakespeare's plays; Greek gods descriptions) but I don't think I picked up anything long-lasting from this little booklet. To be honest, I was quite disappointed with the math section, which only had the most basic and obvious of math. The science section was a bit better and offered some brief background on several scientists (who I am currently studying) but that was pretty much the peak of my interest. Another section that stood out to me was the Geography one - reading about volcanoes and clouds was pretty interesting, funnily enough.

It was a good thing to read through but nothing makes it really exceptional to me. It is, however, a good reference for certain subjects you are curious about, though personally, I was not impressed by its math and science sections.

2/5; March 2016 read; Spontaneous read

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fun and easily digested. its good if you just want to skip around or need to kill ten min, if you actually sat down to read it then it wouldn't last long.

[Andrew Barkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit simplistic. The parts about art and music were useful to me.

[Ahdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book had some great information from what should have been learned in school. One point I will make is that I was really impressed with just how little I needed a review on this stuff. I was delighted to find that at age 36 most of this was not only what I should have learned in school, but what I DID learn and happened to retain. I still got plenty of joy from reviewing material, but I also think this book serves as a fun reference book or coffee table book. Maybe even a bathroom read?

[Jonathan Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly picked this up a few years ago because it seemed fun. As the title suggests, it is a slew of topics and facts you would've learned at school and may have forgotten. It was, indeed, fun but nothing substantial. It serves as a good little reference manual and is an easy way to remind yourself of topics that you enjoy.

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting

[Dann Q · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gift from a friend. Random pick, mildly fun^^

[Bartholomew Timm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable compendium of things I had once committed to memory and/or understood quite well, but have since forgotten, or gotten foggy about. Covering the gamut from English to Maths, to Science,History, Geography, the Classics, Music and more, I feel ready for Jeopardy or any other game show.

[shinji · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is one of those mystery books like.how did this get here? but it was a good romp in random shit like dinosaurs and The Algebra . but super weird cuz there was just like.... various grammar errors which is interesting 2 see from something published by barnes & noble. super weird wtf is this book

[Dacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This handy tool covers everything we should have learned in the subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, The Classics, and Music by the time we graduated high school. Gives brain power a little boost especicially if we haven't used it in a while!

[Hester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its always good to have a book around the house full of information that you should know but either never bothered to learn or completely forgot about. Even as helpful as this book is, it still won't help me finally conquer math and science.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly random conglomeration of facts that may or may not be from school, but still fairly interesting, nonetheless. I learned a lot about prime numbers and famous battles.