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The Amazing Book of Useless Information
The Ultimate Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham
Bigger, better, and more useless than ever!In their groundbreakingly useless book, The Book of Useless Information, the members of the Useless Information Society proved that knowledge doesn't have to be useful to be entertaining. Now they present a new collection of their most fascinating, hilarious, and wholly trivial findings. The Ultimate Book of Useless Information includes such "did you knows" Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite - The average person spends two weeks of their life kissing - And giraffes have no vocal cords
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
21 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
About the author
Noel Botham
46 books30 followersIn 1995, a secret society was formed comprising Britain's foremost thinkers, writers, and artists to explore the world's most bizarre nooks and crannies and to trade and share useless information (or, as founding member Keith Waterhouse, playwright and journalist, would have it, "totally bloody useless")-usually over a pint or two at a local pub. Now, The Useless Information Society shares its findings with Americ an readers in this first of what they threaten will be several volumes.
Noel Botham is charman and founding member of The Useless Information Society. Botham and the rest of his team lurk mostly around London
Noel Botham is charman and founding member of The Useless Information Society. Botham and the rest of his team lurk mostly around London
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
March 16, 2022
WARNING! YOU WILL LOSE BRAIN CELLS READING THIS BOOK!
December 30, 2016
Unreliable and inaccurate. While some of the trivia is verifiable, much of it is bogus.
Example: On page 27 it states "Queen Mary turned up at a 1938. Buckingham Palace party wearing five diamond necklaces at the same time". Pretty neat trick, given that Queen Mary died in 1558. The person in question is Princess Mary of Teck. She was the King's consort.
The book propagates the story that King James I created the name "sirloin" by knighting a tasty cut of meat...which is totally false.
"Able was I ere I saw Elba" is stated as a palindrome written by Napolean. Really? He wrote in English?
The book also states that the real Butch Cassidy became an adding machine manufacturer. There is no verification of that.
It states that the longest highway in America is Route 6. This is untrue. It's Route 20, which is 166 miles longer and runs coast to coast.
Don't rely on this book for your cocktail chatter. You'll look foolish.
It's one redeeming feature is that some of the quotes provided, spurious though they may be, are still hilarious.
Example: On page 27 it states "Queen Mary turned up at a 1938. Buckingham Palace party wearing five diamond necklaces at the same time". Pretty neat trick, given that Queen Mary died in 1558. The person in question is Princess Mary of Teck. She was the King's consort.
The book propagates the story that King James I created the name "sirloin" by knighting a tasty cut of meat...which is totally false.
"Able was I ere I saw Elba" is stated as a palindrome written by Napolean. Really? He wrote in English?
The book also states that the real Butch Cassidy became an adding machine manufacturer. There is no verification of that.
It states that the longest highway in America is Route 6. This is untrue. It's Route 20, which is 166 miles longer and runs coast to coast.
Don't rely on this book for your cocktail chatter. You'll look foolish.
It's one redeeming feature is that some of the quotes provided, spurious though they may be, are still hilarious.
Want to read
December 5, 2008I have the first one and it is really cool...
Did you know your more likely to be attacked by a cow than a shark??
Did you know George Washington grew pot in his garden?
Did you know Hitler's great-great-grandmother was a jewish maid?
Did you know your more likely to be attacked by a cow than a shark??
Did you know George Washington grew pot in his garden?
Did you know Hitler's great-great-grandmother was a jewish maid?
September 12, 2012
I love useless facts. I've devoted almost my entire life to filling my head with facts that I will never need and should never use, but can't resist in a smart-ass way. I actually noticed some inaccuracies in this book, but read it cover to cover nonetheless.
February 12, 2022
Enjoyed. Useless Info yes but still very interesting, example, Walt Disney had wooden teeth. An elephant can smell water 3 miles away. Easy read. I read in one day.
March 28, 2021
what a fun book. we had our 7 year old read many of these to us. they had us laughing and explaining things for hours. what an awesome book!!!
March 14, 2021
lots of very random fun facts!!! my favorites were about the spider named for harrison ford, the “thou shalt commit adultery” bible, and the 823 word sentence in les mis. i also thought it was very funny that in sherlock holmes, watson’s bullet wound moves depending on the story! i just read the book and never even noticed.
December 27, 2019
A big bunch of fun facts. But check any before you share it with others. There are some mistakes and long-debunked errors, so be careful. Still it's fun and a perfect book to keep for short readings: most or one or two sentences long.
Organized into chapters: show business, Rowdy Royals, Science Center, Words of Wisdom, Creativity Corner, People Pointers, Seven Up, Seeing the World, religion, A Sporting Chance, Food Fight, sex, statistics, Last Words, End Quotes. The statistics chapter is probably the one that is most likely to have its facts change. (Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of where they grew up.) (A four-year-old child asks an average of 437 questions a day. - Who counted? How many children were involved?)
Organized into chapters: show business, Rowdy Royals, Science Center, Words of Wisdom, Creativity Corner, People Pointers, Seven Up, Seeing the World, religion, A Sporting Chance, Food Fight, sex, statistics, Last Words, End Quotes. The statistics chapter is probably the one that is most likely to have its facts change. (Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of where they grew up.) (A four-year-old child asks an average of 437 questions a day. - Who counted? How many children were involved?)
September 13, 2019
I love these books, BUT - I've caught a few things in his and Don Voorhees books which are false (things that are commonly understood to be true but aren't, usually,) or just repeated in the book.
So, read them, enjoy them; but if there's something you think is so awesome you have to share it... look in to it before opening your mouth.
So, read them, enjoy them; but if there's something you think is so awesome you have to share it... look in to it before opening your mouth.
December 28, 2020
Interesting but also unreliable. I found several inaccuracies, but it was fun and easy to read.
May 29, 2019
This was a fun read! I love learning new things; and I hope you do too!
These little gems, of trivia, were my favorites.
A. Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of OZ, was once a kindergarten teacher.
B. Owls are the only birds that can see the color, blue.
C. When penguins hop onto an ice floe, they always choose one, that will take them back to land.
D. Rhinos belong to the same family as horses, and are thought to have inspired, the myth of the unicorn.
E. The black -and-white spots of Holstein dairy cows are like fingerprints; no two cows have the same pattern of spots.
F. So far, man has survived on earth for two million years. The dinosaurs lasted 150 million years.
J. Saint Bernard dogs, do not carry brandy, and never have. (Hmmm,.. have to check this one out!)
K. Thomas Jefferson is credited with saying, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have!"
L. Martin Luther King said, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
M. The Pilgrims, ate popcorn, during the first Thanksgiving Dinner.
So, why only three stars and not five?
I guess, I am like the little girls, I watch! Please include pictures.
The format was not conducive to long sittings at a time.
I found myself nodding off, or looking away, after ten minutes or so!
As Lord Byron wrote, "Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction."
These little gems, of trivia, were my favorites.
A. Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of OZ, was once a kindergarten teacher.
B. Owls are the only birds that can see the color, blue.
C. When penguins hop onto an ice floe, they always choose one, that will take them back to land.
D. Rhinos belong to the same family as horses, and are thought to have inspired, the myth of the unicorn.
E. The black -and-white spots of Holstein dairy cows are like fingerprints; no two cows have the same pattern of spots.
F. So far, man has survived on earth for two million years. The dinosaurs lasted 150 million years.
J. Saint Bernard dogs, do not carry brandy, and never have. (Hmmm,.. have to check this one out!)
K. Thomas Jefferson is credited with saying, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have!"
L. Martin Luther King said, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
M. The Pilgrims, ate popcorn, during the first Thanksgiving Dinner.
So, why only three stars and not five?
I guess, I am like the little girls, I watch! Please include pictures.
The format was not conducive to long sittings at a time.
I found myself nodding off, or looking away, after ten minutes or so!
As Lord Byron wrote, "Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction."
January 16, 2022
Many of the “facts” lacked important context, but those pale in comparison to the errors and mistakes. My three favorites:
1) That in Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” (1594) there is mention of the United States of America.
2) That Gertrude Lawrence (died in 1952) was the film star of “The King and I” (1956).
3) Implied that Jefferson DAVID was president of the Confederacy.
Furthermore, the entire page of Dan Quayle quotes seemed dated, even for 2006 when this book was published.
1) That in Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” (1594) there is mention of the United States of America.
2) That Gertrude Lawrence (died in 1952) was the film star of “The King and I” (1956).
3) Implied that Jefferson DAVID was president of the Confederacy.
Furthermore, the entire page of Dan Quayle quotes seemed dated, even for 2006 when this book was published.
April 7, 2022
One of my reading prompts for April, was a genre that you don’t normally read so I went for this book, and because I thought I would struggle/dislike it I read it first. I was actually pleasantly surprised and found myself giggling at some of the more obscure facts, saying wow quite a lot and asking the kids if they knew !
Perfect book if you enter pub quizzes etc
Perfect book if you enter pub quizzes etc
March 5, 2019
It's a book of one-liners of facts. Interesting facts. It's a quick read and made to pick up and put down and never lose your train of thought -because after one or two sentences it jumps to a completely new thought.
August 20, 2018
Fun book of pretty useless facts and quotes that I'm sure will come out at random times in conversation :)
July 8, 2021
Fun book to read.
March 29, 2023
silly fun facts
February 3, 2024
Makes a good bathroom book....
November 19, 2022
Funny, interesting. I’m not familiar with the Useless Information Society, but this was a fun book. Would read more. I love useless trivia.
April 26, 2025
Although there are most likely inaccuracies and exaggerations, this didn’t stop me from enjoying the whole book as it was barely over 200 pages.
October 12, 2009
Product Description
Bigger, better, and more useless than ever! In their groundbreakingly useless book, The Book of Useless Information, the members of the Useless Information Society proved that knowledge doesn't have to be useful to be entertaining. Now they present a new collection of their most fascinating, hilarious, and wholly trivial findings. The Ultimate Book of Useless Information includes such "did you knows" as:
- Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite
- The average person spends two weeks of their life kissing
- And giraffes have no vocal cords
Same write-up as the last one: You know I adore these kinds of books. This just has line after line of factoid trivia bound to drive your friends and family to tears. Be like Cliff from Cheers as you whip out the useless information gathered here. Fast, fun read. I'll be posting some useless information on my blog very soon. :)
Bigger, better, and more useless than ever! In their groundbreakingly useless book, The Book of Useless Information, the members of the Useless Information Society proved that knowledge doesn't have to be useful to be entertaining. Now they present a new collection of their most fascinating, hilarious, and wholly trivial findings. The Ultimate Book of Useless Information includes such "did you knows" as:
- Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite
- The average person spends two weeks of their life kissing
- And giraffes have no vocal cords
Same write-up as the last one: You know I adore these kinds of books. This just has line after line of factoid trivia bound to drive your friends and family to tears. Be like Cliff from Cheers as you whip out the useless information gathered here. Fast, fun read. I'll be posting some useless information on my blog very soon. :)
October 21, 2007
What a riot -- somebody or more than one somebody has way too much time on their hands! Here are some of the completely useless pieces of information that you, too can learn from reading this book:
Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz was once a kindergarten teacher.
Sean Connery once worked as a coffin polisher.
Shirley Temple always had 56 curls in her hair.
A pig always sleeps on its right side.
It is illegal in Alaska to give a moose an alcoholic drink.
The average human bladder can hold 13 fluid ounces of liquid.
In Italy, it is illegal to make coffins out of anything except nutshells or wood.
Four popes died while participating in sexual acts.
On average, each year, 55,700 people are injured by jewelry.
And my favorite:
A whale's penis is known as a dork.
Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz was once a kindergarten teacher.
Sean Connery once worked as a coffin polisher.
Shirley Temple always had 56 curls in her hair.
A pig always sleeps on its right side.
It is illegal in Alaska to give a moose an alcoholic drink.
The average human bladder can hold 13 fluid ounces of liquid.
In Italy, it is illegal to make coffins out of anything except nutshells or wood.
Four popes died while participating in sexual acts.
On average, each year, 55,700 people are injured by jewelry.
And my favorite:
A whale's penis is known as a dork.
Read
July 11, 2010This book not only contains an entertainment factor, but it is pretty educational. Skimming through this book you discover things you most likely didn’t know. ..
A pig always sleeps on its right side.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
You’re more likely to be attacked by a cow than a shark.
Some of the information in the book makes you wonder if it’s really the truth or not. Either way it is a fun page turner that will strike up some conversation. However, it does have some comments that may not be appropriate for a younger audience, I recommend 17 and up.
A pig always sleeps on its right side.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
You’re more likely to be attacked by a cow than a shark.
Some of the information in the book makes you wonder if it’s really the truth or not. Either way it is a fun page turner that will strike up some conversation. However, it does have some comments that may not be appropriate for a younger audience, I recommend 17 and up.
December 16, 2008
even more info that may or may not be completely factually accurate, but still lots of fun. i don't know who the people are that put together these books, but i do know that they have too much time on their hands...
May 18, 2010
Full Of the best information I've ever read! The information is awesome, hilarious, and not completely useless because one day I might need to know that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite, or that giraffes have no vocal cords!
January 1, 2015
Totally, completely, fabulously useless. I loved the heck out of this book. There's not much more to say; it's a collection of useless bits of trivia, quotes, misquotes, and silly facts. I'm going to read this book again, and often.
March 12, 2016
Yet another of those books full of trivia, statistics, quotes & bits of information you'll probably forget about as soon as you've turned the page. A pleasant enough read and a book you can pick up, read for 5 minutes, leave for a week and do likewise a month later without any trouble whatsoever.
August 26, 2008
I LOVE crazy whacked out little facts and this book is filled with them. I think this is a perfect little book to sit on the back of your toilet and a wonderful way to perk up your day.
August 5, 2008
What is there not to love about this topic?
December 5, 2008
some of the info was wrong but it was really entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews