Mental Floss presents Instant Knowledge

by Will Pearson, MANGESH HATTIKUDUR WILL PEARSON

Mental_floss is proud to present a full-bodied jolt of inspiration for thirsty minds on the go. Blended with titillating facts, startling revelations, and head-scratching theories collected from around the world, Instant Knowledge will jumpstart riveting exchanges at cocktail parties, the watercooler, or any powwow. To experience the clean, rich flavor at home, just tear into a topic of your choice, and add conversation. It's that simple!

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Trivia, Science, Ebooks, Humor, Contemporary

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

too little info on any of the subjects. still pretty enjoyable.

[Kevin Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly as expected. A bunch of really short facts about a wide cross-section of subjects.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an unexpected Christmas gift that I ended up loving. It's full of very short and very interesting facts that will come in handy at random social functions. It's not the serious kind of information either but several fun and interesting things. i.e. Why fresh pineapple and Jello don't mix or the odd clause Van Halen's concert contracts. It's very small so it's easy to carry along to places such as airports, post offices, DMV... I would recommend this to anyone over a certain age since some of the factoids are slightly adult in nature.

[Hessah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the promise of an engaging read, I found the book compilation of facts to be boring. Facts some of which are not important ( Whiskey competitions ?!?) do not conform to a setting/chapter. An all-over-place is the description I would give to this book. It is a fun book which will interest people waiting to fill their car tanks or waiting for their appointment in a doctor’s office.
The reason it took ages to finish this book is the fact that I only read it when I have 5 mins to spare.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of mostly interesting and mostly esoteric knowledge, though I found myself hoping for further information or explanation on some things. I also found some of the information factually questionable or incomplete. However, taken for what it is--a popular knowledge book designed to entertain--it was an enjoyable read.

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you enjoy reading small snippets of useless trivia? Do you wish that trivia was padded out to make a full book. Then what the f is wrong with you. This book was too breezy and short on each topic to learn anything meaningful and had too much extraneous information in their that made one wonder "what's the point of the crap?"

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some books don't translate well to an e-reader.

[Bethany]

Classic Mental_Floss but in a cute mini pocket form. Great for us knowledge junkies on-the-go!

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

What isn't there to like about random facts?

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

trivia in encyclopedia form

[Ayelet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy random facts! Like did you know that a French courthouse once tried to bring the town's rats into court for trial, but the rat's lawyer came up with a brilliant defense to let them off the hook?

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK... Now I'm qualified to play Trivial Pursuit. That's about it.

[Dksmeltzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

If you love trivia, you'll find over two hundred pages of basically useless information. Still, it will capture your interest and keep you entertained for hours.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent tiny book of esoteric facts from an excellent (magazine) company, mental_floss

[Igor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and light read. Always with some jokes to keep it funny but learn something in the process.

[Bryan Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get a list of currently discounted Kindle titles I might like every day, and this was on it a few weeks ago, because I do read books of factoids now and again. They make for the lightest of light reads, ones which I go into with the lowest of expectations. They also make one nostalgic for the days when you had no internet to easily and immediately inform you on the world's minutiae.

But this book had some simple flaws which really should have been addressed, namely that every entry was prefaced by a silly "useful for" guide and a meaningless "key words" one. Also, many of entries concerning historical events were not even dated. And, while I am not a fact-checker, even I was able to call bullshit on one entry - dog soup, listed with its Korean name, presented as "good accompanied with soju", and then listed as a Chinese dish. I suspect many of these entries are equally lazy

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some genuinely interesting facts, but definitely stretches that felt a little dry. Good for a quick read-through or if you're looking to just sample a few facts here and there. Interestingly enough, there were a few comments throughout that gave a distinct impression that the authors were trying to take a jab at Christianity in general, with a slightly more pointed barb at the Catholics. Think of it like getting poked with a pencil--it was enough to be noticed (and it was certainly uncalled for), but not enough to break the skin; it just felt somewhat petty.

Still, I thought it was an interesting collection and I'll admit that I learned a lot.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book. It reminds me of reading one of the Bathroom Reader type books without it being funny or giving me a chuckle. Some of the stuff in the book was interesting but some of the things I have heard about. But otherwise it was a good read.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Kenneth Greer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good if you are looking for a book with a little bit of information on many topics. For me, I wasn't that interested in all of the things they focused on.

Was good but not great.

[Jeffrey Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Mental floss never disappoints. Fun, easy, quick read, and some solid usable material. It is fun to learn what I did not know.