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Uncle John's Perpetually Pleasing Bathroom Reader

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2014 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Winner in Humor!

The 26th annual edition of Uncle John’s wildly successful series is all-new and jam-packed with the BRI’s patented mix of fun and information. Open up to any page and you may find an interesting origin (like the origin of the snowglobe) or a piece of obscure history (like the true story of the man who tried to repeal the law of gravity). You’ll also find weird news, urban legends, brain teasers, classic riddles, bizarre headlines, and of course, the incredible factoids at the bottom of each page. Here are a few of the perpetually pleasing articles awaiting you:

- The Lamest Excuses of All Time
- How to Survive on…Roadkill
- Astronauts Who Got Kicked Out of Space
- The Woman Who Was Her Own Twin
- Foiled by Technology: Dumb Crooks Edition
- The History of the Teleprompter, the Police Car, and the Fly Swatter
- “Jogging Makes You Dumber,” and Other Real Study Results
- The Lost Fortune of Abraham Lincoln
- Boxing Lingo
And much, much more!

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

101 people are currently reading
322 people want to read

About the author

Bathroom Readers' Institute

278 books343 followers
The Bathroom Reader's Institute UJBR boasts more than 12 million books in print and a membership base topping 40,000 loyal readers . . .

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5 stars
143 (50%)
4 stars
101 (35%)
3 stars
33 (11%)
2 stars
6 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Jo-Jo Spencer.
2 reviews
January 18, 2021
Best toilet read ever. Spend hours reading interesting stories and facts while your sitting on the toilet. Hours....
Profile Image for Sandra Hernandez.
717 reviews4 followers
September 16, 2018
I love learning random facts and I honestly don’t know why I don’t just own this book or series. It has something for everyone from newspaper articles to jokes to facts I mean I just love this idea. It basically reminds me of readers digest.
Profile Image for Andrew.
573 reviews12 followers
September 13, 2019
The usual quality of stories, facts, figures and interesting information in bite-size morsels. You really can't go wrong with any of the Uncle John's Bathroom Readers.
Profile Image for David Caldwell.
1,673 reviews35 followers
December 31, 2015
I like this series of trivia books. It is set up in a good format. You are getting short, medium, and long stories. You even get a few multi-part stories. This enables the reader to fit their reading to the time they have.

There are a few drawbacks to this series though. The books are bricks. They are fairly thick trade-size books so they are not the easiest to carry. (I guess you could look for e-versions but I have stuck with the printed books so far since I am gifting them or finding them on bargain tables.) The other problem is that if you jump around with the stories reading stories that look more interesting or fit your time, you will end up having to search more and more through the table of contents to find a story that you haven.t read. ( I finally just started reading them in order and skipping over the stories that I had already read.)

So, I recommend this series to keep for those times when you have an odd moment or two at home and don't want to get too involved with a novel. It is called a bathroom reader for a reason. It would also be good to keep next to your bed to read a story or two before going to sleep.
Profile Image for Marathon County Public Library.
1,508 reviews53 followers
May 27, 2014
Once a year the Bathroom Readers Institute uncorks their latest compilation of trivia facts and feats. Well, here comes UNCLE JOHN'S PERPETUALLY PLEASING BATHROOM READER, the 26th Bathroom Reader annual. And it's as chock full of fun and interesting facts as the first 25! This latest edition offers up 540 pages of info on fads & flops, forgotten history, myths & legends, dumb crooks, pop music firsts, business, the 1960s British Invasion, TV shows, odd kitchen gadgets, etc. Whether you're a dedicated trivia buff or just like discovering wonderfully odd bits of info, you'll enjoy this latest Bathroom Reader.


Mike O. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

Profile Image for Jeff.
56 reviews1 follower
December 2, 2013
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

I love trivia. This volume is the 26th in a long line of books not meant to be read in one sitting. There are short "chapters", and on the bottom of each page is a fact that can fit in one sentence.

A lot of these stories must have been collected from various sources, because they tell of events that have happened world wide. The good thing about these stories is they are current -- not too many of them are from before 2010, it seems. The bad thing is, because I keep up on such current events, a few of the items mentioned I have seen before from other sources on the Internet.

This is very entertaining, and a rather large book, too, so this will provide hours of enjoyment and learning.

Profile Image for John Orman.
685 reviews32 followers
March 1, 2014
OK, it has the name "John" on it, so it has to be good, right?

All New, 26th edition! Who could have known this type of book would become vintage and classic?

Full of fun facts, trivia, humor, and history, as well as some really weird "facts".

I especially liked the little articles "How to Tell if You're Dead" and "Smell-O-Vision."

Also fun were the Lincoln Highway and Life after Baseball.

Also like the old Jeopardy questions from the 60's and 70's!

Profile Image for Ryk Stanton.
1,721 reviews16 followers
June 11, 2016
You can never go wrong with these books, especially if you can find them on Booksamillion's Clearance shelves for $6 each.

Not much to say here ... interesting brief articles on a variety of subjects, trivia factoids at the bottom of each page, some quizzes here and there. Definitely interesting.
Profile Image for Noelle Walsh.
1,172 reviews62 followers
December 16, 2013
Like all Bathroom Readers, I could hardly put this book down! I even took to reading it outside the bathroom, it was so good! I hope this series of books never stops coming out and Uncle John never stops making them. They just keep on flushing!
Profile Image for Patricia Atkinson.
1,045 reviews11 followers
September 1, 2014
I love all uncle johns bathroom readers they are so full of information and facts.there is no end to what you can learn through theses books.buy one and you have to read them all well worth the investment.
Profile Image for Cyndi.
72 reviews1 follower
November 18, 2013
These books are just so fun. Another well done book by Uncle John's!
Profile Image for Kara.
310 reviews1 follower
December 15, 2014
I love this series. Time to get the next one.
Profile Image for Caitlin Litz .
245 reviews10 followers
December 3, 2014
I mean yeah I pretty much read the whole thing. Quality bathroom reading!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

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