Do Not Open

by John Farndon

In the groundbreaking tradition of DK's New York Times bestseller Pick Me Up, this book uses the same irreverent style to explore all the things THEY don't want you to know about. From the Mona Lisa's hidden past to the history of Area 51, Do Not Open explores lost worlds, unravels secret codes, and lets readers step through the looking glass to see if they can handle the truth! AUTHOR BIO:

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Science, Trivia, History, Childrens, Middle Grade

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

John Farndon is an internationally known author, as well as a playwright, composer and songwriter, whose work has been performed at such theatres as the Donmar and Almeida in London and the Salisbury Playhouse and selected for showcases, such as Beyond the Gate.

He has written hundreds of books, which have sold millions of copies around the world in most major languages and include many best-sellers, such as the award-winning Do Not Open, which received rave reviews in the USA and became a cult-hit as well as featuring on the New York Times and Washington Post best-seller lists. In earlier years, he wrote mostly for children, and has been shortlisted a record four times for the junior Science Book prize. Books such as How Science Works and How the Earth Works each sold over a million copies worldwide. But recently he has written much more for adults.

Many of his books focus on popular science, and in particular earth science, nature, and environmental issues. His Practical Encyclopedia of Rocks and Mineral is widely used as a reference work by geologists, while The Atlas of Oceans, his big book on endangered life in the oceans for Yale in the USA (A&C Black in the UK and Australian Geographic in Australia), garnered glowing reports prepublication from major figures such as the Cousteaus, Carl Safina, Nancy Knowlton and Harm de Blij.

But he has covered a wide range of topics, from contemporary China to the food market. The history of ideas and intellectual curiosity is a particular speciality.

In 2010, his book for Icon Do You Think You're Clever? was a best-seller, reaching the top 20 on Amazon and the top 10 in South Africa and Turkey, and was shortlisted for the Society of Authors Education Award. The follow-up The World’s Greatest Idea was selected as one of the top 50 Wish List books of the year in South Africa.

He has been interviewed extensively on radio and TV stations around the world, and conducted talks, demonstrations and displays at many events, from the Brighton Science Festival to the Oxford Literary Festival.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent brainfood for kids.

[La Crosse County Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review originally published October 2010

What would you do if you saw a book titled Do Not Open?

Last week in our delivery of new books, right on top, was this shiny silver book looking up at me with that intriguing title. Well, we all know what happened, the same thing that happens when someone says, “Don’t look now, but ….”

Well, we all turn and look don’t we? So of course I had to open the book and look at it! What a fun book it turned out to be. Its complete title is Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Best-Kept Secrets by John Farndon. It has many interesting and fun facts inside.

For example: Have you ever really looked at the back of a one dollar bill and wondered what some of those symbols mean? Did you know that the pyramid under the “eye” has 13 layers of steps to represent the 13 original American colonies? There are also 13 stars above the eagle, 13 vertical bars on the eagle’s shield, and 13 horizontal stripes at the top of the shield as well.

Do you know why the eagle holds an olive branch in one claw and arrows in the other? It is looking towards the olive branch to show a desire for peace, but if things go wrong, there are always the arrows. Also, the shield that is in front of the eagle is not supported; it represents the idea that the country can stand on its own.

There are several other cool facts as well about the dollar bill, but I don’t want to tell them all, you can read the rest for yourself.

Another fun section in this book tells you some clever “secrets” of the magicians. Have you ever wondered how they pull rabbits out of their hats? Or how they appear to be cutting their assistants in half? Or how they make people disappear into thin air? Check out the book to find out the amazing answers!

Last but not least, there is a section of “useless but fun” facts about your body. Did you know that your fingernails grow four times as fast as your toenails? I bet you didn’t know that when you sleep you actually lose up to 1.5 oz in weight every hour.

In the five minutes it will take you to read this, your heart will beat 350 times, you’ll probably blink around 30 times, and each of your blood cells will have traveled around your body five times. (No wonder we need so much sleep, doesn’t it make you tired just thinking about it?)

So, why not stop in at your local La Crosse County Library with facilities in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, or West Salem, and check out this or any other of our books that are filled with some fun facts. You just never know when some good ole “useless” information may come in handy!!!

Find similar titles within our catalog.

[Lubna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has alot of interesting information in various topics ! I really enjoyed it !! Like the bugs that live on eye lashes , the world's best hackers, the mystery of the Mary Celeste , telekinesis , or the ingredients of a milkshake !!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hodge-podge of background information on nearly everything sneaky, mysterious, confidential, or spooky. The selection of material ties into some of the best parts of those handbook-type guides that are flying off the shelves right now. It's part secret agent training manual, part mythbusting how-to.

This being said, this book is not the sort of thing that you would encourage someone (particularly a younger kid, no matter how enthusiastic) to read in the traditional cover-to-cover, front-to-back sense. It's meant to be picked up and skipped through. The setup encourages this at every opportunity with cross-referencing tabs on the bottom of pages that prompt the kids backwards (or forwards) to other articles in the book on related subjects. The "secrets" within are so interesting though that one can see how a kid might start opening to random sections, and end up reading the whole thing. The diagrams and spreads inside are dynamic and eye-catching, and are almost more similar to what someone might see on the better kid-savvy websites out there than in a reference-type book, or even many of those same aforementioned handbooks that are so popular right now. These same spreads, which often force your eye to bounce all over the page are bound to annoy some adults, but are probably not going to perturb today's kids that have been accustomed to browsing the frenetic web almost since they left the cradle.

There are a few times where it appears that the "fun" aspect overrides the "practical" where readability/clarity of the text is sacrificed a bit for an interesting/cool graphic effect, and several of the foldouts (particularly the flimsy presidential heads in the section on the bizarre Kennedy-Lincoln connection) are bound to take a heavy beating in a public library or anywhere as young hands eagerly flip back the pages. Still, there was a lot to love here.

[Aiswarya Kishor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this because it made me feel like a kid looking a huge book and reading all these strange interesting facts.

[MK · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a collection of world trivia from a wide range of fields such as history and science.
It's not typical DK encyclopedia, but rather humorous and humorous.

I did not like the illustrations and layout of this book.
For example, on the page introducing Lost Tribe, I thought it was disrespectful to see occult-like depictions of ethnic minorities living in the tropical Amazon and Indonesian forests.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

No secrets here, only "interesting well known facts" .Another case of bad naming a book :(

[G. Edweird Cheese · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun book is a good bathroom read, being able to take in a few pages at a time and maybe even learning something new.

[silene · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING
full of facts, easy to read, colourful and fun!

[Adrian B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book it's so goated

[Jessica McCallum]

This book was my 12yo hyperfixation. I no longer have my copy but that’s okay because the contents and accompanying visuals live rent-free in my brain.

[Silica Gel Pack · Rating 4 out of 5]

childhood favorite

[Tilly Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this a 10 I would

[Karthik · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this Information Age, the book has nothing new or surprising to offer as most of the facts/secrets are pretty well-known or can be easily discovered now. Having mentioned that, the illustrations are good and some of the facts are interesting.

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book: this book debunks myths while being fun and interesting. The illustrations and the captions match perfectly.

[Veronica Ika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine you find some box or package or anything with nothing but a warning of ‘Do Not Open’ on its surface. What will your reaction be? Fear or curiosity? What will you do? Obediently leave the thing alone or instead defiantly ignore the word and open it? If it were me, I would do the latter, mainly because the curiosity will override the fear and the consequences of disobeying. After all, such word is so strong and promising. Obviously, whatever inside that thing must be so special, hence the warning. So, it is a very brilliant choice of title to catch anybody’s attention, especially those with a rebellious streak.

AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE WORLD’S BEST-KEPT SECRETS

“Welcome to Do Not Open, a fact-packed compendium of all the weird and wonderful stuff they don’t want you to know about!"

This book encompasses almost anything instead of sticking to one or several particular topics: secret services, conspiracy theories, science, tradition, supernatural events, history, technology, mystery, codes, and many others. Anything as long as it is unexplained, unthinkable, freaky, unknowable, spine-chilling, spooky, strange, and classified. One thing is obvious: that every page reveals shocking truths. Can you handle them all? Beware then, they are not for the faint-hearted.

This book offers a fun and magical mystery tour of the truth behind the known and the unknown. Every page is visually attractive with a wide, unique and eye-catching variety of writings (size, fonts, styles, arrangements) and full-coloured illustrations (photos, drawings, cartoons, comic strips, etc.). Not only they make amazing art work, they also ensure that every flip of page is a new experience and thus keep boredom away.

Most importantly, there is no certain order about how you can read the book. You can read it in old-fashioned way, from the first to the last page. Or you can choose one particular subject that interests you of so many subjects listed in short but detailed manner in the contents. Each subject will give you at least two pages of facts and secrets, and every right-hand page will provide special links containing suggestions and the pages of similar or related topics you may want to read next. Either way, I should remind you that it is difficult to put the book away when you have started reading.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book that covers various conspiracies, mysteries, "weird history and strange science" and other "confidential" information in 2-page spread bites (with the occasional fold out double spread) which are profusely and quirkily illustrated. Each entry has a "see also" listing that points you to other similar topics elsewhere in the book. For example, the topic of "Great Escapes" references "Escapology" and "Lord Lucan".

While I was already familiar with quite a few of the topics, from my "weird science/urban legends" reading, I did find some new information, and what I was already familiar with was entertainingly presented.

The packaging & presentation is wonderful (if a bit overdone, IMHO); however, the book is aimed towards pre-teens and therefore has to appeal to their sensibilities. The writing style is accessible (but not dumbed down) and the glossary entries are definitely written with this audience in mind. The research behind the information seems fairly solid, if not officially documented; a bibliography would have been nice, especially if teachers plan on using this in their curriculum - I can see parts of it being used in a science or history class.

Gift from Scott - Christmas 2007

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is seemingly the case with all nonfiction, it took me a while to read this book. Unlike most nonfiction, though, that seems perfectly fine for this book. For starters, all the information is typically bundled into two-page spreads. As is the case with most DK books, text is clumped into one- or two-sentence fact bites. And it's interesting. I really like the randomness of it all. Another feature I find intriguing with the layout on this book is the little bubble at the bottom of each spread pointing you to a couple other related topics. Which means that you don't have to read the book linearly.

The merit I see in that is the way it will be able to appeal to younger readers who are just going to find the information and illustrations intriguing. For example, there were a couple weekends when Corbin swiped the book off my nightstand. And he read longer than our minimum standard without even wondering how much time he had left. I think the randomness really catered well to his mind and its desire to go ADD on him.

Another advantage I see in this book is that as I was reading, a number of the little factoids struck me as interesting launching points for longer works. So, if you want a collection of writing prompts, this book has a nice little secondary function as one.

[Abby Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for trivia fans and kids who just can't get enough of Guinness records. This book provides tons of information about things that are usually secret or unknown. What is riding on Air Force One like? What do the lines in a bar code mean? Were there really aliens in Roswell, New Mexico? This book covers all these things and more with visually appealing two-page spreads on each subject. You could look at this book for hours and still not read and look at everything in it. A perfect boredom killer for these long summer days.

[Brynhd96 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book describes about hidden things... from the French Cavemen crossing the atlantic ocean, lost tribes in Oceania and South America, Even about the death of Elvis Presley, from hoaxes to murders, vampires vs. werewolves to everything secret, you will know a lot of secrets from this book.
In General, this was a super awesome book, because I got to know who came before columbus, the French Cavemen, Jews, Romans, Etc. Even about how films are made. This is personally a #1 hit, you should by this book, I got it from the Public Library.

[John Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I brought this book home from the library and my 12 year old son told me it was popular in his middle school. The fact that it's for the younger crowd didn't phase me because it was a quick read with lots of great facts. The pages presented the material in a fun manner and I enjoyed the references to the different parts of the book.
This is a great book to crack open if you need something quick in between your "heavy" reading.

[Aadith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells of many conspiracies, mysteries and the unknown truth revealed and very cool facts. For example the book talks about The Men In Black and all the mysteries that encircle them. Another example would be there being several pages about advertising food and how they fake it. I enjoyed this book because almost every page had an infographic along with pictures and information to go with it.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Explores the weird, the unexplained, the mysterious, and the out-of-this-world.

Perfect for someone with ADD, since each topic is only usually on two pages. The orientation of the text drove me a little nuts, always having to flip the book. I also wanted to know a little bit more about some of the topics. Very cursory, but fun.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, I've learned that Columbus was a total jerk. I learned about some magic tricks revealed. I learned some vampire and werewolf legend origins. There is also a really cool list of hoaxes.

This is an awesome book!

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of interesting facts, and fun to look through. They had a few French phrases in there that were spelled wrong and translated wrong, which makes me wonder about the accuracy of some of the other facts.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool book geared for younger readers, but, well, I got a lot out of it, too. Series of brief overviews into all sorts of fun topics like spontaneous combustion, great prison escapes, the truth about Columbus, etc, with a skeptic's perspective.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so fun I stayed up to late to finish it. As an adult I knew a great deal of it already, but I really enjoyed the aspect of debunking mysteries and revealing the truth. The PandaBat also enjoyed it enormously. Great for kids who like the Guiness Books and such.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining book that explores mysteries of the world. Directed toward older children, but I learned a lot too. Nicely laid out.

[Sai Thein Than · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like some of the stuff. but not all. the almighty dollar, the bar code, and the thing about cultural differences are quite good. i'm sorry that i couldn't memorize all those in a single read.