Don't Know Much About® Anything Else: Even More Things You Need to Know but Never Learned About People, Places, Events, and More!

by Kenneth C. Davis

“Reading [Davis] is like returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had.”—  People For years, Kenneth C. Davis has enlightened and enthralled us, opening our minds and tickling our fancies with his wonderfully irreverent, fun, and factual Don't Know Much About ® series. He has carried readers on wild and edifying rides through history, mythology, geography, the Bible, the Civil War, even across the universe. Now, following on the heels of his triumphant New York Times bestseller Don't Know Much About ® Anything , comes Don't Know Much About ® Anything Else , a one-stop potpourri of intriguing information. Chock-full of delightful historical snippets and fascinating people, remarkable milestones and boneheaded blunders, and eye-opening, brain-boggling facts about simply anything and everything in the world, here is the ideal companion for those long car rides, plane flights, quality family hours, or relaxing downtime.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Reference, Trivia, Ebooks, Science

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2008

About the author

Kenneth C. Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of the Don't Know Much About® series of books and audios for adults and children. Don't Know Much About® History, the first title in the series, became a New York Times bestseller in 1991 and remained on the paperback list for 35 consecutive weeks. It has since been revised several times and now has more than 1.6 million copies in print. The 30th anniversary edition of the book was published with a new preface, "From an Era of Broken Trust to an Era of Broken Democracy."

Davis is, according to Publishers Weekly, "a go-to guy for historical insight and analysis."

AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY also became a New York Times bestseller. A NATION RISING also uses dramatic narratives to tell the "stories your textbooks left out." His book, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR (May 5, 2015) was called "searing" analysis by Publishers Weekly.

Kenneth C. Davis’s success aptly makes the case that Americans don’t hate history, just the dull version they slept through in class. Davis’s approach is to refresh us on the subjects we should have learned in school. He does it by busting myths, setting the record straight, and always remembering that fun is not a four-word letter word.

His IN THE SHADOW OF LIBERTY: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF SLAVERY, FOUR PRESIDENTS, AND FIVE BLACK LIVES looks at the lives of five people enslaved by four of America's most famous Presidents and the role of slavery in American history and the presidency. In May 2018, MORE DEADLY THAN WAR: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War was published.

STRONGMAN: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy was published by Holt. It was named among the best books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews and the Washington Post.

In November 2022 GREAT SHORT BOOKS: A Year of Reading--Briefly was published by SCribner. A compendium of 58 great short works Davis read during the pandemic lock down, it is a joyous celebration of reading.

Coming in October 2024 is THE WORLD IN BOOKS: 52 WORKS OF GREAT SHORT NONFICTION. It is an accessible and comprehensive guide to some of the most influential and important works of nonfiction, from the earliest days of writing to contemporary times. Each entry includes information about the writers behind these consequential books and the time in which they lived.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of facts. Although the body of the book was devoted to an assortment of factoids, I was more drawn to what Davis wrote about education in his introduction, written in 2008. "I've always held that fun and education can mingle date, get serious. Even commit!" And later, ". . . Almost everywhere I go, the excitement level and curiosity is much greater in elementary school than it is in the upper grades. Somewhere curiosity gets killed. It happens between sixth grade and high school. Clearly, a large number of the bright, interested--and infectiously curious--children leaping at the chance to learn are abducted by aliens and replaced by a race of bored, disaffected teenagers who hate school. Maybe it's just hormones. Or maybe it's the way we teach. But it doesn't have to be that way." I wonder what Davis would write now, nearly ten years later.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

Lots of trivia presented in the most tedious way possible. Half of it I already knew, and I suppose most trivia buffs would as well. Interesting if you want to find stuff out, but Google would be faster.

[Terri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the other one's I've read by this author. The format is a bit different with questions on one page, and you need to turn the page to read the answers. If I knew the answer, I wouldn't be reading the book, and the format makes if awkward/

[Carianne Carleo-Evangelist · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the diversity of themes in this book, as well as the way he chose to organize them. No earth shattering knowledge, but some fun trivia. A good, light read to dip into and out of.

[Margret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read. Lots of interesting and exciting stories.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read all of Mr. Davis’ other (adult) books including Don’t Know Much About Anything, I was a bit disappointed in this one. It seems like he put together some of the leftovers from the latter mentioned book just to publish something, and it didn’t contain nearly as much interesting trivia as its forerunner. While it still included some interesting tidbits and was an incredibly quick read, I would recommend any of his other books before this one.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

book of questions and answers. Just enough to let you know something about everything! Lots of neat stuff in a great summary form.

[Donna Zigmont · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Nearly as much as the first one. This one I knew lots of the answers though.