Uncle John's Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader

by Bathroom Readers' Institute

Want your bathroom reading with a twist? You’re only a click away from 500 pages of the most twisted trivia in the world. The crackpot staff at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute has scoured the worlds of pop culture, politics, sports, history, and more to bring you Slightly Irregular, the 17th all-new edition in the best-selling series. As always, the articles are divided by length for your sitting convenience. So turn thine eyes away from the shampoo bottle, O bathroom reader, and let Uncle John pepper your brain with these absorbing articles…

Women in space
The origin of Kung Fu
The CIA’s secret coup
The great windshield epidemic
Spider eggs in the brain, and other urban legends
What went down at Woodstock
Freedom of McSpeech
The curse of Macbeth
How to kill a zombie
That ’70s bathroom

And much, much more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Trivia, Humor, Reference, Education, History

522 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2004

About the author

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

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a boring book about which I could not find anything interesting to say. So it gets a boring 2 stars. I don't really spend a lot of time in the bathroom as its the least entertaining room in the house unless I'm in someone's house and looking through the bathroom cabinet. I do like to see what deodorant people use, borrow a lipstick and a squirt of stolen perfume. It's kind of akin to looking at the contents of someone's fridge. A kind of social taboo, but we all do it.

I don't find jokes written down very funny after I've read three or four in a row, so this book isn't for me but if your favourite hang out spot is the bathroom, don't let this put you off. And for those like my late father who spent ages in the bathroom and had a warped sense of humour, finding this next to the tp would be a treat but... they'd be even longer in the bathroom.

[Phair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up this donated audio to check if it was suitable for inclusion in the library's collection. Figured it would be full of low, gross humor but what a surprise! Wonderful format, excellent music and sound effects to compliment the trivia and anecdotes on all sorts of fascinating topics. I was even able to use information learned in this compilation in a recent f2f book group where the bombing of Hiroshima was discussed- Uncle John tells how a plan to use incendiary bats almost beat out the bomb as a way to end the war. Excellent fodder for trivia buffs.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual collection of fun facts, anecdotes and news of the weird that we've come to expect from the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series. It amazes me how many of these books there are and yet they always find new and interesting tidbits of knowledge to include in each volume.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

More interesting bathroom (or other location as is my choice) reading.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A; Different to listen to as an audio versus just read, but it was still enjoyable. Learned lots of new 'important' information.

[Christoph Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Bathroom Reader, really no better or worse than the previous editions. I've been reading them in order for years now. The current year is 2023 but this book was published in 2004. I read these the way God and Nature intended, on the toilet. There is always a Reader next to my toilet at home and I don't flip through it randomly, I read it front to back with a bookmark. I enjoy how this book is a product of its time; I learned about a new junk mail term called SPAM and a couple of the stories to this edition were submitted via "e-mail" which is short for "electronic mail." My 14-year-old asked me about Woodstock yesterday and I just happened to read about it in this book, so I was able to give him way too much info. Time to start the 18th (2005) edition.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is HUGE, it took me so many hours just to finish it! The book teaches you a whole BUNCH of RANDOM stuff. But, you are learning and the way he said it was easy to read. But it did take AGES and AGES until I finally finished it. I would recommend it to a 14 year old or above because of its length or a 12 year old who has the whole SUMMER to read this book.

[Georgette Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series, would buy one for everybody to keep in their bathroom for sure. Wonderful information delivered in short forms. I love it, I have given it as a gift, and continue to own. Try the CDs as well so you can fill your head with interesting information.

[Kelley Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book filled with miscellaneous factoids. This edition, #17, published in 2004, was a bit dated, but still filled it's intended purpose. This is a bathroom reader, not Shakespeare or Dante, so lower your expectations and just have some fun.

[Christen Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and educational!




Not often does one get so much interesting information that is also entertaining.
And there are several dozen of these!!

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always takes me a long time to get through these. Love Trivia and some of the stuff you find in the the Bathroom Readers is the best. I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Nayden Kostov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of amazing facts mixed with, to my greatest regret, with dull series of trivia. Does what it promises though.

[Stephen Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun to read little tidbits out of these books right before bedtime. There was still a lot of relevant information even though this book was 20 years old when I started reading it.

[Stephanie’s Libby Antics · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keep these in your bathroom or just wherever you might pick it up and put it down as often as you fancy. Just one of these can last you years or you can gobble it up in an afternoon. The facts are fun and digestible. If you don’t care for one, there’s always something fresh and strange on the next page. I can’t imagine how enjoyable it must be to have the job of compiling one of these books. Please, hire me? :p

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, I adored this book when I was a kid. Five million interesting facts all in one place! It made a little trivia monster out of me for years (did you know an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain??). I've squeezed every little tidbit out of it by now though, so I can't say I'll be returning to it. (Did you know Princess Diana's favorite band was Duran Duran?)

[Joseph F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy does this book live up to it's title! This book certainly was a little bit more surreal and I liked that a lot! With such gems like the worst novelist ever and the story of Woodstock, it definitely didn't lack variety! Plus, there is quite a few stories on Kung Fu if that interests you. If you want a interesting non-fiction book and are willing to read 522 pages you should give this try!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun "bathroom" book with lots of quirky and interesting facts, stories, riddles, etc.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Christmas presents I have ever received!!! I love reference, humor and just plain whacky things all in one book! This is a must read for everyone!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must have for those who worship the throne

[Erek · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best things one could read while "resting" in the restroom

[Rhea Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband loves these....

[Molly]

The entire Uncle John series is addicting and has single-handedly lead to many incidents of me "holding up the line" to the bathroom.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plenty of trivia from Uncle J and the BRI. Another interesting volume.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

bought this as a joke and have read it twice.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all 25! Love them!

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining and I learned a lot. However, since it's copyright is 2004, some of the facts about our use of modern technology might be out of date.

[HeavyReader]

I love all the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader books. I'm was glad to add this one to my collection. Thanks Goodwill.

[David]

Always go to the bathroom when you have a chance.
-- King George V