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Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
Calling all bathroom readers!
At last...Here it is...The book you've been waiting for! No more frantic searches at the last minute for that perfect magazine article. No agonizing choices between light reading and the serious stuff. This little volume has it all: Entertainment, humor, education, trivia, science, history, pop culture...and more! And it's even divided by length--you can spend a minute with the Quickies, relax with Normal-length articles, or really get comfortable with Long Items.
With Uncle John's Bathroom reader strategically placed in your home, you'll settle in happily and read about:
The Origin of Common Words and Phrases
The Story behind "Louie, Louie"
Deadly curses and Strange Deaths
Politics in The Wizard of Oz
The origin of Silly Putty
Elvis's Visit to the FBI
The Fabulous 60's
And a host of great bathroom topics!
At last...Here it is...The book you've been waiting for! No more frantic searches at the last minute for that perfect magazine article. No agonizing choices between light reading and the serious stuff. This little volume has it all: Entertainment, humor, education, trivia, science, history, pop culture...and more! And it's even divided by length--you can spend a minute with the Quickies, relax with Normal-length articles, or really get comfortable with Long Items.
With Uncle John's Bathroom reader strategically placed in your home, you'll settle in happily and read about:
The Origin of Common Words and Phrases
The Story behind "Louie, Louie"
Deadly curses and Strange Deaths
Politics in The Wizard of Oz
The origin of Silly Putty
Elvis's Visit to the FBI
The Fabulous 60's
And a host of great bathroom topics!
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 1988
17 people are currently reading
570 people want to read
About the author
Bathroom Readers' Institute
278 books343 followersThe 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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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
December 22, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. At first I didn't know what to MAKE of it. I wasn't sure it was going to make a big splash for me. It was a little nutty. But after reading it I felt great. It nearly brought a tear to my brown eye. But I just wiped it away.
June 9, 2021
I first bought this back in the 80s and have read it several times. This is the first Uncle John's and it has become something of a classic. Lots of fun trivia, brain teasers, strange facts and histories all in short, readable bites. Good humor also. If you are a bathroom reader, it is hard to go wrong with this one! I have have never 'fact checked' everything here, and there are some dubious things presented, but overall, you will learn something while engaging in your daily constitutional.
July 20, 2015
This is the book that started my love for the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series.
My first nice boyfriend, Mike Schneider, turned me on to this series, which was a big hit with his family. They actually read it in the bathroom.
I love these books because they are full of good stories, told well, but kept short. I like the factoids at the bottom of every page. I like that the stories are often humorous and always entertaining. I like that I can wrap my brain around the information even when I'm tired.
I would be glad to read every single book in this series.
UPDATE: I first heard of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series from a beloved boyfriend. I read several in the series and enjoyed every one.
I found the very first volume in a thrift store for ten cents. Score!
I thought I’d read this one already, but when I started in on it, none of the information seemed familiar. Did I miss this one, or did I simply forget everything in it over the ensuing 20+ years? Either way, I did enjoy reading it in a couple of days.
What I like about the series is that although most pieces are short, they are well-written and informative.
I don’t read in the bathroom, but I tore through this book at work between customers.
My first nice boyfriend, Mike Schneider, turned me on to this series, which was a big hit with his family. They actually read it in the bathroom.
I love these books because they are full of good stories, told well, but kept short. I like the factoids at the bottom of every page. I like that the stories are often humorous and always entertaining. I like that I can wrap my brain around the information even when I'm tired.
I would be glad to read every single book in this series.
UPDATE: I first heard of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series from a beloved boyfriend. I read several in the series and enjoyed every one.
I found the very first volume in a thrift store for ten cents. Score!
I thought I’d read this one already, but when I started in on it, none of the information seemed familiar. Did I miss this one, or did I simply forget everything in it over the ensuing 20+ years? Either way, I did enjoy reading it in a couple of days.
What I like about the series is that although most pieces are short, they are well-written and informative.
I don’t read in the bathroom, but I tore through this book at work between customers.
Read
March 4, 2013When I was reading a portion of my book I came across this part where it was saying the history of Easter and how it got to what it was now and I thought,”I never that Christianity had so much variations in history. So what I think the reading strategy that I used was activating schema because I was resorted to using the knowledge I have on Easter that I learned. I learned it’s called easter because it was the day of God’s resurrection and they chose the bunny because the bunny was a symbol of New life for what I was taught. I thought this thought helped me understand the book a little more because I already knew a little about the subject but with the book it made and helped me understand topic even more.
July 31, 2012
Things I learned from this book:
- The song "Mony Mony" takes it title from the Mutual of New York insurance company.
- Custer was not the hero that legend makes him out to be - he was in fact a Lieutenant Colonel who finished last in his class at West Point. His stupidity led him to make many tactical errors, the last of which created his infamous "last stand."
- "The Wizard od Oz" was most likely written as a political parable in support of 1890's populism.
- Cary Grant was into LSD.
There's a lot more stuff like that in this book. It is an absolute treasure-trove of worthless information.
- The song "Mony Mony" takes it title from the Mutual of New York insurance company.
- Custer was not the hero that legend makes him out to be - he was in fact a Lieutenant Colonel who finished last in his class at West Point. His stupidity led him to make many tactical errors, the last of which created his infamous "last stand."
- "The Wizard od Oz" was most likely written as a political parable in support of 1890's populism.
- Cary Grant was into LSD.
There's a lot more stuff like that in this book. It is an absolute treasure-trove of worthless information.
February 25, 2016
OK- now I'm hooked on these trivia-fests from Uncle John. It is amazing how many tidbits that are contained in these audios pop up in my daily life conversations or in TV shows. "Cultural" literacy at its best. Also excellent training for a recently started Trivial Pursuit game day that members of my Friends of the Library have begun. Well presented by various readers with interesting music & sound effects to keep things from being 'just the facts, m'am'.
November 21, 2011
OK, what's not to love about Uncle John's Bathroom Reader? It's a mecca of useless information, and the perfect way to pass the time in the bathroom. Warning: it may make your bathroom breaks a little longer than usual.
November 1, 2012
Cleverly put together, fun, random facts, literary excerpts and historical accounts that are brief and well put together. Despite myself this made me smile off and one, though I found some facts that were not, in fact, correct, it still made for some interesting reading.
September 28, 2013
Ii think it was good but you know just kinda strange! I love the jokes in them I use them all the time!
I only thing i say you should do is to have it like real book, just all one!
Other wise it was great!
I only thing i say you should do is to have it like real book, just all one!
Other wise it was great!
August 2, 2016
Rated: B+
June 23, 2009
love these!! i have almost every one of them
August 7, 2010
Who would have known that so many facts could be learned while taking care of business?
August 29, 2012
The first of this series I picked up and most likely one of the best so far. Most are the same in style and quality but for the most part this one was a lot of fun. It's short stories for a reason!
November 2, 2012
Pure fun!
If you don't like one article, turn the page.
If you don't like one article, turn the page.
January 27, 2013
I absolutely love every single one of these books. What is better than a book filled with pointless trivia?
March 17, 2013
About as good as you can expect from a factoid book that predates the internet.
Which is to say: not very good, unfortunately.
Which is to say: not very good, unfortunately.
May 1, 2013
Great book in the series!! Loved it!
August 25, 2014
Lots of fun facts. Enjoyable readers.
February 4, 2009
This is always an easy time filler.
November 12, 2013
I've read all 25! Love them!
March 24, 2014
I loved this book! This one started them all.
January 31, 2016
4/5
After reading les miserables i needed a quick, easy and fun fix. This delivered.
After reading les miserables i needed a quick, easy and fun fix. This delivered.
December 14, 2016
What to know strange facts? I mean hundreds of them? While then you have read the right review. Want to know stray curses, or strange rules of the world? Fall no further. Loads to read! If you want action, it's in there! You want a drama story? You can have it!
It's one of the best tabletop books you can get, for all genre readers!
This's book makes you want to learn more about life, and can even help you in the future! Like I really did not know that it was bad luck to wear a black dress to a wedding.
I liked all of the facts it gave me, and all of the weird things life has given us, like the American flag was made by a kid in 3rd grade for a project and it got a b-. Funny, right?
I think it's like a world record book, but there are not a lot of records.
With Uncle John's Bathroom reader strategically placed in your home, you'll settle in happily and read about:
The Origin of Common Words and Phrases
The Story behind "Louie, Louie"
Deadly curses and Strange Deaths
Politics in The Wizard of Oz
The origin of Silly Putty
Elvis's Visit to the FBI
The Fabulous 60's
And a host of great bathroom topics!
It's one of the best tabletop books you can get, for all genre readers!
This's book makes you want to learn more about life, and can even help you in the future! Like I really did not know that it was bad luck to wear a black dress to a wedding.
I liked all of the facts it gave me, and all of the weird things life has given us, like the American flag was made by a kid in 3rd grade for a project and it got a b-. Funny, right?
I think it's like a world record book, but there are not a lot of records.
With Uncle John's Bathroom reader strategically placed in your home, you'll settle in happily and read about:
The Origin of Common Words and Phrases
The Story behind "Louie, Louie"
Deadly curses and Strange Deaths
Politics in The Wizard of Oz
The origin of Silly Putty
Elvis's Visit to the FBI
The Fabulous 60's
And a host of great bathroom topics!
May 18, 2025
I love uncle John’s bathroom reader. My sisters are always interrogating me whenever I go in the bathroom because I always get to read this book. So naturally, every time someone goes to the bathroom, even our pet zebra, all 17 of my family members flock the bathroom. We love listening to the jokes in the book. My snapping turtle, Gertrude Brickshack, bit one of the pages and now it looks like an elbow. My brother George Brickhouse especially likes reading page 120 for whatever reason, it’s his favorite. It looks like my mom is about to crap her pants, which means we have to read this book again! See you guys with my new book recommendations again! Toodles! 💩
October 30, 2017
The first one of the series and it was great fun. The only problem I had was it was short, but it was the first one. The logic problems and trivia quizzes were a delight to do. So get out there and start reading the trivia lovers' best reader.
July 19, 2019
I have always loved reading this series because it gives me information that i wouldn't have tried to look up myself. The way they put the information together makes some of the stories so funny you think it's not true but 90% of the stories are true.
May 14, 2023
Not as good as the later efforts - not edited as tightly nor as well researched (though I guess without a developed Internet that becomes a little more tricky) but the ideas are there for what has become a fantastic series of facts and general knowledge.
October 28, 2023
My wife and I love the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series. Some visits have been extended due to the interesting material. I can't recommend them enough. We always buy every new Reader when it comes out as a gift to ourselves.
October 12, 2025
Thanks, Uncle John. I found you in a Brunswick, Maine stationery store, and you guided me towards the story of William James Sidis, America's greatest child prodigy, and the populist politics behind the WIZARD OF OZ. If that one's since been debunked, who cares? You're the man!
November 23, 2020
Read on the toilet in 1989. Trivia and short essays on miscellaneous topics.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews