This book was supposedly written to be boring, to help insomniacs get to sleep. I assume that's a joke, but it's written as if that's the case, consisting of something like 75 tedious articles. Each one is typically two pages long and some read like excerpts from existing textbooks, academic papers etc. as they don't all finish aftger two paages - the book just moves on to a another subject. I actually found the topics really funny, and in short bursts the humour comes from the fact that they really are boring subjects. Examples include:
- Recent developments in the taxonomy of molluscs
- A brief history of the eyechart
- A world almanac of pine cones
- The story of the Lithuanian monarchy
- A history of artichokes
-Cardboard box manufacturing
You get the idea. My one criticism is that some of the topics are pretty similar to one another. For example there's also a section on the taxonomy of mushrooms, which is pretty similar to the molluscs one listed above (essentially long lists of latin names and groups of species etc.). A few of the ideas are recycled and a few are just lists of things.
The articles I liked best were clearly written for the book. For example, there's one about how the pyramids were built, but done in such a way that it contains no facts or research and is a detailed description of laying blocks next to one another. It's actually quite clever in that it's so tedious and speculative.
Qutie a funny book. It would make a decent present. Perhaps it's best read in small doses, especially as there's no story so you don't have to remember what you've already read, so it can be over a long period.