True Facts that Sound Like Bulls#*t: 500 Insane-But-True Facts That Will Shock And Impress Your Friends

by Shane Carley

Prove your awesomeness—or bolster your stockpile of conversation starters! Either way, prove you’re the smartest schmuck in the room with over 500 absurdly real facts! With over 500 outrageous and real facts on everything from hippo sweat to stars in the galaxy, you're sure to impress your friends, stump your colleagues, and crush the trivia night competition! Discover insane-but-true factoids and prove you really do know it all! Test out the True or False questions covering the gamut of science, sports, history, pop culture, and a potpourri of others, *True or A chicken once survived almost two years after having its head cut off. *True or The dog that played Toto in The Wizard of Oz was paid a salary. *How many baseballs does the MLB use every season? *What state has jousting as its official sport? *True or Most Canadians live south of Seattle. Put your game face on, and prove once and for all who is the real know-it-all! Gather your friends and family 'round and get ready to learn some wild and crazy trivia!

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

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 10, 2019

Reviews

[Becks! · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned some new facts and had other stories I’d heard validated or discredited. The trivia covered several areas including science, space, sports and pop culture.

As far as a comedy/trivia book goes it’s pretty good - probably a 6-7 out of 10 - but I wouldn’t place it on an Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader franchise level.

I rounded it up to stars but that’s because I’m a trivia geek.

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looked into it for pub quiz material.
Do I mind the curse word on the cover? No.
Do I come in expecting pulitzer prize material? No.
Book gets pretty raunchy and a bit obsessively sexual? HELL No. At least it's trying to be interesting.

This would be a really bad white elephant gift, multiple “facts” are just plain wrong, and badly written as true/false.

[Akshay · Rating 2 out of 5]

True Facts That Sound Like Bulls#@t by Shane Carley

 
A raunchy, rowdy, and uneven collection of trivia that prioritizes shock value over scholarship—perfect for a bathroom reader or a rowdy pub quiz, but frustrating for anyone seeking depth, accuracy, or citations. 

Content & Tone:
As the title unsubtly suggests, this compendium aims for the "shock and awe" approach to knowledge. Spanning categories from science and history to pop culture and sports, the book gathers 500 factoids designed to elicit a "no way!" reaction. It leans heavily into the bizarre, the macabre, and the sexual, clearly targeting an audience that prefers their learning with a side of edge.

The book functions best as a social lubricant—a source of icebreakers about headless chickens surviving for years or the odd dietary habits of historical figures. Its structure, mixing direct statements with "True or False" quizzes, attempts to gamify the reading experience, making it digestible in short bursts.

Critical Flaws:
However, the book suffers from a significant lack of rigor. Critically, it is a "mile wide and an inch deep."

Lack of Context: Facts are presented as standalone truth bombs without the necessary context or explanation to make them truly educational.
Dubious Accuracy: Several reviewers have noted that legends are presented as facts, and some entries are demonstrably false or based on outdated internet myths (for example, the inclusion of common-knowledge myths or specific sports statistics that don't hold up to scrutiny).
American-Centrism: The content, particularly the sports section, is heavily skewed toward US interests (baseball, American football), which alienates international readers who may find the "mind-blowing" stats mundane or unintelligible.
Juvenile Presentation: The shift to True/False formats and the inclusion of amateurish illustrations detract from the experience for adult readers hoping for a slightly more sophisticated trivia collection.

Comparative Analysis: The Trivia Genre

When placed alongside its contemporaries, True Facts That Sound Like Bulls#@t occupies the "fast food" tier of the genre.

Book / Series
Style & Substance
Comparison


True Facts That Sound Like Bulls#@t
Shock-focused, uncited, raunchy, "pub banter."
Entertaining but unreliable; lacks intellectual nutrition.


QI: The Book of General Ignorance
(Lloyd & Mitchinson)
Witty, rigorously researched, debunking common myths with depth.
The gold standard. Where True Facts lazily repeats myths, QI actively corrects them with sources and British wit.


Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
(Series)
Eclectic mix of long-form articles and short facts; heavily curated.
Superior in formatting and variety; offers the "meat on the bone" that True Facts is missing.


Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Visual-heavy, sensationalist, geared toward younger readers.
True Facts is essentially an R-rated, text-only version of Ripley's, sharing the same prioritization of the "weird" over the "why."

Verdict:
True Facts That Sound Like Bulls#@t is a serviceable time-killer for those who want to be briefly amused without being challenged. It works as a gag gift or a toilet book, but for the curiosity-driven reader who asks "how?" or "why?" after hearing a fact, it is a hollow experience. It is the literary equivalent of a clickbait headline: effective at grabbing attention, but often disappointing upon closer inspection.

 Rating: ⭐⭐✩✩✩ (2.0/5) — Fun for a quick laugh, but too factually loose to be a reference and too shallow to be satisfying. 

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and Quick Read

The book provides interesting facts in sports, politics, nature, and other topics, many of which dispute common beliefs and myths. Most folks will find it an entertaining read.

[Grace Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting facts and funny commentary.

[Gabriela Hammersmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

My poor husband and my bestie were getting annoyed with me.

A very entertaining read.

[Miss Ryoko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this kind of stuff and found this book to be truly fascinating. A good range of interesting topics and fun tidbits

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book with great info. I learned so many new crazy things. A book I can definitely read again and again

[Alexandru · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the majority of shocking facts were already known to me. A book for the American audience with the majority of the "mind-blowing facts" coming from American sports and American politics. It's a shallow book, but it can be fun to read when you want your brain to rest.

[Lady Makaveli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may have given this book 1 star too many, but I'm trying to be fair. It is a book of random facts but that is all it is. You may be thinking, "no s..." but..let me explain! If you are looking for a simple book made of a very basic list of "shocking facts" you will enjoy this book more or less, I assume. BUT, if you enjoy depth, proof, evidence as well as at least a summary of the facts being presented, ALL of them, so further research can be done if desired, or, you know, the reader can see the author didn't just google "random facts" and copy them over. That may seem harsh; maybe it is. But I am spoiled. If you are looking for true good books on random and knowledge that is either misunderstood, not known due to myths or whatever you desire, then you need to read the books by the guys who wrote the QI books for the UK show (formerly) with Stephen Fry.
After reading -more than once- the books the QI TV writers wrote...such as, Uncommon Knowledge (1,2,etc) and others (UK) it gave me a high standard when it comes the "did you know" and "fact book" genre.
I like some meat to the bone of knowledge, if for no other reason than to learn more about that fact. I always say do your own research but if I am reading a book on random facts, a summary of each isn't too much to ask. Just look into the QI books; they did it and they did it with a unique voice and sense of humor. So I may have given this book 1 too many stars... but I'm trying not to be TOO harsh because it's a list of facts in different fonts... But there is no substance. I wouldn't suggest it. I would suggest QI book series, though! Imagine that.

[Bill Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly entertaining book of facts. Some you marvel at. Some you want to look up somewhere else to see if there's verification. But I wasn't bored any time I sat down to read these facts.

You certainly will laugh at some. Some will astound you. Some are just good things to know.

And there are the paradoxes--such as that John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.

It would be fun to share several of these. But the point is to read the book and see for yourself.

The book did not define the word in the title that has a # and a * symbol in it. But I think it's safe to say that it is easy to guess.

The other thing good about this book is that you just keep reading along. I only stretched it out because of all the other books I was trying to finish.

[Daniel Hardy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book of facts it's got surprisingly many inclusions of "legend has it that..." And even blatantly false things that fully don't make sense if you stop to think about it (even if you give benefit of the doubt that googling is easier in 2025- is it more logical that someone can go back to playing football faster if they have a mid-game finger amputation , or if it's buddy-taped to the finger next to it until the end of the game? This isn't the only example- the book is full of them)

2 stars because there is some entertainment value here, even though the BS that sounds like BS is hard to tell from the truth that sounds like BS.... And the common knowledge that doesn't sound like BS is also surprisingly often included ("Kramer from Seinfeld 's first name is Cosmo").

[Philip Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

How did I survive without knowing that goats have regional accents, Frank Sinatra was offered the lead role in Die Hard and that until 2011 beer was categorised as a soft drink in Russia?
This book loses a star for the sports section, which is so heavily US oriented that I pretty much skipped it (I wouldn't know whether a fact about baseball or American football is amazing or not).
But otherwise, very entertaining and with lots of "surely not!" moments.

[Sarah Furlong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I work in recreation at an assisted living facility, got this book because the seniors love the fact or crap game (basically true or false). I thought having some fun new facts on hand would liven up the game a bit. Unfortunately, most already knew many of the facts as well as me. My residents ended up asking me to go back to the cards after a while, which was slightly disappointing. Still learned a few things. But ultimately will have to search for a different book to use.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read trivia books to learn things. The True or False format really takes away from learning "true facts" since you'll read something interesting only to find out it is 'false.' A worthless approach, IMO. Also, a lot of the tidbits that are supposed to "shock and impress your friends" are really ordinary things that most people pay attention to the world around them would already know. I will not bother with anymore from this series.

[Jacqueline P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quirky

It was interesting to read such weird and quirky facts. One thing really bothered me though. There was a typo in the fact about Samuel L. Jackson. He did not attend "Morehead College." It's Morehouse College 😒 . I'm sure he would appreciate it if the name was corrected since he is a proud Morehouse Man.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

The format of 'true or false' got really stale after a while, but it's clearly written for a younger audience (probably one that wants to throw out factoids at you). There were a few that surprised me and I didn't know, but most are covered with more humor and depth in other mediums.

[Wildmaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

True or False

I was enjoying reading this book of facts when, all of a sudden, its format changed to True or False questions. This happens many times in the book. I didn’t get this book to learn false facts, so it was a big disappointment. The drawing are very juvenile, too.

[Gail Weisberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun

Use this book to do classes at my senior center. The seniors love the humor and also love the learning piece. It’s hard to get everyone engaged and these true or false questions keeps my frail adults from falling asleep.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly fascinating stuff

Loved this entire book. Just fascinating stuff and so much of it I'd never heard. I kept having to stop and look things up because the entries are sometimes too short and I need more info!

[Mary Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Read!

love this book! So many funny, random facts I never knew! Some facts I would have definitely thought were bullshit if someone just told me. Would recommend this book to anyone else who loves random crazy facts!

[Dave Rush · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a teacher, nanny, parent, or just someone who needs to impress kids or people with short intention spans, buy this book and save yourself hours of fighting over why phones are not allowed in whatever domain you are stuck overseeing!

[Jeanette Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blast of facts

This was pretty amusing and fun read over the many car trips I took with my Family over this years Christmas... I'm a firm believer that knowledge is power and random facts also make me happy.

[Mr Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fact book... what else do you want?

Some interesting facts but with all small facts it leaves you wanting to know more as they don't all sound true or need to be at least explained.

It's something easy to read while in the bathroom.

[Mary Lou Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a fun read

I annoyed everybody by laughing at, and reading aloud, these remarkable, true facts. But I wonder why the author employed the word "true." Aren't facts, by definition, true? Has anyone written a collection of false facts?

[Shilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of books are pretty engaging. When I don't have a lot of time to read, I can just read a few excerpts and pick right up where I left off. A lot of the tidbits I haven't heard before. That's a bonus!

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

More random facts that won't help me in life

I can't tell you who the current president of SA is, but I can tell you there is a species of turtle that can breathe through its butt and the average human is now 5'10 compared to the 18th century when they were just 5'6

[Denise Bjornn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

This was an awesome book and very entertaining! I would consider taking this to a party to start conversations with.

[Yolanda G · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun to read! My jaw dropped, I exclaimed 'nooooo', and lol-ed. The perfect book to rest my brain on after some heavier books recently.