Funny You Should Ask . . .: Your Questions Answered by the QI Elves

by John Lloyd (Author/Narrator), Anne Miller (Narrator), James Harkin (Narrator)

The QI Elves are the brains behind the enduringly popular BBC TV panel show QI.

Every Wednesday the Elves appear on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show where they answer the ponderings and wonderings of BBC Radio 2's most inquisitive listeners.

Dive into this splendid collection of listeners' unusual questions and some unexpected answers that are sure to make your head spin on topics ranging from goosebumps to grapefruit, pizza to pirates and everything in-between. Generously sprinkled with extra facts and questions from the Elves, Funny You Should Ask . . . is essential reading for the incurably curious.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Humor, Trivia, History, Ebooks, Popular Science

Audiobook

First published October 13, 2020

About the author

John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd is an English television and radio comedy producer and writer. His television work includes Not the Nine O'Clock News, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Spitting Image, Blackadder and QI. He is currently the presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity.

Reviews

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun new book deserves more reviews! I listened to it as an audiobook and enjoyed it as a good way to kick back and be distracted from... stuff. Lots of intriguing questions and answers, fun facts, trivia, and deep dives on things you probably never thought about but which are interesting anyway.

[Remo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colección de preguntas que los oyentes mandan al programa QI (juego de palabras entre "IQ", cociente intelectual, y las iniciales de "Quite Interesting". Un programa curioso pero inútil by design).
Entre las muchas preguntas que responde el libro, averiguamos de qué lado debe colgar el papel higiénico al ponerlo en el soporte (lejos de la pared, según la patente original),

que las erratas que convierten una palabra permitida en otra también permitida, evitando así que nos avise el corrector (ej: un saludo/un salido) se llaman "erratas atómicas" (atomic typos), que la pizza de piña fue inventada por un griego que tenía un restaurante en Ontario (y la llamó Hawaiiana porque en el bote de piña ponía Hawaii), de dónde salían las piedras con las que se asediaban los castillos con catapultas en tiempos medievales, cómo comprobar que las semillas detectan la gravedad para saber hacia dónde lanzar las raíces y hacia dónde los tallos, por qué hay que subir las ventanillas de los aviones en el despegue y aterrizaje, por qué los fines de semana duran solo dos días, por qué el café sabe peor de lo que huele, por qué sabe a rayos el zumo de naranja tras lavarnos los dientes, por qué el rojo es parar y el verde avanzar en los semáforos (con una historia muy interesante sobre los primeros trenes: el "avanzar" era blanco, pero un cristal rojo de semáforo se cayó y quedó la luz blanca de detrás, lo que causó un accidente. Ahí el blanco dejó de usarse para indicar avanzar), por qué los pulpos tienen sangre azul y no roja...
En fin, he citado diez de doscientas, pero hay muchas muy interesantes. Lectura relajada de aprender #cositas, para los que lo disfruten. Las explicaciones son claras y breves, muy aceptables (clic para ampliar).

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to be honest: I adore QI, I laugh out loud watching it and wouldn't miss it for the world, so I couldn't let this book pass :P

And even as I didn't laugh out loud I was amused and learned a thing or two. Now, for example, I know what to do if I get caught in an avalanche :P

Exactly what you would expect from this book =D

[Helen Geng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 2.5

Amusing & UK-centric.

Though I was put off by the puffy white lettering on the front cover & the un-edited content.

And there are no footnotes or further references!—
Napoleon’s Privates is the model for witty & amusing trivia books!

Read February 2022

NYPL book

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Packed full of fun and interesting facts, the QI elves have done an excellent job covering a wide variety of content. Would have loved to see even more, though, and maybe a more thematic arrangement of facts. It felt as though it jumped between widely different topics like Wikipedia on Shuffle. But still a fun read!

[Cloak88 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Answers to the weird questions you never new to ask.

Tough I've never heard of the QI Elves before, I do absolutely lover the concept. Send weird questions their way, and they wil endeavor to find the answers. No matter how obscure, strange or outlandish your question was. Now in (audio)book form, this concept is no less fun. With roughly five hours of weird questions and answers to entertain you this is a fun trivia filled book.

In short: Trivia questions and answers made fun!

[Whisper19 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun. Reminds me of that "1000 zašto, 1000 zato" book I loved as a kid :)

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of delicious facts and some dry wit.

[Ronja · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a collection of trivia, sometimes interesting sometimes kind of basic. I picked it up since no such thing as a fish was advertising it as a replacement for book of the year that they weren't doing in 2020. What made me feel kind of meh about it was the lack of interaction and joking around about the facts. In essence, I expected NSTaaF and I didn't get that.

[Wilhelm Henning · Rating 3 out of 5]

QI

As always, a collection of random (useless) information given in an entertaining fashion.
Honestly, I will admit that I expected more.

[Bronwin Human · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and filled with facts. Nothing more a fact nerd could want

[Trey Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to look it up and apparently it’s been nine years ago that a colleague introduced me to my favorite podcast ever: No Such Thing As A Fish.

If you’re not familiar It’s a podcast made by the people behind the British quiz show QI and it’s basically just a show about fact. Each week the four hosts take turns presenting facts they’ve been researching and it’s not only super interesting, but also often hilarious and very entertaining. So when I heard they wrote a book, I jumped at the chance.

Funny You Should Ask is just what it sounds like – the ‘QI Elves’ as they style themselves take turns answering questions sent to them by… The public I guess, or listeners to the podcast or… Someone? Anyway – it’s awesome, it’s fun, it’s super educational and it’s just great. It’s a perfect little side dish to the podcast.

And the podcast is fantastic too. I love learning things, especially little weird facts that you probably won’t use for anything other than tell them to other people and pretend you know things – and No Such ThIng is perfect for that. Also, it’s very easy listening, just like this book. I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks when I’m at work and if they’re too exciting I can’t pay attention (to either the podcast or the work). That’s not a problem with this, you can zone out and in again, and feel like you haven’t lost anything.

[Li Or · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book of facts, particularly good for UK-based readers. Just before reading this I read another fantastic fact book (Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati) and that latter book was full of US-based facts; so in this QI book it was nice to read facts that were relevant to British things that I was more familiar with.

I wonder if this book would have been even better if it was arranged more clearly into subjects rather than being a mostly random array of facts. Either way, it was a very enjoyable read. The facts themselves were fascinating and you'll come away feeling a little more knowledgeable, intellectually satisfied and culturally enriched after reading :)

[Ellesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was missing my book of the year fix from the no such thing as a fish crowd so I thought this might be an interesting alternative at least something to fill the gap in my book year!

The book was good, full of interesting bits and one of those lovely books you can dip in and out of, picking it up when I wanted a quick read. There has been plenty of times though where I've thought I'd have a quick 5 minutes but love it so much I just devoured it. I would definitely recommend it - and it certainly did the job of filling the gap left by book of the year.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun trivia set up in Q&A format a lot like the old Imponderables books of my youth. A couple of the questions are incomprehensible as an American but most of them still applied. Probably the weirdest thing was finding out that in the UK they call the broiler (in an oven) the "grill." What they call a backyard grill is unclear.

Or that some birds make "milk" that's thick like cottage cheese.

[Joel Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Once a woman who had been eating a lot of garlic while pregnant, ended up with a garlic smelling baby."

What a fascinating book! There's a single fact in there that wouldn't make you want grab the first person you see and enlighten them about this new information you have acquired. It's funny, intriguing and short so you can dip in and out.

I highly recommend!

[Erikka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hooray for QI! Hooray for No Such Thing As A Fish! And hooray for the fact that the British appreciate trivia far more than Americans do. This book was so fun and I wish I had access to the radio show of the same name because I would listen to it regularly!

[Luk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like an abridged version of the subreddit ELI5. Lots of seemingly mundane questions that are answered in ways that give you a better understanding of the world around you.
As with any book the QI elves bring to market, it's filled with wit and delicious facts.

[Kate Bainbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating read!! All the questions you’ve ever wanted to know and much more!!

I was able to dip in & out of this which was brilliant!

Will definitely be on the look out for more QI Elves books

[Luke Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect comfort audiobook. Professionally interesting people feeding you little bites of weird information very charmingly. Listened in bits and pieces across a period of months when I was stressed out and not game for something more substantive. Just gentle and interesting pleasantness.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and, pun intended, quite interesting read from the QI Elves, the team responsible for the plethora of facts and trivia on 'QI'.

Clearly written, the subjects are broad ranging and encourage discussion and wider research.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant and humourous collection of facts and questions: many that you didn't even know you wanted the answer to before reading. And definitely a resource for me personally for many more Fun Facts!

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy knowing random facts or like reading the “odd spots” on a libra pad then you will really enjoy this book. It was like getting the answers to the questions my brain thinks of while I’m taking a shower.

[Nick Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should have been six stars, actually. Hilarious.

[Lydia Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great facts. Listened to this in surgery (at a dental practice) and we enjoyed it. Gave our patients something to talk about.

[Abibliofob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I follow Qi on BBC and it's proboly one of the funniest shows around. This book is also fun but it doesn't come close to the real thing. Still it is a great way to spend a few hours.

[Katheryn Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one does what it says on the tin. It was exactly what I was in the mood for, and I really enjoyed it.

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly listened to the audio version, but read through today to ensure I hadn't missed anything due to lack of concentration etc

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of great, random but delightfully interesting facts. Not a full page in it.

[Alex Kitáin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read with some funny insights and facts but overall, a bit too basic for my taste.