On the Tip of My Tongue: Questions, Facts, Curiosities and Games of a Quizzical Nature

by David Gentle

An engaging and entertaining collection of trivia, "On the Tip My Tongue" is quiz book with a difference, published in time for the holiday season.

Trivia-phile David Gentle brings together the most tantalizing, brain-twisting questions that--honestly, no really--are just on the tip of your tongue. From historical events to Hitchcock to Hogwarts, "On the Tip of My Tongue "asks readers to name as many items as possible from a list, and to solve the hidden links between specific groups of questions. As the reader gets deeper into the book, the more difficult and arcane the questions and connections become. In between quizzes, Gentle provides readers with fascinating anecdotes, scholarly commentary, and curiously fun facts about specific entries, giving readers a proper historical and cultural context for each fact and list.

As enlightening as it is entertaining, "On the Tip of My Tongue "is the perfect holiday gift for the discerning intellects in your life.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2007

Reviews

[Erikka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: An interesting range of trivia areas, several open-ended questions that make you remember whole lists of things (the 20 largest lakes, the United States with coastline, the Olympic host cities, etc.). I also enjoyed the little footnotes (sometimes not-so-little) that gave additional information about certain questions and answers. Also, the "goal" numbers and the rules for using the book as a game in the back were helpful if you were to pull this book out in a group setting--letting people know that they are on-track if they can name 5 of Dickens' novels creates an achievable goal (because who else but complete book nerds knows Martin Chuzzlewit? Honestly?).

Cons: This thing is just ripe with typos: misspelled words, answers that were clearly incorrect, wrong page numbers, misstated facts, etc. Also, some of the footnotes gave away answers before the question was finished; I wish they had been at the end of the questions instead of scattered throughout. Another flaw was that several of the answers were in an order that wasn't helpful; for example, the top 50 companies were in alphabetical order instead of value order - which would have made it more interesting. There was also some additional challenge as an American reading this as the book is British--some of the words weren't what we typically use here, and a lot of the history was king-focused. My husband and I just started saying "some guy the second?" and variants thereof because the only kings I know are the ones Shakespeare dealt with, and even those I'm rusty on! On the other hand, some of the American trivia seemed unbelievably easy, but would probably be a significant challenge for a Brit. So, not really a con, but still something that made the book extra challenging (and not really in a fun way).

Other than the typos, I think this is one of the better trivia books I've read--the range of topics created something for everyone and the information was cool to learn.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not always easy to check the answers in long long quizzes, eg all novels by Agatha Christie as they are in logical but hard to check order eg date of publication rather than alphabetical

[Orsayor · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a Trivia Junkie, then this is the book for you.

If you love watching “How It’s Made” on The Discovery Channel, then this is the book for you.

On The Tip Of My Tongue is a book that covers an array of trivia. History, Movies, Music, etc. – this book has everything for trivia buff. I enjoyed reading this book, and I will definitely test my knowledge the next time I attend a family gathering...

[Tosha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot if trivia if your interested in it at all. I may use this in the class room as a writing starter.