A Book About a Thousand Things

by George Stimpson

A treasury of fascinating information on a large variety of subjects. Both small and great things are dealt with. Some of the subjects are more entertaining than useful, while others are more useful than entertaining. Often the footnotes are the most interesting part of a book. The author has not used them, he notes, because, in a sense, this book is composed largely of interesting footnotes. This book is the fruit of curiosity. The author wrote it to satisfy his own curiosity, and hopes that in passing along the results of his studies, he may share with others some of the pleasure and profit of his work.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Trivia

552 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1946

Reviews

[Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book orginally belonged to Mom and Dad. I started reading it decades ago and used to go back to it often. I inherited it when they passed and even now, will take it down and read through it randomly.

[Josee Leclerc · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old book found somewhere a long time ago in a second hand bookstore. A book that I keep near on the coffee table as if I just have a few minutes to read, I will still have learn something. Not always necessary to know about for exemple what kind of grass is called Timothy it must one employ a lawyer to get a patent. But it is still knowledge and I am all in for more.

[Nancyp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brings back old memories 50 years ago. reading page after page. I loved it.

[Rudy Seifert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1946, some of the "obvious" explanations seem quite dated, but so many fun things that one had no idea would be that interesting.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A fascinating book that I picked up at a charity sale in the antiques section. Published in 1946 some of the information is a bit antiquated, but that only lends to the book's charm. Questions ranging from 'do elephants resent being fed tobacco?' to the more useful 'How did kahki originate?' are examples of what can be found within this book. According to the preface, these are all questions that Mr. Stimpson asked himself at one point or another and he wrote this book simply to satisfy his own curiosity. One of the best things about this book is that it's the type that you can simply pick up any time, read for a bit and forget about it for a while. I also really enjoyed the randomness of the entries. Fun read!

[Joey Robert Parks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. This book was published in 1952 so the things it answers questions to are, well most of them anyway, quite old and out of date--which is what makes this reference book so fascinating. "Where did the phrase, 'Don't throw out the baby with the bath water' come from?" for example.

It's on this shelf because it's not the kind of book you read cover to cover. It's a reference book filled with 1000 questions and answers about things.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing the information that was known back in 1946 and what is known now. I found this book interesting and very enjoyable.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

dj,
who wudda thaut?