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Contrary to Popular Belief: More than 250 False Facts Revealed
Isn’t it time you knew the honest-to-goodness truth? We’ve all come to believe hundreds of “false facts”—myths that we’ve blindly accepted as truth, misconceptions that we’ve ignorantly retold to others—Contrary to Popular Belief provides an instant remedy for your pounding head full of misinformation, giving you quick relief with enlightening and entertaining facts.
Inside you’ll learn:
George Washington was not the first president of the United States.
Leap year does not occur every four years.
The ostrich does not bury its head in the sand.
Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.
Ship captains cannot perform marriages at sea.
Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.
The needle on a compass does not point to the North Pole.
Leonardo da Vinci did not paint the Mona Lisa.
And more than two hundred other bits of conventional “wisdom” that are completely bunk.
Inside you’ll learn:
George Washington was not the first president of the United States.
Leap year does not occur every four years.
The ostrich does not bury its head in the sand.
Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.
Ship captains cannot perform marriages at sea.
Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.
The needle on a compass does not point to the North Pole.
Leonardo da Vinci did not paint the Mona Lisa.
And more than two hundred other bits of conventional “wisdom” that are completely bunk.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
9 people are currently reading
339 people want to read
About the author
Joey Green
82 books31 followersJoey Green, a former contributing editor to National Lampoon and a former advertising copywriter at J. Walter Thompson, is the author of more than sixty (yes, sixty) books, including Not So Normal Norbert with James Patterson, Last-Minute Travel Secrets, Last-Minute Survival Secrets, Contrary to Popular Belief, Clean It! Fix It! Eat It!, the best-selling Joey Green's Magic Brands series, The Mad Scientist Handbook series, The Zen of Oz, and You Know You've Reached Middle Age If...—to name just a few.
Joey has appeared on dozens of national television shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, and The View. He has been profiled in the New York Times, People magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and he has been interviewed on hundreds of radio shows.
A native of Miami, Florida, and a graduate of Cornell University—where he was the political cartoonist on the Cornell Daily Sun and founded the campus humor magazine, the Cornell Lunatic (still publishing to this very day)—Joey lives in Los Angeles.
Joey has appeared on dozens of national television shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, and The View. He has been profiled in the New York Times, People magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and he has been interviewed on hundreds of radio shows.
A native of Miami, Florida, and a graduate of Cornell University—where he was the political cartoonist on the Cornell Daily Sun and founded the campus humor magazine, the Cornell Lunatic (still publishing to this very day)—Joey lives in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
August 15, 2008
There was some interesting trivia here, some facts I already knew, some I was fascinated to learn.
HOWEVER, their take on the Bible is 100% incorrect!!!!!! Every "fact" they claimed to make about the Bible was dead-on wrong, especially Isaiah 7:14. If you look at the original Hebrew IN ITS CONTEXT(which I have, under the tutelage of a Hebrew scholar), it is clear that the only translation that makes any sense is "virgin." A "young girl" becoming pregnant is not only NOT a prophecy, it's like foretelling that a normal man will breathe about 60 times a minute and his heart will beat about 80-100 times in a minute, with allowances for unusual circumstances. Where's the prophecy in that?!?
Given their lack of accuracy on the Bible, the rest of their claims become suspect by association. I should have just read this book in the store instead of wasting my money on it.
HOWEVER, their take on the Bible is 100% incorrect!!!!!! Every "fact" they claimed to make about the Bible was dead-on wrong, especially Isaiah 7:14. If you look at the original Hebrew IN ITS CONTEXT(which I have, under the tutelage of a Hebrew scholar), it is clear that the only translation that makes any sense is "virgin." A "young girl" becoming pregnant is not only NOT a prophecy, it's like foretelling that a normal man will breathe about 60 times a minute and his heart will beat about 80-100 times in a minute, with allowances for unusual circumstances. Where's the prophecy in that?!?
Given their lack of accuracy on the Bible, the rest of their claims become suspect by association. I should have just read this book in the store instead of wasting my money on it.
December 1, 2013
Eh. I'm happy anytime there is myth-busting in the mainstream, and maybe this little Hallmark book will encourage people to think more critically about what they've been told. But it often feels like the author is just reaching, relying on technical, nitpicky distinctions in order to claim that such-and-such is false. Plus, most of the info in this book pertains to trivia about history, geography, and zoology. I'd have liked it if the book tackled some of the more outrageous claims that people erroneously believe. There is no mention of crop circles, or haunted houses, or the moon landing "hoax," or the Shroud of Turin, or the ten percent brain myth, or spontaneous human combustion, or acupuncture, or the Eskimo vocabulary hoax. This is mostly just softball stuff that isn't going to threaten anyone's worldview. Still, I'm generally pleased to see fallacies and falsehoods exposed, and maybe this book is the stepping stone that some people need in order to begin approaching extraordinary claims with more skepticism.
April 4, 2025
***Actual Star Rating: 2.5 Stars - Some Subjects Not Suitable For Younger Readers***
A trivia book that definitely caught my eye with some of the samples included on the cover.
Contrary to Popular Belief is a trivia book that attempts to provide readers with interesting tidbits based on mostly technicalities, misinterpretation and often overlooked changes. And since of that factor the book will eventually just outdate itself such as now giant pandas are now considered bears and not closely related to the actual red pandas
Other and more mature subjects were not necessary to know like Monica's adventures in the White House or the inclusion of the story of Onan and Tamar from the Bible, which didn't match the subject for its entry thus wasn't proof or lack of proof for what it was meant to disprove.
There were some very basic sketch, cartoonish drawings occasionally also added but not enough to make the book feel like it was illustrated.
All in all it was an okay read with some new information for readers but if you are into trivia than some of it will be facts that you already know about whether obscure or not.
A trivia book that definitely caught my eye with some of the samples included on the cover.
Contrary to Popular Belief is a trivia book that attempts to provide readers with interesting tidbits based on mostly technicalities, misinterpretation and often overlooked changes. And since of that factor the book will eventually just outdate itself such as now giant pandas are now considered bears and not closely related to the actual red pandas
Other and more mature subjects were not necessary to know like Monica's adventures in the White House or the inclusion of the story of Onan and Tamar from the Bible, which didn't match the subject for its entry thus wasn't proof or lack of proof for what it was meant to disprove.
There were some very basic sketch, cartoonish drawings occasionally also added but not enough to make the book feel like it was illustrated.
All in all it was an okay read with some new information for readers but if you are into trivia than some of it will be facts that you already know about whether obscure or not.
January 28, 2018
A great book to read just before bed, gives you something interesting to think about as you drift off to sleep. I didn't know most of these and found all of the facts very interesting! Especially the Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz bit. I didn't realize the album and movie lined up so well! You learn something new every day.
October 24, 2025
Eh. Sure I learned a few things but I feel the author didn't really always prove the facts but rather gave his opinion. Especially with the bible "myths". And seriously... could've done without the Monica Lewinsky page.
June 3, 2018
The kind of factoids that win you Jeopardy. Maybe.
January 12, 2019
Interesting facts that most people don't know. A lot of trivia in an easy to read book.
January 27, 2019
It’s definitely worth reading, but there are a few errors, the most egregious of which is that Andrew Johnson was the 17th president, not Grant. Grant was the 18th president.
February 17, 2021
Interesting factoids but a lot of stretching. For instance, West Virginia is actually Northwest Virginia. That’s a small technicality. Most of the book is this way.
November 14, 2021
Entertaining
There are a lot of interesting facts and some surprises in this book. This is a fast read and an entertaining one
There are a lot of interesting facts and some surprises in this book. This is a fast read and an entertaining one
February 14, 2022
Large amount of facts in a small book!
March 3, 2023
It's a bathroom reading book. Little bite sized pages that are easy to process. There are a couple inaccuracies and more than a few bible facts. Read it on the toilet and then pass it on to a friend.
June 23, 2023
Some new stuff, but most of it I already knew.
Still, good bathroom reader.
Still, good bathroom reader.
January 1, 2024
A book that claims to debunk myths, but most of these myths are well known to be myths. Very little new ground covered.
January 28, 2025
Pedantic. Boring. Didn’t hold my attention.
March 13, 2017
The concept is interesting--"facts" everyone knows that aren't actually true. And while the book held some interesting information it was also frustrating.
First, not everything it said was accurate. This was especially true for all the "facts" debunked about Bible stuff. Too often it picked one side of a scholarly debate and declared it uncontested fact (whether Isaiah is speaking of a virgin or not) or sites as tradition what is modern not ancient (three wise men tradition grew not from three gifts but from the three sons of Noah). If it struggled in an area which I know, can I trust it in areas beyond my expertise?
Second, the book was often nitpicking. First person to see the Pacific actually saw it from Asia. Yeah, but while that's technically true, no one is looking for that information when they talk about "discovering" the Pacific. Just because you are technically correct, doesn't mean you're right. I imagine the author got beat-up a lot on the playground.
Finally, some the "facts" I had never heard, never met anyone who believed them or could ever imagine anyone being confused enough to believe in the first place.
So, it had the potential to be mildly amusing, but ended up being frustrating.
First, not everything it said was accurate. This was especially true for all the "facts" debunked about Bible stuff. Too often it picked one side of a scholarly debate and declared it uncontested fact (whether Isaiah is speaking of a virgin or not) or sites as tradition what is modern not ancient (three wise men tradition grew not from three gifts but from the three sons of Noah). If it struggled in an area which I know, can I trust it in areas beyond my expertise?
Second, the book was often nitpicking. First person to see the Pacific actually saw it from Asia. Yeah, but while that's technically true, no one is looking for that information when they talk about "discovering" the Pacific. Just because you are technically correct, doesn't mean you're right. I imagine the author got beat-up a lot on the playground.
Finally, some the "facts" I had never heard, never met anyone who believed them or could ever imagine anyone being confused enough to believe in the first place.
So, it had the potential to be mildly amusing, but ended up being frustrating.
December 13, 2017
Good book to read in bits and pieces. Some explanations of False Facts were more interesting than others, but overall it was an entertaining quick read.
January 1, 2019
This was an inconsequential way to pass the time. It's an older book - in current times it would be something along the lines of a Buzzfeed list. To show how different times are now since this book was published, the author said he verified these facts by "locking himself away in the library, checking and double-checking the facts".
Some things I didn't even as know as facts to be disputed in the first place, sometimes I wanted to double check his double checking (which is much easier to do now thanks to the Internet), and there were plenty of fun facts I read aloud.
A small point of contention as a non-religious person...there were some religious items (like what day Jesus was born or how many animals Noah took aboard the ark) that I question if they're even "facts" at all to be included, disputed or not.
This would be a good book for the bathroom (again, remembering a time before phones were a distraction on the toilet).
Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com
Some things I didn't even as know as facts to be disputed in the first place, sometimes I wanted to double check his double checking (which is much easier to do now thanks to the Internet), and there were plenty of fun facts I read aloud.
A small point of contention as a non-religious person...there were some religious items (like what day Jesus was born or how many animals Noah took aboard the ark) that I question if they're even "facts" at all to be included, disputed or not.
This would be a good book for the bathroom (again, remembering a time before phones were a distraction on the toilet).
Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com
March 24, 2011
I picked this book up as a stocking stuffer and ended up reading it myself. It is a collection of various facts that are commonly held to be true, when many of them are in fact incorrect. Some examples are the rumor that Adolph Hitler used to make a living painting houses and hanging wallpaper, SOS does not in fact stand for Save Our Ship, strawberries are not in fact strawberries, and George Washington wasn't the first president following the Revolutionary War. Some of the information provided was very interesting, while some of the other false facts inclusion didn't make sense to me as I thought it was common knowledge (for example that the swastika was not created by Hitler - I thought by now that everyone knew it is a Norse rune).
April 25, 2014
Quite fun! Not a deep read--one of those quick flippers that add a smile to the day. Here are some of the gems:
*SOS does not stand for Save Our Ship--it actually is a matter of three dots and three days signaling "mayday"
*The Grimm Brothers compiled fairy tales--they did not write original ones
*Misquoted line example: from Hamlet it's actually: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio."
*Mistaken inventions: the Egyptians invented papyrus, not paper
*Historical mis-facts: Mrs O'Leary's cow did not start the Great Chicago Fire
*SOS does not stand for Save Our Ship--it actually is a matter of three dots and three days signaling "mayday"
*The Grimm Brothers compiled fairy tales--they did not write original ones
*Misquoted line example: from Hamlet it's actually: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio."
*Mistaken inventions: the Egyptians invented papyrus, not paper
*Historical mis-facts: Mrs O'Leary's cow did not start the Great Chicago Fire
March 4, 2010
Jesus was not born on December 25:
In 336 C.E., the Western Church decided to celebrate December 25 as Jesus's birthday (officially adopted by Bishop Liberius of Rome in 354 C.E.), to usurp the popular Roman pagan feast of Natalis Solis Invicti ("birthday of the unconquerable sun"), honoring the Persian sun god Mithras.
The island of Atlantis did not sink into the ocean:
Plato's most famous student, Aristotle, said only one thing about Atlantis: "He who invented it also destroyed it."
In 336 C.E., the Western Church decided to celebrate December 25 as Jesus's birthday (officially adopted by Bishop Liberius of Rome in 354 C.E.), to usurp the popular Roman pagan feast of Natalis Solis Invicti ("birthday of the unconquerable sun"), honoring the Persian sun god Mithras.
The island of Atlantis did not sink into the ocean:
Plato's most famous student, Aristotle, said only one thing about Atlantis: "He who invented it also destroyed it."
October 14, 2011
This book could stir up quite a conversation amongst firm believers and skeptics of some the most factual materials in history.
Its a book that was written to disturb the quiet peace of our world. The book is a shit-disturber to say the very least, while I liked learning this new perspective, I still stick to my guns and fall in with everyone else who wishes to stick with the stuff we were taught growing up. I will stick with popular belief on most of the stuff brought to light in this book.
Its a book that was written to disturb the quiet peace of our world. The book is a shit-disturber to say the very least, while I liked learning this new perspective, I still stick to my guns and fall in with everyone else who wishes to stick with the stuff we were taught growing up. I will stick with popular belief on most of the stuff brought to light in this book.
July 12, 2016
B., age 10, loves to pick up this book and read bits of it quite frequently. It is sometimes illuminating and often nit picky but something about it fascinates her. We found this book for free and I did edit it before handing it over to her because there are some things I wasn't ready for her to read about it (Monica Lewinsky and the stain, etc.) was one. Ew. Even I don't want to read about that.
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June 19, 2016 An Interesting book showing what we is a True Fact is actually False.
(From the Blurb on the back of the book)
>Leap year does not occur every four years.
>The ostrich does not bury its head in the sand.
>Ship captains cannot perform marriages at sea.
>Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.
>The needle on a compass does not point to the North Pole.
>And more two hundred other bits of conventional
"wisdom" that are complete bunk.
(From the Blurb on the back of the book)
>Leap year does not occur every four years.
>The ostrich does not bury its head in the sand.
>Ship captains cannot perform marriages at sea.
>Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.
>The needle on a compass does not point to the North Pole.
>And more two hundred other bits of conventional
"wisdom" that are complete bunk.
June 16, 2008
This book was ok. Some of it was interesting, some of it not so much. I think the problem was that it much of it was very American and so I hadn't heard the 'popular-belief' side of the story! I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I was living in the U.S. There were some interesting facts in there that most people would relate to, but there just wasn't enough to keep me interested.
December 25, 2012
Just got this today as a stocking stuffer. I am a history buff and also enjoy random trivia (though don't expect to see me on Jeopardy anytime soon!) so I thought this was neat. Most of the myths presented here have already been debunked so this isn't that original. Still, it's a quick and fun read. Perfect for showing off at parties.
December 9, 2014
I love books like this that delve into the greater detail of our collective misunderstandings. There is usually much more to the story than what is commonly accepted and believed. There are a few “facts” in here that I would challenge but other than that, it is highly entertaining and informative.
August 10, 2015
I liked learning the facts behind a lot of things I thought were true, but some of the section headings were misleading (ex: stating that Leonardo da Vinci didn't paint the Mona Lisa sounds like someone else painted it, but then the author goes on to explain that the actual title of the painting is La Gioconda).
October 31, 2008
Great little book to read while waiting in line or simply for fun. So many facts we have always believed to be true turn out to be untrue. This one is a good time. Even if you are of superior intelligence, there is bound to be a few snippets in here, that make you say" I didn't know that."
July 7, 2009
A cute book with over 250 "did you know facts" about things you though you knew but didn't.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews