The Uncyclopedia

by Gideon Haigh

Make way for this defiantly idiosyncratic, hilariously illuminating compendium of curiosities you never knew you wanted to know! How do you flirt in Turkish? How do you dump someone in Japanese? What are the names of all the animals ever sent into space? These are just some of the fun and insightful oddities that made Gideon Haigh's The Uncyclopedia a hit overseas. The first ever encyclopedia for the curious, The Uncyclopedia is a compendium of illuminating knowledge and a delight for all inquisitive readers. As proved by Schott's Original Miscellany and the enormous rise in popularity of quiz and trivia nights, arcane knowledge and non-essential facts have never been so popular. At last in one convenient volume, everything for knowledge-hungry --Lists of Norse gods
--Suicide notes of the famous
--All anyone needs to know about
--How to toast in 10 languages?
--A list of all the men to walk on the moon
--Twenty Latin mottoes
--Fortune-telling techniques Neither trivial nor essential, yet always engaging and illuminating, The Uncyclopedia is the reference book referred to purely for the purposes of amusement -- and readers just can't put it down!

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Trivia, Humor

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Gideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist, who writes about sport (especially cricket) and business. He was born in London, raised in Geelong, and now lives in Melbourne.

Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for The Age newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for The Australian from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines,[2] both on business topics as well as on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for The Guardian during the 2006-07 Ashes series and has featured also in The Times and the Financial Times.

Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes The Cricket War and Summer Game, his biographies The Big Ship (of Warwick Armstrong) and Mystery Spinner (of Jack Iverson), the latter pronounced The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and dubbed "a classic" by The Sunday Times;[3] anthologies of his writings Ashes 2005 and Game for Anything, as well as Many a Slip, the humorous diary of a club cricket season, and The Vincibles, his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club, of which he is life member and perennate vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as The Battle for BHP, Asbestos House (which dilates the James Hardie asbestos controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the CEO phenomenon. He mostly publishes with Aurum Press.

Haigh was appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia for 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the ABC television sports panel show Offsiders. He was also a regular co-host on The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006.

Haigh has been known to be critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy".[4] He did so in a September 1998 article in Wisden Cricket Monthly, entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, writing in The Australian that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit".[4]

Haigh won the John Curtin Prize for Journalism in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2006[5] for his essay "Information Idol: How Google is making us stupid",[6] which was published in The Monthly magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by Google according to its previous degree of exposure to the status quo. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences.

He blogged on the 2009 Ashes series for The Wisden Cricketer.[7]

On 24 October 2012 he addressed the tenth Bradman Oration in Melbourne.

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2004, this is the kind of thing that would feel obsolete in the Internet age, like following a chain of whimsy on Google, except that you never find things that are quite that interesting. For dipping into every now and again, maybe ideally placed in the smallest room in the house...

[Dayle Kalve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this from Brotherhood Books in preparation for Covid 19 social isolation. Reading it was as if I was spending the time with a very smart, funny, entertaining, but slightly annoying, younger brother.

It is an excellent little book. It would have been perfect in every way, if during the binding process a place marker ribbon had been included. It deserves a place marker ribbon.

I wonder if place marker ribbons have a special name? I am sure Gideon would know.

[Polly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what it says on the tin, however the random fun facts were more random and less fun. Felt like it was made for Americans (probably was) with the amount of US-centric facts in some of the "chapters". Had some interesting bits here and there but not a whole lot of topics that interest me overall.

[Junemarie Brandt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that it's outdated, that's fine but some seem really old (reading of telegrams at a wedding reception?). But my biggest issue is some "facts" seem designed to take up a lot of space with little general interest.

[Amanda Witt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Facts and figures of just about everything, in no particular order.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cool.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/245373.html[return][return]lots of trivia that nobody ever wanted to know, including such joys as a complete list of US Vice-Presidents, eight fictional movie moguls featured in the works of PG Wodehouse, twelve catch-phrases from the Goon Show, and a list of the real names of various saints (including Simon Templar and Yves Saint-Laurent which is stretching it a bit). I picked up only one total error - comets go around the sun, not the earth - and a few stretched categories (Hereward the Wake wasn't royal, and Ceau_escu [properly Ceauescu] was not really assassinated).[return][return]Given my fascination with book lists, I was amused to see that the 1999 Modern Library readers' poll of the top ten books of the twentieth century included three titles by L Ron Hubbard and four by Ayn Rand! We can take it that the other three (in order, The Lord of the Rings, To Kill A Mockingbird, and 1984) did not have organised backers...[return][return]And it's not just lists. The short entries on parrhesia, the reptiles of Antarctica and the Giant Rat of Sumatra are all very pleasing; though I doubt if I will have occasion to use the phrases suggested for flirting in Turkish or dumping someone in Japanese. Recommended.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some American associations:

Benevolent and Loyal Order of Pessimists. Founded 1975. Purpose: Why bother stating it? Meets annually on April 15, the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. President recently quoted as saying: "I'm pessimistic about doomsday." Abbreviation: BLOOP. Motto: "No matter what it is, don't count on it."

Procrastinators' Club of America. Founded 1956. Purpose: Still seeking to elect first president. Made protest against War of 1812 in 1967. Abbreviation: Undecided. Motto: "We're behind you all the way."

Roman exclamations:

Quaevis numina! By whatever Gods you please! (a favorite of Ovid's)

Latin palindromes:

Si bene te tua laus taxat sua laute tenebis. If you are considered praiseworthy, you, elegant man, will keep your own property.

[widgetoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just bought this book tonight and, frankly, it's one of the most entertaining things I've ever purchased. It has all sorts of completely random information. It's a lot of fun!

Various bits I found particularly fun for example:
- how to tie various knots
- how to fold an origami swan
- a detailed list of 26 political assassinations
- the seven wonders of the world
- Morse code
- the proper names for sails on a standard three-masted ship
- Phrenology
- a list of Norse gods
- stages in a bullfight

[Simon Rindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average miscellany. Much of what's in here can be found in better compilations. Haigh is tremendous cricket fanatic and he liberally sprinkles this book with cricket trivia.
Good for stumping your bright friends at pub quizzes, or gaining an edge on Jeopardy (especially if Jeopardy has a Cricket category, eh?)

[Mr. Yazzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

These kind of books make me happy

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so fun! I actually learned some things that may come in handy later for trivia nights!

[Katelynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, at times tedious, but occasionally interesting, depending on the reader. Recommend as an odd source of information.

[Starla Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a comical book for those who love intelligence and a random collection of facts. It was like looking into the brain of an intellectual. It is funny to read - I particularly enjoyed the Turkish pick up lines and the Japanese Break up lines.