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The Ultimate Irrelevant Encyclopaedia
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 13, 2010
Well, at first opening I have to say I've learned all sorts of things.
Glasgow: See pornography.
Incest: Pyemotis mites are born in a state of full sexual maturity. A newly born girl mite is likely to be pounced on immediately by one of her brothers.
Lust: The male Australian marsupial mole, Antichinus stuarti, is doomed to die of lust. This little digger has only a four-day mating season, after which all the males then die from excessive hormone levels caused by copulation.
The person who owned the copy I'm looking at went through it all ticking things:
Female whales have nipples on their backs: tick.
Sex is a remedy for bad eyesight, insanity and melancholia: tick.
GB Shaw was a virgin until he was 29: tick.
Tennyson ditto until he was 41: tick.
Left and right shoes were invented in 1850: tick.
Chinooks think flat skulls are beautiful: tick.
Rats survive longer without water or tea than camels: tick
He puts a cross next to the definition of Clinophobia as fear of beds. When I looked it up elsewhere it seems to be fear of going to bed, which I guess is quite a different thing.
I'd say too pedantic for words, the guy who owned this. Didn't he get it was supposed to be funny?!
I'm told Bill's books are really funny. This one isn't. In fact given that the other edition mentioned on goodreads - I had to enter this one myself - has only Dawson named as author, perhaps he lent his name to this without adding any of his own wit.
All up I'd say:
Dud: See The Ultimate Irrelevant Encylopaedia
Glasgow: See pornography.
Incest: Pyemotis mites are born in a state of full sexual maturity. A newly born girl mite is likely to be pounced on immediately by one of her brothers.
Lust: The male Australian marsupial mole, Antichinus stuarti, is doomed to die of lust. This little digger has only a four-day mating season, after which all the males then die from excessive hormone levels caused by copulation.
The person who owned the copy I'm looking at went through it all ticking things:
Female whales have nipples on their backs: tick.
Sex is a remedy for bad eyesight, insanity and melancholia: tick.
GB Shaw was a virgin until he was 29: tick.
Tennyson ditto until he was 41: tick.
Left and right shoes were invented in 1850: tick.
Chinooks think flat skulls are beautiful: tick.
Rats survive longer without water or tea than camels: tick
He puts a cross next to the definition of Clinophobia as fear of beds. When I looked it up elsewhere it seems to be fear of going to bed, which I guess is quite a different thing.
I'd say too pedantic for words, the guy who owned this. Didn't he get it was supposed to be funny?!
I'm told Bill's books are really funny. This one isn't. In fact given that the other edition mentioned on goodreads - I had to enter this one myself - has only Dawson named as author, perhaps he lent his name to this without adding any of his own wit.
All up I'd say:
Dud: See The Ultimate Irrelevant Encylopaedia
Displaying 1 of 1 review