By Terri Schlichenmeyer
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Well, whaddaya know?
Whatever it is, you can’t wait to tell somebody because what’s the fun in having something juicy on your mind and not sharing it? It’s on the tip of your tongue, tickling your brain, ready to be told. Whaddaya know? Plenty, when you have this season’s best trivia books.
Since you probably can’t go far this winter, two of this years’ fun-fact books are must-haves.
First, “A Walk Around the Block” by Spike Carlsen will make you look at the little things that surround you on your evening stroll tonight. From pigeons to lawns to telephone polls to your street and your own two feet, this book offers hidden-in-plain-sight surprises behind things in your neighborhood that you’ve seen dozens and dozens of times but probably never really noticed before. This book is going to make you observe your world differently, which will lessen your stuck-at-home boredom.
And while you’re on the subject, look for “The 99% Invisible City” by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, which takes things deeper. Here, Mars and Kohlstedt take a look at why cities are designed as they are, in subject matters as widely diverse as drinking fountains and how they came to be, who invented the lines in the middle of roads, why we keep trying to perfect the lock, and why some large cities have “zero markers.”
The Carlsen book will make you start paying attention; the Mars-Kohlstedt book will make you know more about what you’re looking at.
On a side-subject, “Plasticus Maritimus” by Ana Pȇgo, Bernardo P. Carvalho, and Isabel Minhós Martins is a different kind of place-book, set in the ocean. Here, you’ll learn about the solid pollutants that float in our waters – biologist Pȇgo has named it Plasticus maritmus” – where it came from, how it affects the environment, how long each kind of pollutant will take to degrade (if it even can degrade), and what can be done about it at a personal level. This is a lively, informative, but also rather scary book that you can absolutely share with your 12-year-old, as well as with a like-minded friend or parent.
Speaking of scary, fans of the little-known must check out “Cursed Objects” by J.W. Ocker. It’s for the trivia lover who craves creepy-cool stories, like the one about the curse of Tutankhamen, reasons why you shouldn’t do anything knuckleheaded in a graveyard, creepy doll tales, why you shouldn’t plop your behind in just any old chair, and why you should never wear old jewelry if you don’t know its backstory. There’s also a chapter on surprising things that aren’t cursed, and why. This is more than just ghost stories, more interesting than hair-raising.
The time between now and the holidays always brings on a bumper crop of trivia books and books filled with little-known facts, and the best part is that they’re very much browse-able, meant for opening and closing with ease, and picking and choosing your topics on the fly. So whaddaya know?
You know you need these books.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. She has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. Terri lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.
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