Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 stars‘Giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks as humans’ – some crazy facts!
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020
Author Bill O’Neill has authored many books on Trivia and stands as somewhat of an expert in this field! His topics include movies, football, baseball, wars, rock music, simply random trivia facts and US States. Now with a nod to providing interesting reading material while passing the time at home, Bill offers a plethora of stories that provide not only entertaining but also so educational topics – tidbits of unbelievable but true crazy nonsense that result in a wakeup jolt – followed by a guffaw!
Providing an overview of the topics of interest in this book, Bill outlines his content in the Introduction – ‘When you learn about topics like history, Shakespeare, science, and politics in high school, the problem is that quite often some of the weirdest and most interesting stories are left out of textbooks and exam papers. So you end up analyzing sonnets and monologues, instead of finding out that Shakespeare’s father was the official beer taster of Stratford upon Avon. You end up learning about the early diplomatic policies of the fledgling United States, rather than learning the story of how President John Quincy Adams once almost drowned while trying to swim across the Potomac River naked during a thunderstorm. Plus, you end up studying the Ancient Egyptians, without ever being told that Ramses III had to deal with the first labor strike in recorded history, or that pharaohs had to run around the grounds of the palaces every three yeas to prove how youthful and fit to rule they still were…What follows are some of the craziest, weirdest, funniest, wackiest, and most awesome stories that you’ll hopefully never hear before…!
Bill accompanies his crazy wild tales with near academic standards, a factor that makes the punch line of each chapter all the more pungent! Interspersed in these various subjects are Crazy Facts, such as ‘The planet Mercury is shrinking, October 20 is International Sloth Day, A group of pandas is called an embarrassment, On the average, plastic shopping bags take 1.000 years to biodegrade, The Argentine tango was traditionally danced by tow men, The Leaning Tower of Pisa started to lean while it was still being built, etc’
Not only is the book entertaining – it is also very instructive. For those familiar with Bill O’Neill’s talent for tickling the brain, this book is a must read – one of his best. For those who are simply looking for solid entertaining reading to while away the hours, welcome to the field expert! Highly recommended – especially during these times… Grady Harp, December 20
