The Trivia Quiz Book - Volume 1 - Rich Meyer

   2012; 312 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Trivia; Reference.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

   Some questions for you to ponder:

 

    1. What was the original name of the corporation known as Bank of America?

 

    153. If you count the playoffs, how many points did basketball legend Kareen Abdul-Jabbar score in his professional basketball career?

 

    171. What is the nickname of the bell in the clock tower of the London House of Parliament?

 

    180. What is the performing name of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta?

 

    301. Who was the arch-enemy of Corgi-Boy in print ads?

 

    If you’re mildly curious about the answers to these five questions, they’re given in the Comments section of this post.

 

    If you find such questions pointless and …um… trivial, you can probably skip the rest of this review.

 

    But if you’re thoroughly fascinated by such questions, and want 296 more of them, they’re all in Trivia Quiz Book – Volume 1, by Rich Meyer.  Provided you can find a copy of it, electronic or otherwise.

 

What’s To Like...

    This will be a “mini review”, since there’s only so much you can say about a book that consists of a couple hundred questions and answers.  Trivia Quiz Book – Volume 1 is just one of many quiz and trivia books compiled by Rich Meyer.  I counted 58 others listed in the appendix of this one.  Alas, only seven of them are listed at Amazon, none of which are in e-book format (as mine is), and all of them either “out of print” or ridiculously priced.

 

    There’s a nice mix of subject matter in the 301 entries, as well as a broad range of difficulty levels.  The author apparently is a veteran participant in Trivia Contests, including the “World’s Largest Trivia Contest”, held annually in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and the answer to question #97 in the book.  The questions come one per page (except for one hiccup about halfway through the book), with the answer then given on the next page, so you don’t have to worry about spoilers.

 

    Recently I’ve been participating in a weekly “Family Trivia” get-together on Zoom, where each participant is encouraged to submit one question per session.  This book is a handy resource when I can’t think of anything on my own, although some of its posers, such as question 153 above, are just too obscure for our group.  Does anyone really keep Kareem’s total points memorized?

 

    Unfortunately, it appears Amazon no longer offers Trivia Quiz Book – Volume 1.  Indeed, just about the only place I find it mentioned is at Goodreads, where it has zero ratings and zero reviews.  Has it been subsumed into one of Rich Meyer’s larger trivia compendiums?  Or is it now extinct, making my e-copy somewhat of a collector’s item?  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  n.a.: the book is not available there.

    Goodreads: n.a.: 0 ratings and 0 reviews.

 

    7 Stars.  I enjoyed Trivia Quiz Book – Volume 1, and it is serving its purpose, giving me lots of possibilities for my submissions to the family trivia meetings.  My only quibble is its brevity – 301 questions is not a lot; but I remember this being a free download, so I can’t complain about not getting my money’s worth.  I’ll probably leave an even briefer review at Goodreads, because every book listed there deserves to have at least one rating/review.

Money For Old Rope - Part 2 - Albert Jack

    2014; 345 pages.  Full Title : Money for Old Rope – The Big Book of Everything – Part 2.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Non-Fiction; Etymology; Historical Trivia.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

    Did Paul McCartney really die in the 1960’s, and have they been covering it up all these years?  Why do they call it “French Toast” if it isn’t French?  What do they mean by “drunk as a newt”?  Is there a hidden meaning to the song-&-dance “The Hoky Poky”?

    If you’re the kind of person that finds such questions fascinating (and I do), then you will find Money For Old Rope – Part 2 to be a fun read, perfect for cluttering up your mind with odd facts that will come in handy the next time you play Trivial Pursuit.

    And for that matter, just where did the British come up with that strange word/expression “Bollocks”?

What’s To Like...

    Albert Jack divides Money for Old Rope 2 into seven sections.  They are :

Ch. 1.) Favorite Phrases & Idioms

Ch. 2.) Urban Legends

Ch. 3.) Mysteries

Ch. 4.) Nursery Rhymes – Hidden Meanings

Ch. 5.) Pub Names – Secret Meanings

Ch. 6.) Fabulous Food History

Ch. 7.) Wonderful Words

    The sections felt about the optimum length for keeping the reader’s interest.  I don’t know if I can pick a favorite; each section had fascinating anecdotal tidbits.  Chapter 5, Pub Names, was a bit of a yawner, but that’s probably because I’m an American, where the closest thing we have to pubs, our bars, have nondescript names like Moe’s, Larry’s, or Curly’s.  British pub names have histories.

    Albert Jack is English, so there are lots of “Britishisms” here, which I always enjoy.  Some of them are topics, such as Toe-Rag, Mufti Day, and Moonlight Flit.  Others, such as “hoick”, are just part of the author’s everyday vocabulary.

    The topics seemed well-researched, and I didn’t see any glaring errors.  Indeed, some of the American topics seemed spot on.  There were lots of kewl incidental references as well, such as the French comic “Asterix” (and his pal, “Getafix”); Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” (which I’m kinda sorta reading right now); and my mother sod, “Berks County, Pennsylvania”.

    The writing style is adequate, but not compelling.  More on this in a bit.  There is, naturally, also a Money for Old Rope – Part 1, which I have not read.

Kewlest New Word...

Hoick (v.) : To lift or pull something abruptly, or with effort.

Others : Runcible (adj., and a nonsense word invented by Edward Lear)

Excerpts...

    Other rock and roll legends include the time Peter Grant, charismatic manager of Led Zeppelin, was checking out of a hotel in America one day and was reeling off $100 dollar bills from a huge roll of cash to pay for the damage his band and entourage had caused during their stay.  Nervously, the hotel clerk asked, “excuse me Mr Grant, but what is it like to actually through (sic) a television out of the window.”  Grant looked down at the lad and after a short pause peeled off another $300 and replied, “here you are, son, have one on us.”  (loc. 1173)

    What we call French toast is known as pain perdu (‘lost bread’) in France itself.  Like toast, it is regarded as a way of using stale (or ‘lost’) bread, slices of which are softened by being dipped in a mixture of egg, milk and sugar before being fried in butter.  In Britain, it was actually referred to as German toast until the First World War when anti-German sentiment caused it to be changed.  (...)  In a further, somewhat ironic twist, French toast briefly became known as freedom toast in America following French disapproval of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  (loc. 5241)

Kindle Details...

    Money For Old Rope – Part 2 currently sells for $3.99 at Amazon, and has a newer book cover than the one shown above.  Albert Jack has a slew of similarly-themed historical-trivia books available for the Kindle, ranging in price from $1.99 to $11.99.

  

“Odds bodkins, that’s more Blarney talk.”  (loc. 195)

    Three things mar this otherwise enjoyable book.  The first concerns the formatting, which is atrocious.  The line spacing varies for no discernible reason.  There are a bunch of links, such as:  (See Melba Toast), but they don’t actually link to anything and often the link-to topic doesn’t even exist at all.  The words in chapters 1 and 7 are in no particular order, so there is a screaming need for an Index, with active links to each topic.  I have a feeling all of this is due to the author pulling these chapters in from his various other books, but still, it’s annoying.

    The second issue is the general tone of the “asides”.  Side comments are the soul and wit of any non-fiction book, but here they are mostly negative.  At various times, Albert Jack is anti-French, anti-Aussie, anti-Politically Correct, and even anti-Posh Spice.  If you’re going to write what amounts to a reference work, you should really keep the asides witty, yet not snarky.  You lose readers otherwise.

    Finally, there is the labeling of Global Warming as an Urban Legend.  I’m sorry, but the bulk of the mainstream climatologists are firmly convinced that Global Warming exists, and is occurring at an ever-accelerating rate due to the greenhouse gases being belched into the atmosphere.  This is based on scientific evidence, not wishful thinking.  You’re allowed to disagree, and you’re even allowed to put your beliefs in a book.  But when the majority scientific opinion is that Global Warming is a reality, you can’t categorize it as an Urban Legend.

    6½ Stars.  Add 1 star if you had friends who really believed Paul McCartney died back in the 60’s.  Add another 1 star if you’re British.

Fact. Fact. Bullsh*t! - Neil Patrick Stewart

2011; 354 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Non-Fiction; Trivia.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    Do you like Trivial Pursuit?  Is there something appealing about cluttering up your mind with obscure bits of information?  More importantly, can you tell a true statement from a bunch of baloney?

    If you answered 'yes' to these three questions, then you will probably enjoy Fact. Fact.  Bullsh*t!

What's To Like...
   Neil Patrick Stewart uses a kewl template to present the trivia :  three assertions; two of which are factual, the third of which is bullsh*t.  The phony answers are well-crafted.  I kept looking for a pattern that would give them away, and didn't find any.

    There are seven chapters : Animals, Pop Culture, Food, Dead People ("History"), Science, Sports & Games, and Miscellaneous.  Using chapters lends a nice order to the book.  I liked it better than just random entries.  They were just the right length, as was the book as a whole.

    The writing is witty; the author usually adds some more bits of trivia while giving you the answer.  And there's a couple pictures to break up the monotony of the text.

Excerpt... (a sample question; spot the BS; answer in comments)

LOL!

1. Expressions such as "LOL" (an acronym for "laughing out loud") has (sic) been proven to be beneficial for e-communication: A study at the University of Tasmania found that using Internet shorthand is twice as efficient for both sender and reader.

2. LOL is an airport in Nevada.  Lol is a place in France.  Lolol is a town in Chile.  "Lol" Tolhurst was the first drummer for the English band The Cure.

3. The French equivelent of "LOL" is "MDR."  Coincidentally, lol is a real word in both Welsh and Dutch, meaning "nonsense" and "fun," respectively.

Kindle Details...
    I got the book as a limited-time free-download at Amazon.  It is now selling for $8.93, and is #4/#5 in various "paid" categories there.  It's also available as a paperback for $11.16

Everyone's an Expert...
   There are a few typos and errors.  The Fact/Bullsh*t answer designations on the Marie Curie question were reversed.  And the Thomas Jefferson one was both wrong and spurious.  It almost seemed like it was a red herring, but I can't see a purpose for that.

   The only suggestion I can make is for the author to list his sources.  But, instead of at the rear of the book, how about online somewhere?  It would be a convenient resource.  Most of us, of course, wouldn't use it.  But the nit-pickers could have a field day.

    8 Stars.  Fact. Fact. Bullsh*t! is a fun, light, easy-to-read book.  I read it as I would an anthology - a few nibbles at a time. It never got tedious.