Reviews (6)

A little racy
I would give this 5 stars, except that I was a bit surprised when I read some entries pertaining to sex. There is another version of Zobmondo that is supposed to be dirty, so I guess I figured this version would be clean. All in all, it's a great way to encourage the art of discussion, even if it encourages a discussion of the merits of eating live rodents' body parts.

Zobmondo!Great Campfire discussions!
I got this book from my querky sister...Now I'm the querky sister!What great entertainment this turned out with our weenend camping trips.Makes for great discussions and very thought provoking.Interestingly enough, although conversations about the choices were loud and long, no one got angry or upset, just good laughs and a lot of fun. (could even fun for kids when some censorship is used!ha!) Recommend this book for anyone who likes to entertain -- just as fun as MAD-LIBs but without the pencils.

Pretty cool
...It's definetly better to ask the questions to your friends, you get a much better response. Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities and wonders    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. General    6. Humor    7. Questions & Answers    8. Games / General    9. Indoor games    10. Puzzles & quizzes   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (9)

Nice illustrations, weak story
We (kids and parents) loved Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but no one was really impressed with the story. We spend more time just checking out the neat illustrations than reading the text.

Nice sequal to an AMAZING book
YOu must own Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs...please go buy that...then if you love that, you can get this book - which is a really nice sequal..
Excellent Book
This book was a good sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bedtime & Dreams    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Children: Kindergarten    4. Fiction    5. Food    6. Grandfathers    7. Humorous Stories    8. Juvenile Fiction    9. Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic    10. Weather    11. Juvenile Nonfiction / Curiosities & Wonders   

Reviews (55)

Interesting and informative
Mongello is a long time Disney World fan who has written a trivia book that will give the reader a lot of information that the typical guidebook will not. Of particualr interest to me was info on the age of some of the attractions as well as some history on popular attractions that are no longer a part of Disney World(such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mr. Toad;s Wild Ride, etc).
Walt Disney Trivia Volume I
Awesome Book !! Loved it, could not put it down.Need a Volume 3.

You only think you've been to WDW
Without ruining the magic, Lou Mongello shows you some of the touches that makes Disney World special. Written in question form with mulitple guess answers, you read through and decide for yourself how observant you are...or not.The answers are in a separate part of the book with explainations of the correct answer. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Miscellanea    3. Transportation    4. Travel - United States    5. Trivia    6. United States - South Atlantic - Florida    7. Walt Disney World (Fla.)    8. Transportation / General   

Reviews (1)

A Visual Learning Experience
I've been a fan of the DK Oxford Illustrated American Dictionary for a few years now. The DK Ultimate Visual Dictionary is the next step. It is not a dictionary in which the words are organized with pictures in alphabetical order. However, you can look up the words and find the corresponding page numbers, so finding words is relatively easy.
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Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Dictionaries - General    3. Dictionaries - Synonyms/Antonyms    4. Picture dictionaries, English    5. Reference    6. Reference / Dictionaries   

Reviews (9)

Not much use for crosswords
I bought this in the hopes it would be a good reference for solving crossword puzzles. Well, I have never once found what I needed in this book. So this is a warning to others: the trivia in it is not useful for crosswords. Since the book may be good for other things, just not what I bought it for, I gave it 2 stars. To me it's worth zero.

could be a usefull resorce
lots of info, if you are a trivia fan : this is your book

Good for pop culture, but has some errors
I bought this to study for a Jeopardy try out.While it is very heavy on events and people from the last 100-150 years, it does lack in more historical trivia.Definitely a nice book, but not a definitive resource for all around trivia.Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities and wonders    2. Encyclopedias    3. Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc    4. Questions and answers    5. Reference    6. Trivia    7. Encyclopaedias & Reference Works    8. Reference / Trivia    9. Trivia & quiz question books   

Reviews (4)

Answering life's deeper questions...
The Imponderables book series by David Feldman is the pinnacle of interesting and useful bathroom reading! Since the beginning of the series, Feldman has been highlighting questions that we didn't even know we had (like exactly why is it that a mile is 5,280 feet? and where is Donald Duck's brother?) then he finds "the experts" on any given subject to answer the question. At the end of each question and answer, you are left with a little better insight into the world around you (and you can go out and impress your friends with an expanded catalog of obscure anecdotes). How Does it Know it's Not my Toe?
Here's another installment of the"Imponderables�" series, which, the jacket explains, find the answers to the conundrums over which, whether you realize it or not, you have been obsessing since your very beginning. Such as: a blast to read and share with others
All of Feldman's "Why Do" books are a blast. You cannot help but read them out loud to who ever is listening. Alot of fun for older kids. He even asks for help solving some of the unsolved questions. And he acceptsquestions for future books.Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Curiosities and wonders    3. Encyclopedias    4. Games/Puzzles    5. Questions and answers    6. Reference    7. Trivia    8. Wonders And Curiosities    9. Games / Trivia   

Reviews (11)

A Fun Read
This is a good book that reveals some interesting facts about the Civil War. The writing is very upbeat and tantalizing.This book has been around for some time. It is good to know that you can still get it.
Fun to read but be warned...
...you had better be up on your Civil War basics before attempting to read this book. It assumes that the reader is well aware of the main battles, campaigns, personalities and relative strengths and weaknesses of both the North and the South.
A little disapointing
As an avid reader of Civil War material, I was hoping for a little more from this - not sure what my expectations were going in, but there was not enough new information to make the purchase seem worthwhile.This book probably suits the average "buff" who is seeking to broaden their general knowledge of some less well known facts.
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Subjects:  1. 1861-1865, Civil War    2. Anecdotes    3. Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc    4. Civil War, 1861-1865    5. History    6. History - Military / War    7. History: American    8. Military - United States    9. Trivia    10. United States    11. United States - Civil War    12. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    13. History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)    14. USA    15. Sale Books   

Reviews (10)

Marshall Brain's How Stuff Works
I ordered 2 for a great price and both where in near mint condition. I would definitely buy again.

Ok could be better
Generally a really good book, although the transition from the website to book is not exactly the most smooth one. It feels like a lot of the good stuff is lost, and it doesn't really seem like the same quality as on the website. Good ideas, bad editing
Overall this is a good book, filled with all kinds of interesting information. However, I felt that the level of editing polish was poor. Typos and illustration errors are frequent, and the writing style is uneven and awkward at times. It's also clear that the authors of each article did not read the other articles, because the same information is sometimes redundantly discussed in two or three separate articles. What's worst, though, is the number of outright factual errors: a proton does not have neutral charge, the abbreviation for microseconds is not ms, etc. My advice is to wait for the second edition, or buy one of the many similar books from other publishers instead. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. General    3. Inventions    4. Popular works    5. Reference    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. Popular science    10. Science / General    11. Technology: General Issues   

Reviews (4)

Goldfish Tanks and Waterfalls
Q: Of the word's tallest waterfalls, five out of ten are in which country?
Second Edition - more interesting trivia
Like the prior edition this book contains a collection of trivia questions and answers that center around world culture, politics and geography.As such it is not only interesting but also educational.So many trivia books contain such obscure information that it has no value other than as a trivia question.That is not the case with either the first or the second edition of this book."World Trivia", second edition is a complete rewrite that contains none of the questions of the first edition.Michael Smith again tackles one of the most difficult areas of trivia because culture, politics and many aspects of geography are in a state of constant flux.So, while the trivia questions and answers are accurate today, within a few years many of them may not be.With well-chosen educational and truly interesting questions the book is a recommended purchase.

Entertaining, but too short
"World Trivia" is a small book filled with trivia questions from around the world.Each page has a single question with the answer on the reverse.It contains an excellent selection of questions that I found genuinely interesting, however, with only one question on a page it contains only just over 130 questions.It would have been nice if there were two or three questions per page.Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Multicultural Nonfiction    3. Questions and answers    4. Reference    5. Trivia    6. General encyclopaedias    7. Trivia & quiz question books   

Reviews (13)

Cute - but sometimes left you wanting more
I found this really interesting to read; however, many of the answers seemed not enough.Filled my head with lots of useless trivia none the less.

Answering life's deeper questions...
The Imponderables book series by David Feldman is the pinnacle of interesting and useful bathroom reading! Since the beginning of the series, Feldman has been highlighting questions that we didn't even know we had (like exactly why is it that a mile is 5,280 feet? and where is Donald Duck's brother?) then he finds "the experts" on any given subject to answer the question. At the end of each question and answer, you are left with a little better insight into the world around you (and you can go out and impress your friends with an expanded catalog of obscure anecdotes). 239 "why's" answered
This book is a lot of fun and it is possible to actually have some thing in it tat you did not know. However the statements or answers are limited in scope requiring you to do further research to flesh out the answer. The answers are given by contributors, not Davis Feldman. So we must rely of the credibility of the contributor. Again because of the limited answer the contributor does not feel compelled to back you the reason for the statement.
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Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Reference    3. Trivia    4. Reference / Curiosities & Wonders   

Reviews (6)

Batroom Reader Should Make Space In Your Bathroom!
The Biggest Bathroom Reader Ever is a great book for adults who feel like they can never accomplish reading because the book is big. Well, okay the book is huge but the articles are only 3 to 4 pages long. The things are really humorous and inquisitive. For example, on page 530 it says that the country of Brazil was named after the Brazil nut. Some of the articles titles are Brand Names, Who Cracked The Liberty Bell?, Diner Lingo, and
Makes you a little more interesting.
If you aren't very smart, don't know how to start a conversation, or better yet take a long time in the bathroom you need this book. It is filled with facts that you want to know not facts that you could care less about (not completely true since there are some stupid stuff but you aren't forced to read it). Did you know that more people have seen David Copperfield perform live than any other performer in the world. Or did you know that blue birds cannot see the color blue. Give this book a try. I love this book because knowing random stuff is always good to know.

Excellent book
Great great book with tons of fun facts, stories, and pieces of interesting, odd, and useful information. An interesting read for any age. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American wit and humor    2. Curiosities and wonders    3. General    4. Humor    5. Sale Books   

Reviews (11)

Fun Info
I love all the trivia available in this book. A great price for a fun, fact filled book. The only drawback is the layout. It could be improved.

The Big Book of American Trivia
I use this book for work at a nursing home. I use it to ask trivia questions of residents. It has a good variety of trivia questions and lots of good hints.

Fun Book, Great for Car Trips
Call me old-fashioned, but we don't have a TV in our van, so our kids have to actually converse or play games on the road, and this book saw us through a long trip this summer around Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.The thing that makes the book fun is that it is (pardon the pun) all over the map, with series of questions about entertainment, politics, geography, food and drink, others too numerous to list.My kids and I just enjoyed skipping around from one section to another, quizzing each other.Whenever we crossed a state line we went to the section of the book that has a set of 20 questions for each state, which is a neat feature. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Reference    2. Trivia   

Reviews (5)

Great fun
Our book club is an eclectic bunch if nothing. We read everything from the current bestsellers ("Bark of the Dogwood") to self-help books ("Seven Habits"). So it came as no surprise that we picked this one, especially after we all admitted we thought we were lacking in some of the upstairs areas. For years I've harbored fears about what I "didn't know."And this is not some stuffy book full of dry facts--it's well done and quite easy to read.This would make a nice gift, especially for someone in their teens.

Bathroom reading?
This book has a charming cover and wonderful printing. It makes a nice gift for young people (they'll probably keep it in the bathroom?). Ms. Padwa's writing style is engaging. In the introduction she says that although this book is not thorough, it "has the facts you need to hold your head high" -- that said, I was disappointed to read a few misguided "facts" within the book.Perhaps this is because she admitted to poring over books and articles but did not mention any conversations with actual people. And, with the number of contradictory books and articles on every subject, this method would have to produce somewhat flawed results. The flaws are annoying but forgivable, and since she writes as if she is having a pleasant conversation, I still open the book to random pages and read a bit from time to time.

Neither a dictionary nor the Word of God. . .
This book doesn't pretend to be the end all be all of knowledge compedia. It's a relatively humorous look at some of the things that you may have fudged on in the passed and hoped you wouldn't get caught on. Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias (Multi-Subject)    2. Questions & Answers    3. Questions and answers    4. Reference    5. Vocabulary    6. General encyclopaedias    7. Reference / Trivia   

Editorial Review

Mathew Reilly's

Reviews (77)

Very Poor Writing Mechanics...
Just finished this read and I am still wondering why.It started out well enough; the story idea was original and interesting, but I should have figured it out when the "Indiana Jones stuff" started. The writing FOR THESE EXCITING PARTS WERE BIT OVERDONE!!!!And then we are back to normal again, NO WAIT!SOMETHING EVEN MORE EXCITING AND LESS PROBABLE IS HAPPENING NOW!!!!Anyhow, I felt my 8th grader could have probably written this book.So I had nothing more to read and I continued.I should have stopped, because as you know if you have read the other reviews... the Davinci Code junk started.What a load!Jesus is now gay?Couldn't come up with a variation of those gnostic views huh?So lets make some stuff up and cause a controversy so we can sell books.I really hate to tell you Mr. Reilly but thats not a new idea either. Very low quality read, in other words don't waste the time reading this when you can watch paint dry, water boil, or even watch a cake bake.And if you are a late night reader as I am you would be better off going to sleep.

Dilemma

Not worth the paper it's printed on
It seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to capitalize on the success of the Da Vinci Code. And just in case you missed it, there are several references too! The plot is wafer thin....who on earth would expend money and effort to simply chase a 4000-year old dream? All situations seemed to be too easily contrived and coincidental. Traps built several thousand years ago continue to work with the efficiency of a Swiss watch. Reilly thinks he's writing to a bunch of school kids.....exclamations, sound effects and hyphenated actions abound! Too obviously, the protagonists (Lily and West) have genius-level IQs and crack codes like you and I would crack our knuckles. The heroes have unfettered access to almost everything. Save yourself money and time .... stay away from this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure    2. Architecture, Ancient    3. Australian Novel And Short Story    4. Curiosities and wonders    5. Fiction    6. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    7. Seven Wonders of the World    8. Thrillers    9. Fiction / General   

Reviews (27)

Reality of the Unicorn
This gorgeous book is one of the finest unicorn books I own. It has great pictures and lots of unicorn details and a unicorn searching guide. It is worth buying if you like unicorns or photography. It is worth getting Unicorn of Kilimanjaro or the Calendar if you can find them as well. It is on my list of favorite all time books, and i see a lot of them as i work at a bookstore. By this if you or someone you love likes unicorns and give the gift of magic.

Beautiful, enchanting, full of dreams
I first encountered this book when I was very young.I asked my local library to buy it and they did; and I kept checking it out again and again.Owning this book now is like looking back into my own childhood, at the dreams and the wonder I had for the world.It's beautiful pictures and startling art has never faded for me over time.

Unicorns....As they should be.......................
This book by Robert Vavra portrays the unicorns as how they are. Peaceful, intimate, distant, yet very close. The only difference between the images in this book and the rat race that life is somehow pushed into, is the lucid dream state of mind that is turned on when reading this book. It will bring you there. A very thorough, and colorful view into the unicorns themselves. The question might be raised whether they are real or not,...........but after viewing the pictures, your mind will wander to a place of mossy lichens, willow trees, and cushion plants, and georgous animals that mystify.,.. A very good book that everyone from children to the elderly will adore. It has one particular image that caught my eye more than the others; It was the picture at sunset with the whole group of unicorns on the beach,...........simply breathtaking.......This book will enlighten all who view it. Peace,.........Onepath ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Folklore & Mythology    2. Individual Photographer    3. Individual Photographers And Their Work    4. Nature & Wildlife    5. Photo Essays    6. Photography    7. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    8. Unicorns    9. Wonders And Curiosities   

Reviews (30)

Wonderful and Witty
A wonderful, witty, clever collection of knowledge that everyone should add to their repertoire. The book is presented in a smart, informative and humorous way that keeps you turning the page looking for more. Whether you are looking to impress others or just stimulate your own brain cells this book is for you.

You need this book!
I kept picking this book up when I saw it on display in a bookstore. Now I have it. It'll make you laugh and make you think... sometimes of how stupidyou sound, sometimes how smart you seem. Pick it up for yourself, for your socially inept friends, or just for the hell of it. You'll be glad you did.

Just what I needed
I love this book.I picked it up because it looked funny but it actually does the job.I love how it breaks things down so that anyone can understand.I highly recommend this book for anyone who doesn't want to spend their days poring over history books. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities and wonders    2. Interpersonal communication    3. Miscellanea    4. Reference    5. Reference And Information Services    6. Trivia    7. Reference / Trivia   

Subjects:  1. Calendar    2. Calendars & Diaries    3. Non-Classifiable    4. Trivia    5. Games / Trivia   

Reviews (6)

great for teen boy
This was a great gift for my teenage boy who asks a million questions about all sorts of things!

This is not "Imponderables Ten". It's book one under a new title.

It's not a new book, just a new title!
Ok, let me say this- the IMPONDERABLES series of books, by David Feldman, is a great series. They offer answers to many of Life's odd question, the one you ponder over, but can't just look up somewhere.Well, until now.
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Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Form - Essays    3. General    4. Humor    5. Questions & Answers    6. Questions and answers    7. Reference    8. Humor / General   

Reviews (2)

Capturing English idiom in the wild: Red Herrings and White Elephants
This book explores the origin of common phrases used in every day speech.
So that's where that saying comes from
I find these stories about expressions we use, like giving someone the whole nine yards, absolutely fascinating, and this book has hundreds of them, usefully organized.I even like paging through it for fifteen minutes before going to sleep, like having bite sized short stories.Great source for cocktail party conversation, and might make you seem very learned indeed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. English Etymology    2. English Language History    3. English language    4. Etymology    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Linguistics    8. Reference    9. Terms and phrases    10. Trivia    11. Reference / General   

Reviews (13)

Most People Will Like This Book
I especially like the machinery and sports because it has a lot of information about breaking records.The only thing I don't like is there is only a little bit about each subject.

My daughter loved it!
My 10 year old daughter loved the book! She was amazed at all the facts and photos.Great gift for anyone!

Staying cool
All my kindergartner friends got this for Christmas so now I have one and can look at the neat records. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Curiosities and wonders    3. Reference    4. Trivia    5. Wonders And Curiosities    6. Reference / General