(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best trivia & fun facts books

This is totally awesome...seems to be things you can access for little to no money, but then again...I don't know London! Lol

In the travel theme

Thanks for the contest! Have fun! :) <3

Alien Hand Syndrome makes for some pretty good reading. It's just a whole bunch of obscure stories, each about 3-4 pages in length. Another good book that is similar is Forbidden Knowledge by mental_floss.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. The writing is so good you won't care about the squeamish content.

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum. A perfect blend of a historical retelling and science.

A Treasury of Deception by Michael Farguhar.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks. Short stories of the mentally abnormal patients of Sacks.

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Taylor. Very good insight on what it is like to live with, and recover from brain damage. Also talks science about parts of the brain as a nice intro to the subject.

Mutants: On Genetic Variety in the Human Body by Armand Leroi.

And of course,
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

Yes, and it has been done. For example, the Merory formulation is said to be very close to the actual composition of Coca Cola- for which there have been a number of reconstructions.

Poundstone discusses the formulation for KFC in his Big Secrets book, and I think it's his Bigger Secrets that discusses Coke's formulation.

Due to some "capture" of an employee early in the history of the respective companies, Pepsi almost certainly knows the precise formulation for Coke. Otherwise, it is possible to chemically and microscopically reverse-engineer the formulation of many food products. For example, the "secret recipe" for KFC can be examined by microscope and Fourier-transform infrared microscopy to determine the composition of individual particles. (The guys at McCrone are said to be some of the best when it comes to microscopy; old man McCrone used to have its microscopists study samples from anything from elephant dung to beach sand in order to broaden their knowledge base.)

Chemical analysis using chromatography can help determine unknowns (using mass spec) and deformulate products so knockoffs can be produced in order to determine similarities to existing products.

Also note that many companies have labs to determine if knockoff products violate any patents. My understanding is that Procter and Gamble has a vast analytical lab to do just that. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal a few years back noting the major ink producers for bubblejet printers did the same thing.

Indiana

There's a lot of unique food

• Chili con carne with spaghetti noodles and oyster crackers
  
• Nacho cheese dip for bread sticks
  
• Fried biscuits and apple butter
  
• Sugar cream pie
  
• Pork tenderloin sandwiches
  
• Brain sandwich (was once common; now limited to Evansville)
  
  But there's also
  
  
• Racing capital of the world (not just Indycar, though the Speedway has about 350,000 people on race day)
  
• Everything in the book Weird Indiana
  
• German/Austrian style courthouses (probably not just an Indiana thing, but definitely a Midwestern thing)
  
• Basketball goals in driveways all over the place
  
• Holiday World
  
• Santa Claus, Indiana (fyi anyone can send their kid's Xmas wish lists to Santa Claus and some volunteer will respond)
  
• Roundabout capital of the western hemisphere (Carmel, IN)

Oh this sounds fun! I am totally stocking this thread for ideas to add to my wishlist!

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I found a bunch of book themed candles that I am really excited about Bookstore scented candle

This just looks like a fun book! and because everyone needs some organization

There's a book you should check out:
Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds by Jerome Clark.

Mt. Shasta is mentioned quite a few times in there. I have no experience personally, but it could be a nice way to find some info for your documentary.

edit: Here's a link in case you're interested in reading. It's interesting stuff. https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Realms-Civilizations-Beings-Worlds/dp/1578591759/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1479022255&sr=8-4&keywords=jerome+clark

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bedside-Baccalaureate-Knowledge-Intellectuals/dp/1402756321/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377476066&sr=8-1&keywords=bedside+baccalaureate

The Bedside Baccalaureate; a book with a bunch of completely historical knowledge, tidbits of knowledge, and random facts. Great for brushing up on interesting things when you've got nothing better to do. If she's a genius then she'll have fun reading through and seeing how many of the things she knows. There's a few books in the series.

I think you need to get him this calendar so he can plan out what awesome cards he wants to make for certain days. That will probably serve as a good motivator.

What about something like This When you think positive, good things happen

I got this book in high school, really enjoyed it:


Chance: A Guide to Gambling, Love, the Stock Market, and Just About Everything Else by Amir D. Aczel

This book might be of interest to you. I certainly enjoyed it.

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleons-Hemorrhoids-Other-Events-Changed/dp/078583026X

Check out the book Secret St. Louis by David Baughner.

He was on StlPublicRadio a few months ago promoting it and it was all pretty neat stuff that I had never heard of.

Maybe this one?


Dorling Kindersely has the credit for the Getty Images that myself and the other commenter mentioned so I feel that that's your best bet on finding the book.

oh my gawd
for historical knowledge which better book than the guinnes book of world records. for 1492 yes you heard em right.
this is the best book u can get ..
http://www.amazon.com/Guinness-Book-Records-1492-Hundred/dp/0816027722

please, believe me. haha when u read it u will shit bricks on people with less facts up there ass than u do.

If you like that, you'll love this. http://www.amazon.com/Goodenoughs-Home-Cures-Herbal-Remedies/dp/0517362430

Drive. There are so many things to see along the way. Get a few of those travel books (not the stuffy ones, the fun, interesting ones), and you'll have so much to do and see you may never make it back!

Michigan Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff

100 Things to Do in the Upper Peninsula Before You Die

There is a book somewhere out there titled "what did we use before toilet paper" That answers this question and many more. here

Depending where and when, some cultures used a certain hand (and that is somethings the origin of the rude to eat with a certain hand thing in some countries) The book also states that french aristocrats used lace.

So just like a regular notebook works for you? So something like this??

Read articles written by educated people, anyone can write a blog. Read articles and books about grammar and linguistics. There are a lot of fun little books about forgotten or rare words. This book, for example. Also, you have to make a conscious effort to change the way you speak and write without being self-conscious about it "sounding weird." The only way that our language will improve, or at least not deteriorate, is if we pay attention to how we speak and avoid laziness. "Oh, you know what I meant!" No, I know what you said. We have a language that allows us to be very precise and we should make good use of it.

Here's my item

Truthfully, the last thing I licked was my boyfriend.

I found it in a book that I highly recommend if you like... weird words

https://www.amazon.com/Weird-Wonderful-Words-Erin-McKean/dp/0195159055/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484108983&sr=8-1&keywords=weird+and+wonderful+words

This book. That's about it really.