The Book of Facts and Trivia: American History

Book reviewer Teri Schlichenmeyer displays her funny bone while assembling a range on anecdotes from American history as she seeks to amuse her readers with once forgotten documented lore. Having a penchant for names beginning with the tenth alphabet letter, there is an emphasis on items that include the label of John, Jane, Juan, etc. Randomly assorted thought the book, topics covered include tidbits of geography, politics, pop culture, crime, and the largest section is encapsulated within the label of history.

Learn that folk hero John Wayne had plastic surgery to improve his looks, or that one and a half million new shopping carts are manufactured each year in the USA, or that pumpkins are really a fruit and not a vegetable, or amazingly, that the world’s fastest typist in 2005 recorded a speed of over two hundred words per minute. These and other sundry historical and often trivial descriptions are scattered throughout the pages.

This is the sort of book that is best left on the coffee table for the casual reader to open at any page and ask the surrounding company if they’re aware of these little isolated gems from earlier times. Except for fleeting curiosity, the book just serves as a momentary amusement.