“Knowledge is power”. Or so Sir Francis Bacon is attributed to having said. But surely that depends on if the knowledge in your possession is actually correct? And what if all the knowledge you have accumulated over the years and believed was correct turns out to be wrong? We all know the rhyme divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived but did marriage-loving Henry VIII really have six wives (was it actually four, or even two)? Can the Great Wall of China be seen from the moon? Earth only has one moon, doesn’t it? Is there a difference between the tallest mountain and the highest mountain and is Mount Everest really the world’s tallest mountain? What if everything you have been taught over the years or think you know is actually wrong!
Well, if you are a lover of general knowledge, pub quizzes or trivia then you will probably be aware of the TV quiz show QI (short for Quite Interesting), originally hosted by Stephen Fry and now by Sandi Toksvig. The QI team have produced a very interesting book filled with facts and figures to show a lot of what you think you know is wrong and explains why! The QI Book of General Ignorance is packed with hundreds of extremely interesting facts in this fascinating catalogue of common misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings.
Overall, this really is a fascinating book of strange and wonderful facts. Most of the facts I wasn’t aware of and ones that I thought I knew, well it turns out I was wrong. There were actually only a handful that I knew and were actually true.
Whilst it is a book of 300 or so facts that you can dip in and out of, it is also great to read from cover to cover to learn new and interesting things. Each fact is loosely related in some small way to the one before it.
Some of the true facts are semantics and being under to understand the question to make sense of the answer, such as the with the question What is the name of the tallest mountain in the world? Most people would think that is an easy question to answer and immediately go for Mount Everest. Well, that would be incorrect. Mount Everest is the HIGHEST mountain in the world, not the TALLEST. Apparently, mountains are measured in different ways and highest isn’t the same as tallest (you’ll have to read the book or Google it to find the right answer).
Each fact is between one and two pages in length and gives details of the answer and origins, giving a detailed explanation of each one. They all make really interesting, and sometimes quite funny, reading.
This is a totally fascinatingly brilliant handbook for lovers of trivia, pub quiz players and enthusiasts of general knowledge. There is a lot to devour in The QI Book of General Ignorance, and this is only the first book in the series. Once you’ve read it, you just have to try and remember it all.
Very well researched and written to provide an interesting book to help quench your thirst for knowledge.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £9.99 (Paperback) / £5.99 (Kindle)
Available to buy from Amazon here.
