The Book of General Ignorance

The Book of General Ignorance is a very compelling book written by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson.  At the name of the title I knew I was going to be thoroughly intrigued with this book.  The book is mainly about common misconceptions that the average person sees as common knowledge.  This book sets out to set the record for a wide range of common questions that would normally seem to be “no brainers”.  These 230 random questions that are designed and set up in no particular order.  This book has no chapters, just questions then a thorough and detailed description of why the real answer is the way it is and how the general public began to believe differently.  This book also wants to explain how these many urban myths and random misconceptions came to be about.  This book is a great prerequisite to any game of trivia around the house, any game show, or even just to show off with peers.  Revealing these relearned facts is not only fun and entertaining but also very humorous and you don’t feel like you are learning at all!  The Book of General Ignorance totally goes against all prior knowledge of 230 subjects that you have acquired in a lifetime.  I was completely dumbfounded by almost every one of these new facts and was ready to share them with everyone.  Ever think the tallest mountain in the world was Mt. Everest? Or what about George Washington’s teeth being made out of wood? Or even the common thought that chameleons changing the color of their bodies to blend in? Wrong, wrong, and wrong.  This book teaches us that everything we know to be true is wrong.  I really enjoyed reading this book so much because of the fun I had and the great knowledge for impressing my peers and dominating trivia I gained.  The Book of General Ignorance is a “New York Times” bestseller and for good reason.  The world needs to be corrected with these witty factoids.  The range of subjects in this book is very broad.  It goes from the first animal in space to who invented champagne.  This book does have its flaws though. It gets somewhat repetitive and should not be read in one sitting, although could be done.  It is great to read with another person, which is not found with many books.  The Book of General Ignorance is a book, which is unique and extremely easy to read.  This book can be read by people of all ages, genders, races, religions, and ethic backgrounds.  The only problems with this book are that it gets somewhat monotonous, which creates a tiresome effect on the reader.  Therefore my final conclusions on The Book of General Ignorance are that it should be bought by everyone to gain the necessary knowledge to fit in at social situations.  Also I believe that everyone will be very surprised to how little they know about many common subjects.  It feels very refreshing to learn these untold facts.