Mangesh Hattikudur

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: The bathroom read to end all bathroom reads!

What does Greece (the country) have to do with Grease (the movie)? And what does Grease (the movie) have to do with greasy food? Plenty, if you ask the folks at mental_floss.

Based on the magazine's "Scatterbrained" section, the mental_floss gang has taken on the Mount Everest of trivia challenges: connecting the entire world through the juiciest facts they could find. How do you get from Puppies to Stalin; from Humpty Dumpty to Elizabeth Taylor; from the Hundred Years' War to 8 Minute Abs; or even from Schoolhouse Rock to Abstract Expressionism? You'll just have to open up the book to find out.

My Review: This was the perfect book to read while in the throes of this bloody cold. Perfect amounts of information, useless, and ideal amounts of stupid humor.

For example, St. Fiacre (an Irish dude) is the patron saint of de-hemorrhoiding one's self. Did you ever, even one time in your entire life, stop to ponder the existence of, or need for, such a saintly specialty? Apparently Fiacre (how on earth does one say this collection of letters?) healed the sick (men only!) by laying on of hands. Give that a minute to sink in.

The old perv.

I'd vaguely heard tell of the existence of a shadowy Dowager Empress with a lot of power in Chinese history. Didn't know she was called Cixi (suppose that rhymes with Trixie?) and didn't realize that, within months of her death in 1908, the Imperial part of Chinese history was history. She dies, the Emperor loses the throne, and China starts on the path to being our banker via a horrible stint under Mao (an engineered population-reducing famine, his INSANE edict to kill all dogs! The Rotten Shitheel!) (BTW these facts came from this weird little book, too).

Bite-sized morsels of interesting factlets (does anyone besides me remember a rice-paper-wrapped candy called Aplets, or Cotlets? I loved those things), many of which make me curious to go in search of context and depth (Cixi being a good example) for the stories. Perfect for a restless-brain day.

On the other hand, really not much use in the thing. I got it as a sale book. I wouldn't pay $12.95 for it!… (más)

Scatterbrained is yet another mental_floss trivia book, and I enjoyed this one as well. Scatterbrained takes on the idea that every fact can be connected to one another. It starts out with Greece (the country) and ends with happy endings.

Favorite fact from the book: Lincoln's last words. While watching "Our American Cousin," Abraham Lincoln reached over to hold wife Mary's hand. She pulled away, embarrassed, asking "What will people think?" Lincoln answered "They won't think anything of it," was shot shortly afterwards.… (más)