About this item
Highlights
- Learn something new with 366 fascinating facts from NPR librarian Kee MaleskyWhat was the greatest thing before sliced bread?
- About the Author: Kee Malesky, National Public Radio's longest-serving librarian, is a member of the team that provides fact-checking, background research, and grammar and pronunciation guidance to NPR's radio programs and digital media projects.
- 288 Pages
- Reference, Curiosities & Wonders
Description
About the Book
Malesky, author of "All Facts Considered," returns with a year's worth of facts on the arts, history, language, natural history, religion, and science to build up brains.Book Synopsis
Learn something new with 366 fascinating facts from NPR librarian Kee MaleskyWhat was the greatest thing before sliced bread? What color did carrots used to be? Why do many American spellings differ from their British counterparts? What does it mean "to have one's eyes lined with ham"? If you know the answers to these questions, then you're John Hodgman. If you had to look for them below, you need this book.
Kee Malesky, author of All Facts Considered, returns with a year's worth of facts on the arts, history, language, natural history, religion, and science to build up your brain. From "What is the only sea without coastlines?" to "How did the tradition of April Fool's Day begin?", this book is the best way to know more stuff than that other guy.
Learn Something New Every Day is the ideal gift for anyone with an inquisitive mind and an appreciation of the wonders of the world around us. But don't give it to them. You don't want them to know more than you do.
Answers. 1. Bagged bread. 2. Purple. 3. Blame-or thank--Noah Webster. 4. That's the Italian expression for "can't see the wood for the trees." 5. You'd enjoy it too, Mr. Hodgman. 6. Discovering more than one fact per day can cause increased confidence. We've probably already put you at risk with the four above. Learn safely.
From the Back Cover
A full year's worth of fascinating facts
Plus a bonus fact for leap year!
"A bon-bon of a book crammed with delicious nuggets of information and morsels of amusement. Best of all, the only weight you'll gain is in your brain."--Susan Stamberg, Special Correspondent, NPR
"Kee Malesky has done it again. Day by day in any year, the reader will find interesting and absorbing facts and stories."--Carl Kasell, Official Judge and Scorekeeper, NPR's "Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!"What was the greatest thing before sliced bread?What color did carrots used to be?Why do many American spellings differ from their British counterparts?What does it mean "to have one's eyes lined with ham"?If you claim to know the answers to these questions, then you're John Hodgman. If you had to look for them below, you need this book.
Kee Malesky, author of "All Facts Considered," returns with a year's worth of facts on the arts, history, language, natural history, religion, and science to build up your brain. From the only sea without a coastline to the origin of April Fool's Day, this book is the best way to know more stuff than that other guy.
"Learn Something New Every Day" is the ideal gift for those with inquisitive minds and an appreciation of the wonders of the world around us. But don't give it to them. You don't want them to know more than you do.
Review Quotes
* Malesky (National Public Radio's longest serving librarian; All Facts Considered: The Essential Library of Inessential Knowledge ) shares her research savvy in this clever compendium of 366 clearly written half-page entries, including one for leap years. The material ranges from history and science to arts and language. Readers unfamiliar with entomophagy, for example, can read about it in the Feb. 25 entry, which describes the "tasty" protein of the future. Elsewhere they'll learn that President James Garfield, trained in classical languages, could simultaneously write in Latin with one hand and Greek with the other. Appended citations offer credibility and promote further study. VERDICT This entertaining and informative work is recommended for high school and public libraries, and for casual readers and fact aficionados everywhere. --Bobbie Wrinkle, McCracken Cty. P.L., Paducah, KY (Library Journal, October 2012)
About the Author
Kee Malesky, National Public Radio's longest-serving librarian, is a member of the team that provides fact-checking, background research, and grammar and pronunciation guidance to NPR's radio programs and digital media projects.