John Mitchinson – DaneCobain.com

John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller – 1,342 Q.i. Facts to Leave You Flabbergasted | Review

Title: John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller

Author: 1,342 Q.i. Facts to Leave You Flabbergasted

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 357

Rating: 4*/5

John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and Anne Miller – 1,342 Q.i. Facts to Leave You Flabbergasted

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

This book’s a lot of fun, and I don’t even need to explain the premise because it’s right there in the title. Suffice to say that it’s well-researched and easy to read – in fact, I whizzed through it in an hour or so, although you can read it however you’d like. And it’s interesting how the facts somehow seem to tell a narrative of sorts – or at the very least, they play word association with themselves – despite not being formally grouped into chapter headings or any specific order.

I could go on and on, but I’m going to let some facts do the talking, so here we go. Slugs have 27,000 teeth. In China, it is illegal to post erotic banana videos online. One in every 900 men from American Samoa play in the National Football League. Ducklings are capable of abstract thought. NASA scientists working on Mars rovers work to a Mars day, not an Earth day.

Really, that ought to be enough to tempt you into reading this book, but if it helps, I’d say this is one of my favourite Q.i. spin-off books so far. It’s just so easy to read, so much fun from start to finish, and there’s the added bonus of the 1,342 facts that you’re going to learn along the way.

John Lloyd and John Mitchinson – The Second Q.I. Book of General Ignorance

So overall, if you’re the kind of person who likes to expand their mind by learning new things, this book is for you. And for the more cynical of you – the folks like me who like to be able to check sources – there’s an accompanying website that allow you to see the sources for all of the facts on any individual page. Bonus!

By the way, did you know that the more people believe in witchcraft, the less they tend to give to charity? Need more? Then go read the book.

John Lloyd and John Mitchinson – Advanced Banter: The Q.i. Book of Quotations

Click here to buy 1,342 Q.i. Facts to Leave You Flabbergasted.

Stevyn Colgan – Joined-Up Thinking | Review

Title: Joined-Up Thinking

Author: Stevyn Colgan

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 254

Rating: 8/10

Stevyn Colgan – Joined-Up Thinking

I first heard about Stevyn Colgan after a friend suggested that I should invite him to be a speaker at the writers’ group that I’m organising. He’s a local writer who’s attained a certain level of success, winning praise from Stephen Fry and Q.I. creators John Lloyd and John Mitchinson – in fact, Colgan went on to become an Elf on the show, a term that’s used to describe their researchers.

Because of this, I already knew quite a lot of the facts that Colgan includes in the book – many of them were recycled and used within the show, and I’ve watched every episode multiple times. That said, it didn’t really matter, because Colgan’s point here is that everything’s connected – he’s effectively using the six degrees of separation with facts.

For example, he may begin by explaining how to hypnotise a chicken, then relate that to chicken nuggets, then relate that to the gold rush, then relate that to the song Gold by Spandau Ballet, and then it might transpire that the lead singer for Spandau Ballet (Tony Hadley) keeps pet chickens.

Now, that’s a hypothetical example, and Colgan is much better at making links than I am, but it does illustrate how the book is laid out. In fact, every single chapter, including the final chapter which houses the acknowledgements and dedications, is written in a loop. Must’ve been challenging to plan, but it’s well-executed.