Rating: 
Summary: A+ for entertainment, B- for accuracy
Review: I agree with all of the other reviewers that this book is fantastically entertaining. Just the title of the "4 Things Your Boss Has in Common With Slime Mold" section is worth the price of this book.
The big disappointment is that some of the "facts" are flat-out wrong. A section on antibiotics claims, "bacteria are at the root of diseases ranging from colds to tetanus," when colds are caused by rhinoviruses and do not respond to antibiotics. Another section claims, "A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds," an urban legend which has been disproved many times over. My personal impression of the book (others will probably disagree) is that it contains a bunch of facts that the authors rattled off the tops of their heads instead of researching to any degree.
So, read the book in good fun, and if you're going to use its contents to show off how smart you are, find another source to back you up first.
Rating: 
Summary: Poker, beer and serving of Condensed Knowledge
Review: As a loyal subscriber to mental_floss magazine, I was among the first in line to purchase Condensed Knowledge (published by the peeps at MF). As I began reading the book, it was evident that the scrumptious tidbits of useful information similar to those found in each issue of mental_floss flowed seamlessly into book form. Condensed Knowledge is the metaphorical mountain of interesting facts and trivia that you never learned in school (or you have forgotten since then). It covers all the bases -- geography, physics, music, pop culture, religion, etc. -- and does it with short, humorous reads that won't make you go cross-eyed. My friends and I all own the book and get together every Wednesday night for poker, drinks, and discussion of previously assigned chapters of the book -- sort of like a gambling book club. Next on the agenda: Six of the most incomprehensible pop music lyrics in history dissected and explained by our friends at Mental Floss. I recommend the book AND the magazine. They are both outstanding.
Rating:
Summary: Mental_Gloss
Review: As a regular reader of the magazine, I was needless to say, excited about the prospect of a whole book dedicated to the oddball kind of information that I have come to love in the magazine. My take on the book however, is that they found some eggheads to tell us about each of the topics to an excruciatingly small degree, and then tossed in some ill-placed, and unfunny humor. The entire tone of the book is not terribly funny or insightful, the humor seems tacked on for the most part, and the issues they are discussing are too short and incomplete even in a condensed format. Too much is left out there hanging for me. I would have preferred fewer topics, and more depth. Oh, and by the way, why no Sports section?
Rating:
Summary: NEAT! Worth twice the price (but I'm glad it's inexpensive).
Review: Best non-fiction book I've seen in years. It's a $25 book for $15 (or $10 from Amazon), chock full of words and not silly black-and-white graphics. It covers almost EVERYTHING... art, music, science, literature, pop culture, philosophy, religion, economics, and more. No political junk, no cosmic overtones, just a bunch of fun, irreverent lists about things you should've learned at some point. I love reference books, and the only thing I love more than reference books are reference books that you can really pick up and READ as opposed to just skimming over. This is a perfect example of that.I've subscribed to the magazine (mental_floss) for two years now, and it was a long wait for this book to come out. But it was well worth it. The book also offers a $5 discount on a subscription to the magazine (cheaper than the going rate) so it costs even less when you take that into consideration. While mental_floss is bimonthly, this'll help fill the time waiting for the next issue to come. The last time I paid $15 for something as entertaining and educational as this was in Las Vegas in 1971. Shameful, I know.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book.
Review: Condensed Knowledge, the delightfully irreverant book by the people who bring us mental_floss magazine every other month, is a romp in trivial excstasy. The book can best be described as a cross between awesome and cool, and I plan to be buried with it. Thanks, mental_floss!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Trivia Teacher
Review: I like books like this that teach you something new but make the learning fun. I'm not an American so sometimes some of the facts are over my head but I am sure they will be handy one day.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read!
Review: I read in the magazine that Mental Floss had a book but had honestly forgotten about it until I saw it at a bookstore late last week. I ended up spending most of my next few evenings with Condensed Knowledge. Just like their magazine, you can flip to any page in this book and learn something. I hope this is the first of many Mental Floss books because at my age, I could sure use the brain stimulation. The great thing is that it's educational without being highbrow. I can learn about art or music or science without feeling like I'm an idiot. It's not a textbook, not a trivia book, not an encyclopedia... it's just a fun thing to read. You learn just enough about something to make it worthwhile, but not too much that it's overwhelming. They found the perfect balance. Thank you, Mental Floss!
Rating:
Summary: Verging On Greatness
Review: I subscribe to "Mental Floss" and have since the first issue. I love it and couldn't wait to buy this book. Largely, I was very pleased with the book. I particularly like the way the book is broken down into major subjects like "Condensed Art History" and "Condensed Physics". I especially enjoyed the science sections and the "Condensed Pop Culture" chapter. I was particularly impressed with the analysis of the confusing lyrics in Steve Miller's "The Joker" (yes the line actually IS "Some people call me Maurice, 'cuz I speak of the pompatus of love.") The solving of this mystery alone is worth the price of the book. I really sat on the fence on whether to give the book four or five stars. I would give it 4 1/2 if that were an option, but there were a few little thing about the book that bugged me enough to prevent a five star review (although I do give the magazine five stars.) The first (minor) error I noticed is in the chapter "Condensed General Science" under "Sexy Animal Facts", where the author states that "A goldfish has a memory span of only three seconds". I hold a degree in Biology, and can categorically say that is untrue. This is an urban legend and supposition, which has been disproved in several studies in animal behavior in which goldfish were taught to swim in elaborate mazes over the span of several days. If they only had a three second memory, they would be unable to complete the maze correctly with ever improving times day after day (which shows that learning occurs.) The television show 'Mythbusters' did a primitive version of one of these studies on one show, by the way. This isn't a big point, but is worth noting. I object to the politically correct use of the terms of 'BC' and 'BCE' instead of 'BC' and 'AD'. Although the calendars are identical there is no valid reason to dispense with the terminology in place since about 525 AD just to be politically correct. It is annoying, reduces the comprehensibility of the dates in the book and in no way improves the calendar. I find it a bit ironic in the chapter "Condensed History" that sometimes journalism professor Peter Haugen has a section called "Rotten to the Corps: Tyrants with Horrific Rap Sheets" in which obvious winners such as Stalin and Hitler make the grade, but so do three 'Pasas' from nineteenth century Turkey, due to forced relocations of peasants during wartime. They may well have been bad guys, but even historians disagree whether or not this was an unfortunate byproduct of war or genocide of a minority group. My point is that there is a lot of ambiguity here, and elevating them to the same plane as Hitler while leaving every single corrupt Middle Eastern despot off the list entirely is patently ridiculous. Bottom line: this list lacks historical objectivity. In "Condensed Literature" the allegation is made that Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is still 'fresh and funny' after 600 years. Everybody can have their own opinion, but I have read "The Canterbury Tales", and can say from personal experience that absolutely nothing could make "The Canterbury Tales" in any way fresh or funny. Finally, under "Condensed Religion" there appears a box which attempts to refute Christianity (or any other religion for that matter) titled "The Problem of Evil", the premise of which is that God can't be almighty if he allows evil in the world. The author entirely misses the significance of one of the bulwarks of Christianity: free will. Christians (at least the vast majority of Christians) believe that God allows individuals to make their own decisions in life, and in the end they will be judged on these decisions. In Christianity God never desires for a person to sin, in other words, but he does allow it so each person can be judged on their own merits. Overall, this is a credible, interesting book, though I don't think it is quite up to the quality of "Mental Floss" magazine. I recommend the book, but, as always, read skeptically, and let the arguments make sense before you change long-held beliefs. Having said that, the book is fun and irreverent. Despite my critiques, I am glad I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: Learning everything I should know w/ this witty/quirky book
Review: mental_floss is one of those ideas we all wish we'd come up with. It just makes sense. We all want to learn a little of everything but are so darn busy and don't exactly have the time to read every textbook out there. Now, here's a way to learn a little biology, economics, philosophy, history, etc...and in a really witty format. The fact that you can learn science while reading something as fun as "4 Excuses to Get a Prescription for Chocolate" or "9 Laws of Physics that Don't Apply in Hollywood" is great! And I really wish my high school history class had been as fun as the history chapter in Condensed Knowledge. This book is hilarious, but really informative too.
Rating:
Summary: "Brevity is the soul of wit"
Review: This book is a wonderful gift for your inner know-it-all; you try to keep him quiet, but occasionally, you hear yourself saying something "too smart." Beware, this book greatly increases the probability of you sounding smarter than those around you. But there is a delicious guilty pleasure in learning such a wide array of knowledge from a book whose primary benefit is its brevity. While Le Corbusier does not necessarily come up in daily conversation, the one time it does, you will be prepared to talk about his contributions to architecture.
The information contained is specific, usable data on myriad topics, with anecdotes liberally interspersed to aid future conversations. There is great joy to be found in being believed to be smarter than one actually is, and this book is a surefire way of getting there.
|
