One of the great things about the Nook (of which there are many) is “Free Fridays.” Most of the titles offered every Friday by Barnes and Noble interest me not at all, but occasionally one piques my interest. Last Friday’s offering, Stupid History by Leland Gregory, is a compilation of “Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythoconceptions.” The truth about Paul Revere’s famous ride; the trial of Lizzie Borden; the Battle of Bunker Hill; and countless other tidbits. Ironically, earlier tonight I was playing a game in which one of these tidbits would have come in handily. In the game “Malarky,” the reader reads the question on the card and either reads the correct answer or makes up a load of malarky. The other players determine whether or not the reader is giving the correct answer or feeding them a line.
One of the questions had to do with sardines which everyone knows is purchased in a small can. I cannot remember the actual question but the answer had something to do with the fact that there is no such fish as the sardine. They are usually pilchard or small herring packed into the can like… well… sardines. I came home tonight and read that fact and had a good laugh. Imagine how funny it would have been if I had read that tidbit BEFORE the game.
Perhaps this is in bad form, but did you know that Ahnold had competition for the role of The Terminator? Apparently, O.J. Simpson is “too nice to be taken seriously as a killer.”
All of these are but a few of the (at times humorous) moments in Stupid History. I may regret this post as the number of trivia games seems to be dwindling at game nights. However, how much useless trivia do I actually retain? Ok… perhaps this Free Friday was an attempt to encourage readers to pay for the humorists other books as this was published in 2007. But still a fun read.
When I started reading this post I had to double-check whose blog I was reading. Nook? Barnes & Noble? Hmm… 😆
I bought an e-reader a few weeks ago, but returned it a short time later. Good thing with the car expenses I had as well as the dentist bills. Over $500 for a root canal and that was just my 50% share with my insurance…
ROOT canal… EWWW! I got the original Nook for Christmas… very few bells and whistles which is just fine. I probably have 35 books downloaded some free… most $3.99 or less. I had to spend a little more on the new James Bond novel.
I keep telling myself when I finish this Robert Jordan series I am going to stop reading fiction books for awhile. There is a lot of good nonfiction I could be reading, including some books I have had for awhile.
Good luck with that 😉
Derek – ME TOO on the double-checking whose post it was! Guess that means Justj owes us a post…
I read a book not too long ago that took an in-depth look at infamous unsolved crimes, one of which was the Lizzie Borden case. Interesting read, but not too many answers since the crimes were unsolved. Some interesting theories and evidence I didn’t previously know was interesting to read about though.
Trivia games at game night seem to scare people off 🙂
Who do they scare off 😉 LOL!
Just noticed that people start to leave in droves when the trivia games pop out 🙂
Thanks jami, I missed that one. I do doubt some of his information, since he apparently does not know the proper use of too and two. That just gets on my nerves.