Everyone has their own idea of what it means to have character. For Larry Cowsert, the concept was shaped by lessons he learned from his grandfather and others close to him. These lessons were so profoundly impactful that Cowsert decided to chronicle them here, in a captivating, easy-to-read book, so that others can learn from and use them to develop their own concepts of character. These aphorisms were funny, clever, provocative, and even harsh, but they captured the author’s attention an...

Take a seat and settle in—it's a gigantic treasury of trivia and humor for our twenty-fifth (is that porcelain?) anniversary!IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Winner in HumorForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards, Honorable Mention in Humor"Fully Loaded" is putting it mildly. This behemoth of a book is overflowing with incredible stories, surprising facts, weird news, little-known origins, forgotten history, fun wordplay, and ever...

For 25 years, there's always been a home in Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for those times in life you wish you could take back--"oops" moments, embarrassing accidents, spectacular failures. Because we never get tired of reading about unfortunate accidents (as long as they're happening to someone else), here is a whole book of "the best of the worst," the troubling and funny stories of things got terribly awry. Read all about:* The little math error that took down a spaceship.* A sexy stimul...

When Dave Barry is on the loose, no one is safe!What Dave Barry did for the men’s movement in his Complete Guide to Guys and for foreign relations when he did Japan he now does for . . . everything in America. The rapacious observer of Tupperware ladies and leisure concept salesmen sounds off on:Football—Football is more than just a game. It is a potential opportunity to see a live person lying on the ground with a bone sticking out of his leg, whi...

“What caused the American Revolution? This is indeed a rhetorical question that for many years historians have begun chapters with. As well they should. For the American Revolution is without a doubt the single most important historical event to occur in this nation except of course for Super Bowl III (Jets 16. Colts 7. This historian won $35).”So goes the skewed sensibility, the muddied mind, the bent pen of one of America's funniest writers, Dave Barry. This time his subject is U...

A compendium of outrageous, hilarious or just plain shocking trivia about everything from history and politics to arts, religion, technology and much more.For years, the Chicago Tribune's "10 Things You Might Not Know" column has been informing and entertaining readers on a diverse range of subjects. This volume collects the best of these columns, offering readers obscure, fascinating facts on universal topics that will appeal to everyone from sports fans ...

Strategically placed near the best seat in your home, Uncle John’s Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader is jam-packed with great bathroom reading. It’s the gift that keeps on giving...and giving...and giving....The BRI’s 22nd all-new edition--*Uncle John’s Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader--*is like reading several books all rolled into one: a history book, a weird news anthology, a science text, a dictionary, a how-to manual, a sports magazine, a joke ...

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist comes a celebration of the aging process. Not just Dave's, but that of the whole Baby Boom Generation--those millions of us who set a standard for whining self-absorption that will never be equaled, and who gave birth to such stunning accomplishments as Saturday Night Live!, the New Age movement, and call waiting. Here Dave pinpoints the glaring signs that you've passed the half-century mark:- You are suddenly unable to read anything writt...

The beloved bathroom reader series returns with this twenty-sixth edition that's flush with weird facts on a wide array of topics.The twenty-sixth annual edition of Uncle John's wildly successful series is all-new and jam-packed with the BRI's patented mix of fun and information. Open to any page and you may find an interesting origin (like the origin of the snow globe) or a piece of obscure history (like the true story of the man who tried to repeal the law of gra...

It's here! The 23rd annual edition in the popular Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series.The big brains at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute have come up with 544 all-new pages full of incredible facts, hilarious articles, and a whole bunch of other ways to, er, pass the time. With topics ranging from history and science to pop culture, wordplay, and modern mythology, Heavy Duty is sure to amaze and entertain the loyal legions of throne sitters. Read about…...

Ahh…what a relief it will be to hold this most entertaining, informative, and amusing tome in the palm of your hands. Hours of great bathroom reading await you!Uncle John’s Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader, Uncle John’s all-new 15th edition, sheds a light on everything under the sun and over the moon. From obscure history to classic wordplay to dumb crooks to inspiring quotations, you never know what you’re going to read next! Where else could you learn how t...

From This American Life contributor and self-described “history nerd” Sarah Vowell comes a collection of humorous and personal essays investigating American history, pop culture, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell travels through the American past and in doing so ponders a number of curious questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysbur...