From Abraham Lincoln to Babe Ruth, movies and music to politics and biology, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Spignesi compiles five hundred facts in this addictive bathroom reader trivia book.From history and science to sports and literature, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Spignesi offers eye-opening trivia in 500 facts inspired by the viral social media acronym TIL used on Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook. #TIL: T...

Fascinating facts, trivia, and little-known details about the Master of the Macabre's life from the "world's leading authority on Stephen King" ( Entertainment Weekly).New York Times–bestselling author Stephen Spignesi has compiled interviews, essays, and loads of facts and details about all of Stephen King's work into this fun and informative compendium for the author's many fans, from the casual to the fanatical!Did you know. . . ?

Today more than ever, series finales have become cultural touchstones that feed watercooler fodder and Twitter storms among a committed community of viewers. While the final episodes of The Fugitive and M*A*S*H continue to rank among the highest rated broadcasts, more recent shows draw legions of binge-watching fans. Given the importance of finales to viewers and critics alike, Howard and Bianculli along with the other contributors explore these endings and what they mean to the audience, ...

Words equal credibility. The more articulate a person is, the more seriously they will be taken—by everyone.On any given day, you might read “abrogate” used in a USA Today article; or “demagogue” or “fiduciary” used on CNN. You might hear “ensorcelled” and “torpor” in a TV drama; you’ll hear a political candidate described as “truculent.” You may hear “pedantic” used in a movie. How many of these words are part of most college students’ “arsenal of words”?...

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters is an exciting collection of first-hand stories describing the catastrophe of Titanic’s maiden voyage as told by its survivors shortly after the ship sank.Originally written and published in 1912, Logan Marshall’s book was the very first attempt to solve the mystery of the accident and relieve the heartache it stirred internationally. Marshall narrates the personal stories of Titanic’s passengers before, during, and after ...

You want a revolution? So did Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers!America has fallen in love again with Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers. Here is a popping fresh collection of facts and forgotten trivia surrounding the American Revolution and our forefathers from those you’d expect (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Hamilton, of course) to those you may never have heard of, but you probably should have (who the heck was Ruf...

This outrageous collection of inappropriate ads will have you turning the pages and shaking your head in disbelief.Outdated Advertising: Memories from a Less-than-PC Era takes a look at print advertising from the mid-1850s through the 1980s with an eye toward ads that were notorious for their sexist, racist, politically-incorrect, or other wildly inappropriate content—or for just plain bad taste. Among the dozens of full-color examples, readers will find:

In a mothership full of entertaining and informative chapters, authors Stephen Spignesi and William Birnes, writers of many books dealing with the intriguing, weird, and unexplained, shed a revealing beam of light on the UFO phenomenon. From inexplicable cattle mutilations and modern astronauts who have seen UFOs, to close encounters of the third and fourth kind, and, it’s all here:The latest on Roswell, and the 1947 crash that has never been explainedThe weirdest (...

Did you know that, according to director Chris Columbus, Robin Williams improvised so much during the filming of Mrs. Doubtfire that the studio had enough footage to release PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 versions of the movie? Or that Robin ad-libbed all his lines in Good Morning, Vietnam because the DJ the movie was based on didn’t really do comedy during his shows?Robin Williams, American Master looks at Robin’s seventy movies, from his earliest appearance in...

Weirdness abounds in this unprecedented compilation of peculiar facts, including forms of divination, bizarre tortures, invasive medical tests, celebrity UFO sightings, crucified saviors other than Jesus, banned books, elements of a near death experience, curious tourist attractions, ridiculous sex laws, and much more.Dr. Bizarro’s Eclectic Collection of Strange and Obscure Facts is a fascinating and irresistible compendium of bizarre info and trivia that will engage and s...

Elton John: Fifty Years On looks at the impact songwriting partners Elton John and Bernie Taupin have had on popular music and culture, and also discusses every song on all thirty albums, plus his work on Broadway, in movies, and elsewhere.Part 1 is a bullet-pointed look at every released song, complete with insights, trivia, and meanings, including musical insights—like Elton’s favorite chord progressions, or the most notable melodies in his discography.Pa...

From George Washington to Barack Obama, this collection of weird and wild—but true!—facts will show you a whole other side of our nation’s leaders:• Andrew Jackson was married to a bigamist.• Martin Van Buren wore pistols in the Senate chamber in case things got too rowdy.• Franklin Pierce ran over a woman with his horse while in office and was arrested, but was released when the police realized he was the president.• James Garfield could simultaneously write G...