I’ve been trying to find a series of two (although there may be more in the series, I don’t know. I’ve only just ever owned two) books that I loved as a teenager.
Here is what I know about them:
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[li]First of all, they’re nonfiction. They’re young adult, “knowledge”, “interesting fact/story” books[/li][li]I first owned them around age 13, which means they’re at least as old as 1993, but I remember they seemed already older by that point, like they had been republished a few time since then. My guess at ORIGINAL publishing date judging by how some of the drawings were? 1970s maybe, …or maybe even as early as the 1960s. Or maybe they were just made to look overly cartoonish.[/li][li]Every page was dedicated to a story of interesting history or knowledge. Each page started out with a big, bold title at the very top…and then a little, single “byline” below it that sort of “teased” the story…and then the story itself under all of that. Stories would usually be one page, but some were on two (double) pages. So it’d be like “ELEVATOR ANTICS” “When Elisha Otis told people to cut the rope, strong men looked away!” and then “story”[/li][li]There were also drawings on most pages…at least one, and about the story being talked about.[/li][li]Some specific stories included the invention of the elevator by Otis, a story about how there was once a planned camel invasion (prompting the cry “The camels are coming! The camels are coming!”), Chester Addison inventing the toothbrush in jail, an Indian tribe that dances with snakes in their mouth to make it rain, Chester Charleson and the copying machine he first made, and many more.[/li][li]I seem to recall the TITLE of the book had the word “Knowledge” in it… like “World of Knowledge” or something like that. It was two or three words long, though, that I know for sure. It wasn’t more than three words long.[/li][li]IT IS NOT the Disney “World of Knowledge” books, that I know for sure. It’s frustrating when trying to search for these books, because the search records seem to be filled with nothing BUT the Disney version.[/li]
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I remember having at least two of these kind of books, although they had different titles. If anyone can help or know what books I’m talking about, well, I’d be eternally grateful and in your debt. : p