I'm looking for a "questions" or "Conversation starter" type book. Need answer fast-ish.

I used to have a book that was basically a book full of questions. Questions you might ask a group to get a conversation started.

I thought the book I used to have was called: “The Book of Questions”. So I went to B&N and bought it yesterday. Apparently, it’s not the book I was looking for. While it is a good book, the questions are a little too intense for what I’m looking for. The book I had asked questions like:

“You’re at a restaurant, and you notice the waiter’s fly is down. Do you say anything?”

The book I bought has questions like: “If your mother and father told you that they never really loved or even liked you, and you knew it was absolutely true, how would it affect you life?”

Indeed a thought provoking question, but too intense for my purposes.

Anybody recommend a similar book but with less intense questions?

Thanks for any help, I need to pull together something by tonight. Yikes! I hope I have time.

How about these or these or these?

How dare you? The answer is in front of you: at your gathering, whip out your two-way wrist TV (or your smart-phone) and hurl questions at them from The Straight Dope website.

“In other news, a party host was beaten to death by his angry guests when he asked them to explain why we - and I quote - ‘park in the driveway, and drive on the parkway.’ Connections to a shadowy internet conspiracy group are being suggested.”

^ +50 pts.

How about Tom Weller’s The Book of Stupid Questions?

“Would you rather chug-a-lug a Drano milkshake, or share a sleeping bag with a five hundred pound tarantula?”

(Only half joking: yes, it’s stupid, but it’s really fun stupid!)

Sure-fire conversation starters:

“Why is it okay to prick your finger, but not … never mind!”

“If Kitty Carlisle had married Conway Twitty, would she have been Kitty Twitty?”

“If Yoko Ono had married Sonny Bono, would she be Yoko Ono Bono?”

“I used to snort Coke, but I gave it up. The bubbles hurt my nose.”

“Did you hear about the nearsighted seamstress? She couldn’t mend straight.”

“I used to date a nun, but I gave it up. Just couldn’t get onto the habit.”

“Do you ever hear voices?”

“What’s your favourite pizza topping? Mine’s plain, but I like others.”

Looks like I’m a day late, but for the next occasion you might look into (if you haven’t already) any of the several The Book of Lists for some good guessing material. They’re great reading for trivia freaks and connoisseurs alike.

I need to update my own stash, as mine are way old.

I assume you mean acquiring non-tattered copies, as I am not aware of any being published since the boom in such triviatum around 1980. I treasure my set of Book of Lists/People’s Almanacs and love them for the enormous amounts of complete bullshit they include. Most lists include the sort of hearsay, woo and nonsense we’ve thoroughly stomped into the ground in more recent years.

My favorite tall tale is in* People’s Almanac I* - a long article about how shadowy figures kept turning out '56 Chevy coupes for a decade, using salvaged tooling. They were the ones who ran Studebaker out of business because they stole so many drivelines and other major parts from the warehouses to build the clones.

Excuse me, I have to go chase my eyeballs again…

Ian Fleming had the absolute best pickup line ever: “I *do *so hope you’re not a lesbian!”