Agreed. I’ve got shelves full of them. And yes, I do keep them in the bathroom.
Three other good books are Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Panati’s Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody, and Panati’s Parade of Fads, Follies and Manias.
Also, Quintessence Editions’ 1001 Before You Die series. It starts with 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and goes from there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintessence_Editions
There’s the very entertaining TV version of debunking, PENN AND TELLER’S BULLSH*T! IS there a book version? / No book, but the show ran for 8 seasons.
I forgot to mention these as well. Loved them. There was also a Biggest Secrets which was not quite as good.
The QI books are awesome. There are three that I know of, all called General Ignorance volume 1,2 and 3.
Beat to it. I love those books. I’ve only read four of them, I’m tempted to order more.
Two that haven’t been mentioned are Joel Achenbach’s Why Things Are and its follow-up Why Things Are & Why Things Aren’t.
ETA: Now I notice they were mentioned in the OP. Oh well, I posted the author’s name which will make them easier for people to find.
Books by Richard Shenkman
Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History
Legends , Lies & Cherished Myths of World History
One-Night Stands with American History
Apparently, there have been some out-and-out falsehoods and twisting of history (hmmmm).
I’d keep loaning them out and never getting them back.
And a listing of other books similar in nature.
By Paul Sann
Fads, Follies and Delusions of The American People, A Pictorial History of Madnesses, Crazes and Crowd Phenomena
By Richard Zacks
An Underground Education: The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge
History Laid Bare: Love, Sex & Perversity from the Ancient Etruscans to Warren G. Harding
Bill Fawcett has written a number of books in this loosely defined category.
100 Mistakes that Changed History: Backfires and Blunders That Collapsed Empires, Crashed Economies, and Altered the Course of Our World
Trust Me, I Know What I’m Doing: 100 More Mistakes That Lost Elections, Ended Empires, and Made the World What It Is Today
101 Stumbles in the March of History: What If the Great Mistakes in War, Government, Industry, and Economics Were Not Made?
It Seemed Like a Good Idea…: A Compendium Of Great Historical Fiascoes
Doomed to Repeat: The Lessons of History We’ve Failed to Learn
How to Lose a Battle: Foolish Plans and Great Military Blunders
How to Lose a War: More Foolish Plans and Great Military Blunders
How to Lose WWII: Bad Mistakes of the Good War
How to Lose the Civil War: Military Mistakes of the War Between the States
How to Lose a War at Sea: Foolish Plans and Great Naval Blunders
It Looked Good on Paper: Bizarre Inventions, Design Disasters, and Engineering Follies
Oval Office Oddities: An Irreverent Collection of Presidential Facts, Follies, and Foibles
You Did What?: Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters
You Said What?: Lies and Propaganda Throughout History
You’ll find this online as well.
As far as history is concerned, I highly recommend The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950) by Will Cuppy.
Old but excellent, and the best introduction to the major figures in history that there is!
He writes in an irreverent, lighthearted way, but every weird fact was meticulously researched, and is 100% accurate.
Here’s a sample:
This. One day in fifth grade I had one of them with me in school, and the English teacher took a look — and good-naturedly embarrassed me by reading aloud the “most popular positions of coitus.”
My contribution to this thread: The Curious New Yorker https://www.amazon.com/Curious-New-Yorker-Fascinating-Surprising/dp/0812930029 — like Cecil Adams books, based on a question-and-answer newspaper column, peppered with humor and good sleuthing — but all about New York City.
The People’s Almanac was a favorite go-to read when I was growing up. I also enjoyed the Ask Andy newspaper columns in the Atlanta Journal… and I have a very vague memory of being given a book compilation of the AA columns, though I could be wrong there.
The Book of Lists was such a favorite that I still have it on my shelves.
Man do I have fond memories of Tell Me Why and What Makes it Go? What Makes it Work? What Makes it Fly? What Makes it Float.
Gah!!! Read through all these titles and I was beaten to it at the very end.
Good choices!
Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky, Amy D. Wallace, Ira Basen, and Jane Farrow
I’m a big fan of Asimov’s non-fiction writings. Some of which are of “a collection of just stuff.” variety. E.g., his “Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology”.
My story involves my very religious, strict grandmother whom I would visit for 6 weeks every summer. Had a copy of the Book of Lists (paperback) and knowing it would never, ever, EVER pass muster I oh-so-cleverly hid it in my closet whereupon she found it in less than a week.
My grandfather and I were sitting in the patio when she comes out with the book:
“What is this?”
“It’s, uh, a book that one of my friends loaned me?” (Yeah, that’s the ticket!)
(Flipping through the book) “Jimmy, listen to some of these things… ‘top 10 worst places to hitchhike’… ‘10 preserved body parts of famous dead people’… oh!”
“What is it, Shorty?”
“‘6 people famous for their deformities’… John, how can you read this trash?”
At this moment, I am dying. Dying and praying that Grammy flips through 20 or so pages as she HAS been doing and does NOT merely turn the page to see Chapter 7, “Love and Sex”, with the first list being “The 6 Most Popular Positions for Sexual Intercourse.”
She turns the page.
“Oh my God, Jimmy, there’s an entire chapter here on sex. John, is this what Bob” (my dad) “allows you to do? Does he provide NO SUPERVISION at all to you kids?” (Actually, “Bob” bought the book for me but I wasn’t going to throw my Dad under the bus. And, to answer her question, of course my Korean-War era single Dad didn’t provide supervision to his rowdy boys - men of his age just didn’t do that!)
Ranting continued. Weak, feeble excuses poured from my mouth including such classics like:
“I haven’t read the whole book!”, “Then why is it in this condition?”
“I let my friend borrow it!”, “I thought you said you borrowed it from your friend?”
“It has the 10 Commandments in it… I thought it was a good book!” (That last was met with such a withering, demeaning glare that I knew that All Hope Was Lost), “So why did you hide it in the closet?”
She was John McEnroe in his prime. I was just his 12-year old opponent. Totally crushed.
She kept the book for the rest of the summer break. My Dad comes down to Daytona Beach to pick me up. As is the fashion, we are sitting on their porch, talking, when Grammy gets up, leaves, and comes back a few minutes later with The Book.
“Bob, did you know John had this book?”
“I know he purchased it.” (Thrown under the bus! By my own Dad!)
“That’s not what he told us, but the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree I’m sure.” (Yeah, if you’re detecting some hostility there, you would be right.)
Grammy then launches into why the BoL is the worst, most depraved book she has ever laid eyes on, reassured my Dad that she did take me to Confession as soon as the church was open (yes, this occurred), and that I did my penance, both that ordered by God and that ordered by her (hers was far, far worse - I had to cook and clean dinner for my entire stay), and she gives the book to my father.
So, the next day, my Dad and I are driving back to Atlanta. He hands me my book and says, in words guaranteed to ensure my complete silence for the next 7 hours of driving, “Good thing she didn’t look under your mattress.”
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time - Michael Shermer
This should be required reading for everyone alive.
You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News: Shocking but Utterly True Facts - staff of Cracked.com
I have this as an audiobook and is a good listen for driving around. Written in a style emphasizing humor.
The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization’s Best Bits - very similar to the Cracked book above.
This one was really good. I have this as an audiobook as well, and it gets a little weird occasionally due to the amount of math they have to read out loud, but it’s still highly entertaining.