Whad'Ya Know?: Test Your Knowledge with the Ultimate Collection of Amazing Trivia, Quizzes, Stories, Fun Facts, and Everything Else You Never Knew You Wanted to Know Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been listening to Michael Feldman for years. If you are a fan, you will enjoy this book.

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A brand new bathroom reader collection, from the beloved trivia voice of public radio.

SO...DID YOU KNOW THAT:

53% of American workers feel they work "with a bunch of monkeys." (What the monkeys think, we don't know.)
During shaky economic times, lipstick sales go up.
The longest conflict in American history was fought over a pig.
Washington state has the best-dressed State Troopers.

AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU NOW KNOW THAT?!

If you'd love to quiz yourself about what you know, and then fill your brain with thousands of fascinating and highly useful facts like these, look no further. (And as an added bonus, you'll get jokes and stories too!) Every weekend, radio listeners across the nation delight in the facts and fun of the hit show Whad'Ya Know? with Michael Feldman. Now, for the first time, Michael collects the greatest trivia, quizzes, stories, and fun facts just for you.

Every weekend, thousands of public radio listeners across the nation delight in the facts and fun of the hit PRI show Whad'Ya Know? with Michael Feldman. Now, for the first time Michael collects the greatest trivia, quizzes, stories, and fun facts from the show in Whad'Ya Know?.

With features perfectly sized for spending a little time on the throne, Whad'Ya Know? contains sections that fans of the show will be sure to recognize, such as:

Things You Should Have Learned in School (Had You Been Paying Attention)
The Daily Briefing
Thanks for the Memos
The Best of the Best
And much more

If your answer to "Whad'Ya Know?" is "not much," get ready to become the smartest person on the block... or at least the one that knows the most stuff.

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How to Be a Canadian Review

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(More customer reviews)I first heard about "How To Be A Canadian" on CBC's "Basic Black," in which Arthur Black interviewed the Ferguson brothers (Will and Ian) and they read some of the best parts of the book out loud. What can I say...I was hooked and rushed out to buy a copy at Chapters (Amazon.ca didn't exist then...sorry guys, I'm now a loyal Amazon.ca customer!). "HTBAC" reads fairly quickly, but it is an immensely enjoyable read, and explosively funny in spots (don't read this at work if you don't want coworkers giving you looks of sympathy after your random hyena laughter).
"How To Be A Canadian" conveniently packages our national heroes, cuisine, regional differences, literary endeavours, phobias, and odd social customs into a laugh-out-loud tome that is the literary equivalent of Timbits: tasty, bite-sized chapters on "Who To Hate and Why," "How To Waste Time Like A Canadian," "Mating Rituals," "Art and Stuff," "Progressive Conservatives, Responsible Government and Other Oxymorons," and "Twelve Ways To Say You're Sorry," along with how to insult Canadians, the official Canadian haircut and dress code (mullet, plaid shirt, skidoo boots with fake buckles), provincial "fact sheets" (Ontario: "Gaze Upon our Humble Magnificence and Bow Down Before Us!" Formal name: The Centre of the Universe. Provincial motto: "Celebrating over 100 years of narcissistic self-absorption") and more. To top it off the Ferguson brothers have written a clever little quiz at the end to test your Canadian knowledge (If you hear the name "Elvis" and immediately think of figure skating, give yourself one point. If you still don't know what the capital of New Brunswick is, give yourself 10 points. If you can't remember if you curled or not, because of how drunk you were: 50 points) You get the idea. Nothing is sacred for Will and Ian, which is what makes the book so funny.
So, if you're American and want to learn more about those mysterious neighbo(u)rs of yours to the north, this is the book for you. If you're a Canadian who needs a quick reply to "What makes a Canadian" (other than *not* being an American), this book is for you. I have bought "How to Be A Canadian" for a number of friends with different tastes and it's been a success all around. A funny, thoughtful book that hits the mark on all the issues and is certainly entertaining in the process (that's PROcess, not prahcess, eh?) Have fun, and good luck to any Future Canadians out there!

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Being Canadian can be a chore, says Will Ferguson, but it can be a lot of fun, too. For this follow-up to his runaway bestseller Why I Hate Canadians, Ferguson, a Canuck himself, recruited his brother Ian to create this ultimate guide to the country's cultural quirks, from diet and sex to sports and politics. The result is a nonstop comic ride through such topics as "Canadian Cuisine-and How to Avoid It," "Regional Harmony (Who to Hate and Why)," and "How to Make Love Like a Canadian."

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Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People Review

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(More customer reviews)If you enjoy the intelligent and biting humor of a Dennis Miller and the vocabulary of a George Will you will love this book. If your idea of a great satirical read is "Mad Magazine" you will enjoy this book. If you think the Als - Gore and Franken - are brilliant you will hate this book.

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True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans Review

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(More customer reviews)Joe Queenan has written the ultimate sports fan book. True Believers is dedicated to the real sports fan. Not fans of the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees, but the fans of downtrodden teams like the Phillies, the Blackhawks, and the Eagles. Fans who know what it's like to suffer through years of torment, wondering if your team was ever going to be good enough to win it all. Queenan grew up in Philadelphia, and he has a life-long commitment to all of his hometown teams. He says that fan support must be based either on where you grew up, or who your father rooted for. No other form of fandom is acceptable to him. Thus, he has had to live through the Phillies blowing a 6.5 game lead with 12 games to go in 1964, the Flyers blowing a 3-1 lead in the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils (with two of the last three games at home), and other heartbreaks. Loving Philadelphia teams is the epitome of heartbreak, the ultimate love-hate relationship.
Why should this matter to the rest of us? I will tell you right now that, if you have never followed any sports and think that to do so is the ultimate waste of time, then this book is not for you. First, you will not understand it. Secondly, what little you do understand will only reinforce your already formed beliefs. Unless you have experienced the common bond of watching your team blow the big game, or the big series, or just stink up the league in general, you will not get a lot out of this book. (Ok, maybe if you're a Yankee fan, you'll be able to laugh at these idiots he's talking about).
What does this book consist of? Queenan discusses the psychology behind rooting for a team of also-rans. He explores what makes the true sports fan tick. He does this among chapters discussing fair weather fans (those fans who only follow a team when they are good), sports movies (and how most of them are horrible and don't even come close to reflecting reality), sports announcers (both the good and the bad), and misbehaving fans (those idiots in the stands who do the stupidest things and generally annoy the people around them). Some of these chapters are universal, even to Yankees fans, and thus may be enjoyed by everybody. Some (like an entire chapter on the sorry-looking New York Jets) will only mean something to the fan who has been through something similar. All of these chapters, however, share Queenan's sarcastic wit and his extreme commentary. I love the language that Queenan uses and the way he writes, even if sometimes it seems he's using words just to see whether people understand them or not. At times he sounds pompous, but even then he's entertaining.
The fair-weather fan chapter is probably the best, as he itemizes all the different types of front-runners there are, from celebrities who must be seen at courtside of Lakers games, to the mainstream folk who just can't bear to suffer along with the true fan, and thus change their favourite team on the drop of a quarter. As he says, suffering is what makes success taste so sweet. If you haven't been through the dark times, then when they finally do win a championship, you can't truly appreciate it. He loathes front-runners with a passion, and he's not afraid to say it. He certainly takes no prisoners in this chapter, heaping scorn on every type of front-runner there is.
If there is any fault in the book, it is the fact that some of the references are very obscure (though as Queenan would say, if you don't know it, you're probably not a true fan). I love sports and follow a lot of them, but some of the references are so old that even I didn't get them. You could figure them out from the context, but I think some of the humour value is lost there. Sometimes he explains them, or at least gives a year that it happened, but other times he goes on like we should be able to keep up with him. I had no trouble skipping the reference, assuming that it was supposed to illustrate some point, and moving on. However, it is a strike against the book. One other thing I would like to know is what he thinks of fans like me. I grew up in Iowa, where there are no professional sports teams, and my father was not a huge fan of anything either. I have my allegiances that have never died since childhood, but they certainly don't seem to fit his criteria. What does that make me? Unfortunately, Queenan doesn't address that, so it feels like something's missing.
Even so, this book is definitely a winner. At times it's hilarious, at times it's touching (like when he talks about when his father's last days and how they affected Queenan's spectatorship). You may see yourself reflected in it. You may just find other fans to ridicule. Maybe you're not a sports fan but you're trying to understand a husband (or wife???) who is. If so, get this book. You will either laugh at or along with Queenan as he continues his odyssey. And you might even learn something along the way. Yes, even you Yankees fans.
David Roy

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Write More Good: An Absolutely Phony Guide Review

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(More customer reviews)As a writer, there are certain "rules" you're supposed to follow in terms of style. Even if you're not a writer, you're affected by these styles as they dictate what you read in media stories. A couple of guys decided to take some liberties with those guidelines and created a Twitter account named fakeapstylebook to parody the rules, and that led to this book... Write More Good: An Absolutely Phony Guide by The Bureau Chiefs. If you've ever had to write an article for some publication (and you have a sense of humor), this is a great parody that offers plenty of laughs and hits close to the truth on more than one occasion.
Contents:
News & Headline Writing & You & Journalism
Politics: When The Horse Race Lasts 30 Months
Entertainment: The Glitz, The Glamour, The Death of the Superego
Sex: Ew
Religion
Sports: The Sport of Kings
The Shiny Money Box, Or, Technology and the Death of All Paper
Science (and the Blinding By Thereof)
Pseudoscience and the Supernatural: Ya Rly
Weapons and the Military: Shoot First, Then Ask Questions About Shooting
Citation and Attribution: Do Not Hit the Snooze Button
Punctuation and Grammar: LOL
Media Law: You Are So Screwed
The Morgue: The Dead Live!
The Ghost of Basics Past
Glossary
Each chapter starts out with a few snide comments about the topic, slides into the "basics" along with related detail that spares nothing and no one, and then ends with a topic glossary that is far more interesting than any other glossary you've ever read. Do you want to be an entertainment writer? Learn how to become a blogging review quote machine so you'll get free tickets and videos! Sports writer? Get a nickname and a stance, and then market yourself shamelessly!
But there are always things to remember... For instance, if you're a sports writer, remember that professional bowlers should never be referred to as "heavy-set." It's assumed. If you're writing about soccer for North American audiences, remember to consider the fact that no one cares. And of course, any story on Brett Favre's retirement should end with the ;) emoticon.
What I found impressive about this book (and which was also pointed out by Roger Ebert in the forward) is that it's not a book composed solely of tweets from the authors. Too often a book based on a blog or Twitter account is just a compilation of the same material that's already been used. Fine if you don't follow them online, but a waste of money for regular readers. Write More Good borrows the attitude and style of the fakeapstylebook tweets, but that's where it ends. As such, this is an entertaining read regardless of how much you've read on Twitter.
One small caution... if you're easily offended when someone pokes fun or parodies something that is close to your heart, then you might want to stay away. Everything is fair game here... you have been warned. :)
Write More Good is one of the more entertaining books I've read of late, and I know plenty of writer colleagues who will enjoy it as much as I did. They just need to remember the warning on the cover... "If you use this, you will get FIRED!"
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publicist
Payment: Free

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Still clinging to your dog-eared dictionary? So attached to The Elements of Style that you named your rabbits Strunk and White? Maybe you're a beleaguered reporter, or a type-A newspaper reader who unwinds by e-mailing the editor about whether "tweet" is a verb?It's time to face up to reality: Writing clearly, checking facts, and correcting typos are dying arts. Whether you're a jaded producer of media or a nitpicking consumer of it, this book will help you to embrace, not resist, the lowering of standards for the written word! Part dictionary, part journalism textbook, part grammar and writing manual, Write More Good is a "comprehensive" "guide" to today's "media," in all its ambulance-chasing, story-fabricating, money-hemorrhaging glory. (LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The authors are not responsible for consequences that may result from actually using this book as a dictionary, textbook, or grammar and writing manual.)Let The Bureau Chiefs, the ritin' and reportin' geniuses behind the Twitter phenomenon @FakeAPStylebook, teach you about:* Proper usage!"World War" should be used only for conflicts involving countries on at least three continents. For large-scale battles against clones, killer tomatoes, or a fifty-foot woman, use "attack" instead.* Entertainment Journalism!When writing about a celebrity for an online audience, save your readers time by linking directly to nude photos of him or her.* Science Reporting!When writing about those robots that seek out and consume houseflies for energy, the parenthetical aside "(OH GOD, WE'RE DOOMED!)" is implied and is therefore not necessary to include in your story.And much, much, more!

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