Thursday, December 22, 2011

Mental Floss Review

mental_floss: The Book: The Greatest Lists in the History of Listory

For ten years, the knowledge seekers at mental_floss have been hunting and trapping the world’s rarest facts, locking them into captivating lists for the world to admire. Thanks to their tireless efforts, Mental Floss: The Book is packed with a decade’s worth of the smartest, quirkiest stories around, including:

  • Five Presidential Fashion Flubs
  • Seven Shameless Abuses of Diplomatic Immunity
  • Five Units of Measurement Weirder Than the Metric System
  • Four Toys That Have Gone to War for America
  • Seven Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever
  • Five Things Your Body Can Do After You Die
  • Six of Baseball’s Strangest Trades
  • Four Foods People Actually Die For
  • Seven Things Walmart Has Banned
  • Four TV Shows That Changed the Course of History
  • Ten “Q” Words That Aren’t “Q-U” Words
  • Four Horrifying Parasites to Keep You Awake at Night
  • Eight Fake Archaeological Finds
  • Five Articles of Clothing That Caused Riots
  • Four Memorable Moments in Cross-Dressing History
  • Five Doomsdays We’ve Already Survived
  • It all started over cafeteria food. 


A group of intellects (freshman) at Duke University thought they could present facts in a fun manner and keep it more interesting than some of their professors. This led to a discussion with Duke's president who gave the idea a thumbs up but the name was a thumbs down. Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur did what any student would do at this point - raise money through corporate avenues.

TADA! Mental Floss was born.

This book can be used one of two ways:

  1. Massive time killer. Read it front to back or skip around. Best to then get on the website and spend HOURS studying trivia. This might be the best way to beat Ken Jennings on Jeopardy.
  2. Keep it close to your dental floss. It's a bathroom book or, what we intellectuals call "Squat and Chuckle." Start on any page and enjoy.

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