|
The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp through Civilization's Best Bits | 
 enlarge |
This product is Avalailable for USA Customers. If you live outside USA Search Below For U.K. and Germany Products.
|
|
|
| Authors: Erik Sass, Steve Wiegand, Editors Of Mental Floss
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $15.32
You Save: $8.63 (36%)
New (30) Used (7) from $15.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 716
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0060784776
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN: 9780060784775
ASIN: 0060784776
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ** INTERNATIONL SHIPPING!!! SHIPS from 5 locations based on your Zip Code and availability! (PA TN IN OR SC) *-* Gift Quality *-* Orders Processed Immediately! - We get your book to you Very Quickly!
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
pHistory is . . . br (a) more or less bunk.br (b) a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken.br (c) as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis./p pMatch your answers:br (1) Stephen Daedalus of James Joyce's Ulyssesbr (2) Henry Fordbr (3) Arthur Schopenhauer/p pIt turns out that answer need not be bunk, nightmarish, or diseased. In the hands of mental_floss, history's most interesting bits have been handpicked and roasted to perfection. Packed with little-known stories and outrageous#8212;but accurate#8212;facts, you'll laugh yourself smarter on this joyride through 60,000 years of human civilization. Remember: just because it's true, doesn't mean it's boring!/p divp align=left span class="h1"strongExclusive: Amazonian Tips for Amazon.com/strong/span p img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper-gms/MentalFloss500.jpg" border="0" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" pWhen you think of the word #x201C;Amazon,#x201D; we#x2019;re sure the first thing that comes to mind is the fantastic website where you can buy our book (buy our book!) or half-naked warrior women. But here are three tantalizing tidbits you might not know--and why you need to act now./p pb1. Find Gold/bbr There#x2019;s something about long, tropical rivers that seems to drive people batty. But the Basque conquistador Lope de Aguirre was by all accounts a murderous sociopath long before he got to the Amazon. Take, for instance, the time a judge sentenced Aguirre to be flogged. The brutish Basque hunted the terrified magistrate across 4,000 miles of rough South American terrain, barefoot, to kill him! So, in 1560, it probably wasn#x2019;t the best idea to invite Aguirre along on the quest to find El Dorado, the legendary city of gold. After 900 miles of unbroken rain forest, Aguirre was fed up. He led a mutiny that killed more than half of his fellow conquistadors. Then, he declared himself prince of Peru, Tierra Firma, and Chile. Eventually he and his tiny army attacked Panama#x2026;where he was killed and dismembered so his body parts could be paraded around the colony. br bThe bright side:/b El Dorado is still out there, waiting for you to discover it! Just don#x2019;t bring a friend like Lope./p pb2. Invest a Dollar/bbr When it#x2019;s not making people crazy, the Amazon seems to inspire bizarre, larger-than-life schemes. In 1967, American shipping magnate and billionaire Daniel Ludwig bought a larger-than-Connecticut sized chunk of the Amazon to create a gigantic industrial and agricultural complex called the Jari Project. It didn#x2019;t work out. All the construction led to massive soil erosion, screwing up the #x201C;agricultural#x201D; part of his plan. After sinking $1 billion into the project (back when $1 billion really meant something) Ludwig called it quits in 1982. It was eventually put up for sale for $1--a great deal, if you#x2019;re willing to assume $354 million in debt. br bThe bright side:/b For anyone with a dollar and a dream, it#x2019;s your lucky day: the Jari Project is still for sale!/p pb3. Make New Friends/bbr The pictures of spear-wielding tribesmen produced in May 2008 may have been a hoax, but it#x2019;s true that there are literally dozens of so-called #x201C;uncontacted#x201D; native tribes in the Amazon basin--Stone Age peoples who have never had any contact with the outside world! While this seems preposterous, it makes sense when you consider the Basin#x2019;s size, over 2.7 million square miles in area, half of which is covered by dense rain forest and divided by 15,000 rivers and tributaries. Altogether, there are believed to be about three dozen uncontacted tribes in Brazil and 15 in Peru.br bThe bright side:/b If you#x2019;re up for the adventure, you have more than 50 chances to claim fame and fortune. Just make sure you don#x2019;t accidentally give everyone smallpox./p pb#x2026; And so much more!/bbr What you#x2019;ve just read isn#x2019;t available in our book, but don#x2019;t worry--roughly 82% of the rest of history is. Our twelve essential chapters tackle everything from civilization#x2019;s baby steps in the Fertile Crescent to the Pope#x2019;s first text message, the 6,000-pound super-wombats of early Australia to the Goose Crusade of 1096, the golden hemorrhoids of the Philistines to the most important assassinations of the 20th century, and everything else that#x2019;s wacky, entertaining, and completely, unbelievably true.
Product Description
With mental_floss's trademark smart-aleck approach, combined with hilarious (but true) trivia, world history has never been such a joyride.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
Entertaining read! December 2, 2008
Great for bathroom reading or when you're just waiting around. Just like the magazine, it's humorous as well as useful.
 Mental Floss History of the World December 1, 2008
the editors of mental floss have put together yet another entertaining and informative book. this time the topic is world history, starting tens of thousands of years ago and running up to the present. the book is packed with tons of interesting and humorous information. if you enjoy mental floss magazine and the other books put out by them, this is a must have to add to your collection.
Great read! November 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great read! It was everything I expected and more. All junior high and high school students should read this book to get an interesting understanding of the stories behind the stories and the simple and straight forward way it presents the evolution of history.
Huh... I never knew that! November 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
...will be your exclamation every few pages with this book. Written with the trivia buff in mind, the book doesn't go into depth on its subjects. Rather, it gives you the information that will make you a hit at any cocktail party!
Funny, intelligent romp through history. November 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I haven't read a book on history that was this enjoyable. While I haven't finished it...I am enjoying every minute of the book and want to stretch it out as long as I can!!!!br /br /Being a big fan of the "Mental Floss" magazine, I thought I would enjoy this one as much as I would the other books...but this is much, much more.br /br /While being fully entertaining, this book will fill in those anjnoying gaps in your knowledge of history. But it certainly isn't boring.
|
|
|
Powered by CheapSoftwaresale.com 2008
| |
