Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Don't Know Much About Anything Else

Summary by Publisher: For years, Kenneth C. Davis has enlightened and enthralled us, opening our minds and tickling our fancies with his wonderfully irreverent, fun, and factual Don't Know Much About® books. He has carried readers on wild and edifying rides through history, mythology, geography, the Bible, the Civil War, even across the universe. Now, following on the heels of his triumphant New York Times bestseller Don't Know Much About® Anything, comes Don't Know Much About® Anything Else, his latest one-stop potpourri of intriguing information. Chock-full of delightful historical snippets and fascinating people, remarkable milestones and boneheaded blunders, and eye-opening, brain-boggling facts about simply anything and everything in the world, here is the ideal companion for those long car rides, plane flights, quality family hours, or relaxing downtime.

Review: Everyone has a dream. For some it is performing on Broadway, writing the Great American Novel, or running a marathon. For my son it has been to be a contestant on Jeopardy. Like a moth to the flame whenever tryouts for Jeopardy are announced in a nearby locale my son is one of the first in queue.

And like any good parent I have spent a small fortune on books spanning the physical sciences to the arts in furtherance of the Jeopardy quest. After reading Don't Know Much About Anything Else by Kenneth C. Davis, the latest installment in the Don’t Know Much Series I might have been better off if I had restricted my purchases to those penned by Davis. The book is comprised of series of one page quizzes on subjects ranging from Japan to the paths of the post-breakup Beatles and almost everything in between. The quizzes are well crafted and easy to read.

While I don’t know if Don't Know Much About Anything Else is the magic key to the Jeopardy kingdom, my son will at least have a few laughs while absorbing, for example, the history of Leap Day. As Davis puts it, “fun and education can mingle.”

Don't Know Much About Anything Else is highly entertaining and should be required reading for any would be Jeopardy contestant.

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