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The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp through Civilization's Best Bits | 
 enlarge | Authors: Erik Sass, Will Pearson, Steve Wiegand
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $14.54
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Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 957
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
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 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Amazon.com Review
History is . . .
(a) more or less bunk.
(b) a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken.
(c) as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis. Match your answers:
(1) Stephen Daedalus of James Joyce's Ulysses
(2) Henry Ford
(3) Arthur Schopenhauer It 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—but accurate—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! Exclusive: Amazonian Tips for Amazon.com  When you think of the word “Amazon,” we’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. 1. Find Gold
There’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’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…where he was killed and dismembered so his body parts could be paraded around the colony.
The bright side: El Dorado is still out there, waiting for you to discover it! Just don’t bring a friend like Lope. 2. Invest a Dollar
When it’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’t work out. All the construction led to massive soil erosion, screwing up the “agricultural” 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’re willing to assume $354 million in debt.
The bright side: For anyone with a dollar and a dream, it’s your lucky day: the Jari Project is still for sale! 3. Make New Friends
The pictures of spear-wielding tribesmen produced in May 2008 may have been a hoax, but it’s true that there are literally dozens of so-called “uncontacted” 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’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.
The bright side: If you’re up for the adventure, you have more than 50 chances to claim fame and fortune. Just make sure you don’t accidentally give everyone smallpox. … And so much more!
What you’ve just read isn’t available in our book, but don’t worry--roughly 82% of the rest of history is. Our twelve essential chapters tackle everything from civilization’s baby steps in the Fertile Crescent to the Pope’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’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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Humorous Look At World History November 19, 2008
Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA)
The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp through Civilization's Best Bits is a humorous look at the history of the world. It is sort of the equivalent of a Reader's Digest look at history, abridging 60,000 years worth of facts into twelve chapters (including an appendix on Canada which is very funny). Each chapter starts off with an "In a nutshell" look at the time period followed by a timeline. The bulk of each chapter is taken up by various humorous (yet educational) historical antidotes. There are also USA Today like sidebars, quotes & factoids. These make up the most entertaining parts of the book. The chapter is then summed up with a by-the-numbers section. Nothing ground breaking here, but you will find yourself alternately laughing and going wow I never knew that.
Entertaining, but not accurate November 19, 2008
P. Jones (S. California USA)
The paragraphs sweep over the subject in an entertaining fashion but they leave out or sometimes, misrepresent significant facts. Read this for entertainment purposes only!
An Awful Lot to Deliver in One Book November 15, 2008
W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA)
"The Mental Floss History of the World" often fails to life up to its subtitle, "An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization's Best Bits." Anyone familiar with the Mental Floss magazine or their previous books will be familiar with their irreverent, smart-aleck approach to imparting knowledge. This 400-page volume is organized into twelve chapters, which span the entire sweep of civilization, from its first dawning in Africa to the present day.
This is really a pretty good survey of human history in a single volume, and that's why I give it four stars. This is not for the scholar, but for anyone looking for a quick refresher on what they learned in their student days, or seeking to fill in gaps in their knowledge of the bigger picture.
My disappointment with this book is over an inconsistency of tone. There are classic Mental Floss features like a "Who's Up, Who's Down" list that includes monotheism (up), appalling viciousness (up, then down); Jews (down, up, down up "ech, I'm Farmisht, Already!" But there are also some pretty dry stretches. There are timelines, tables, and side notes galore, which help lessen the denser passages to a degree. Readers looking for something weightier may dislike the snarkier passages, while those who like the lighter approach may bog down in the more serious stuff.--William C. Hall
A history book for the Web-damaged November 14, 2008
Doug Urquhart (Southport, CT USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The World Wide Web is a wonderful thing.
In the past, historical research was a long and arduous process:
- Wading through mountains of dusty old tomes, for weeks on end, in the darkest corner of a forgotten library.
- Taking copious notes, with a view to summarizing your findings, and to help with sorting out the often conflicting opinions in your source material.
- Comparing your thoughts with the publications of others, preferably in the comfort of your own library, ably assisted by the odd glass of claret.
- Discussing your findings with your peers, in frightfully erudite conversations over dinner (and yet more claret)
- After many years of editing, revisions and peer review, publishing a small leather-bound volume which might bring great pleasure to a small group of discerning readers.
Actually, that sounds rather appealing, but I digress.....
That was then. This is now.
When research is a click away, it's easy to knock together a quick pot-boiler in less time than it takes to say 'I'm not making this up' (a phrase used to great comedic effect by Dave Barry, and to excess by the authors of this book). Of course, there's nothing to be gained by producing an actual history book, since the target audience doesn't have the attention span to read one; the generations who have been conditioned by commercial television and the Web are incapable of holding a single thought for more than the intervals between commercials, and tend to doze off unless they can see at least three or four topics displayed in parallel (so that they can conveniently skip from one to t'other as their interest fades).
So let's revisit the process of historical research, web-style. I've tried to avoid the use of trade-marks, so you'll have to fill them in by yourself.
- Pop into your local and for date ranges or key people (Herostratus, for example). You may need to spend some time looking at for a consensus of opinion.
- In recent history, concentrate on America, since your target audience doesn't know or care about anywhere else.
- Extract the sections which look amusing (or at least interesting). No need to make judgements about accuracy - someone else has already done this.
- Compose an essay on the source material, in your own, wacky irreverant style.
- Hack the result together into a publishable form. If any sections are too small (or irrelevant) to merit a separate chapter, put them into sidebars. It's kinda like the paper equivalent of popups, right?
- Bundle it all together, and chuck it out into paper book land.
- If it works - cool. If not - books are obsolete, right?
I have nothing against the idea that history should be presented in a light-hearted way: Sellars and Yeatman's epic work 1066 and All That (including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates) will never be bettered. The fact remains that the book under review is a pretty lightweight offering, and in many respects highly irritating.
Good points?
Some. I made it all the way to the end, so it can't be at all bad:
- If you want to read this book all the way to the end, take it on a cross-country flight, via some Mid-West airport, in Winter. It will help pass those long hours waiting for a departure time, and may even bring solace when the connecting flight is finally cancelled.
- This is an ideal book to leave in your toilet, so that it can provide diversion to costive visitors. It joins a distinguished company, including Barry, Brewer and Bierce, among others.
- It may encourage you to read an actual History book. I assume that this was why the book was written (apart form the usual monetary considerations)
And to sum up, for the sound-byte generation:
Meh.
A pretty easy to swallow history refresher course November 13, 2008
Gaz Rendar (Chicago, IL USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm new to the mental_floss universe, but my first foray into it was enjoyable.
The book is divided into major chapters that encompass easily identifiable eras in human history, like the early civilizations or the Dark Ages. Down the center of each page is the main text which follows chronologically. The information here is presented in a pretty factual manner with an occasional dry joke or some bit of witty humor. However, there are also many sidebars on the pages that tell a short story about a quirky belief, or key figurehead during the currently discussed time period. These short vignettes are cleverly written fun facts that break up the monotony of the the extended history lesson. While each chapter could probably be read independently and out of order, I would still recommend taking the time to read it chronologically as it just seems to flow rather well that way.
I have to say, I am impressed with the amount of scholarship presented in the text. There is a nice balance of real history lessons and "fluffy" history facts. I'm giving it 4-stars because the main part of the text can bog down at times because it is dense. However, that shouldn't discourage a potential reader. History of the World is well written and keeps a good pace for the majority of the book. The sidebars do help break it up a bit, and the amount research that went into making the book is outstanding. In the end though, given the vast amount of knowledge that the book presents, I would only recommend it to people that, at minimum, have a mildly curious interest in history and fun facts from civilizations past.
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