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Don't Know Much About Anything: Everything You Need to Know but Never Learned About People, Places, Events, and More! | 
 enlarge | Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $10.92
You Save: $4.03 (27%)
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 2262
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0061251461
Dewey Decimal Number: 031.02
EAN: 9780061251467
ASIN: 0061251461
Publication Date: August 1, 2007
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Product Description
In his wildly entertaining, winningly irreverent, New York Times bestselling Don't Know Much About series, author Kenneth C. Davis has amused and edified us with fascinating facts about history, mythology, the Bible, the universe, geography, and the Civil War. Now, the sky's the limit in his latest irresistible installment—a grand tour of knowledge that carries us from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Berlin Wall, from the Salem Witch Trials to Watergate, from Michelangelo to Houdini. Brimming with busted myths, gripping true stories, and peculiar particulars about a plethora of people, places, and events, this captivating compendium is guaranteed to delight information lovers everywhere as it feeds our insatiable appetite to know everything!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Boring, poorly worded, and poorly fact-checked November 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a series of quizzes out of context, without any particularly interesting information on any topic.
Some of the questions are poorly worded. Some are far too open: "Who was Alexander Hamilton?", for example, instead of, say, "What post did Alexander Hamilton hold?" Some are redundant: "When did the Korean War begin?" reads one beginning question, after the main text plainly states it started in 1950. And some are just too vague.
Finally, one question, "How many Americans have walked on the moon?" is answered with "Ten astronauts on five separate Apollo flights." I think you will find that Apollo 11 to Apollo 17, minus 13, makes SIX successful missions, with two astronauts each for a total of TWELVE.
There is absolutely no excuse for so blatant and incomprehensible an error in a book by an author of Davis' reputation and a publishing house as well-known as Harper Collins. Don't buy this book. There are a dozen better fact and quiz books out there. But 'On the Top of My Tongue' by David Gentle, or another book. This one is not worth the money.
Worst history/trivia book I've read August 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Right now, I'm trying my best to control my hatred for Don't Know Much About Anything... which is an unintentionally true title. The author not only does a very sparse job covering a variety of topics from Helen Keller to Gandhi, but omits key facts which are crucial to understanding the person (Helen being a socialist is a key fact about her, which DKMAA omits in favor of reporting who played her in The Miracle Worker) and worse, repeats false facts and urban legends, which just drives me nuts.
If you're writing a history book, please do some basic fact checking before repeating something you read about in a chain email letter. JFK did NOT call himself a jelly donut in his Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech, but Kenneth C. Davis reports it as fact. The book is just pretty sad - when you walk away from a history or fact book feeling like you could give spontaneous lectures off the top of your head that are better than the book, the book is just useless and aggravating.
 needs a better fact checker July 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Although most of his info probably checks out, the first page I turned to incorrectly stated that only 10 men have walked on the moon. Actually a total of 12 men did on 6 lunar landing missions. Not a good way to start a book.
 A trivial book of trivia April 11, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I like trivia, but I'm not big on trivia books. I'd rather pick up my knowledge of the minutia of the world through other sources. I have enjoyed Kenneth C. Davis's books in the past, so I thought I'd give Don't Know Much About Anything a try. It is a lightweight read that is neither particularly good nor bad.
Davis's book is divided into parts on famous people, exceptional places, historic happenings, holidays and traditions, everyday objects and remarkable inventions, space and the natural world, sports, entertainment, food and civics. Each part has various topics that are covered in two-page sections. On the first page is a bit of general information and a few questions. On the second page are the answers to the questions. For example, a section on Mother Teresa asks where she was born and what order did she found (Macedonia, Missionaries of Charity respectively).
The problem with this book is despite its broad organization, the choice in topics is haphazard, so you're skipping around from Mother Teresa to Michelangelo to George Washington without any real rhyme or reason. Usually we pick up knowledge better when we learn it in a context, but that doesn't exist here. It's all interesting but quickly forgettable. While there is nothing harmful in this book - and it does work as a minor diversion - you probably won't know much more about anything three days after reading this book.
Lots of Facts, Not Much Else.... March 17, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Reading this book is kind of like watching a quiz show on televison...entertaining to some degree at the time, but a few minutres later, you can't remember a thing about the questions that were asked on the TV show...it's the same with this book.
Not much here, really, but facts, facts and more facts. If that's what you want, fine and good, but this is more like a board game than a book.
Great of one thing, however...great to read when you wife is in the grocery store or in the mall shopping and you are parked out front waiting for her...Helps pass the time, but there's nothing memorable about the book or the way in which the facts were presented.
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