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Wednesday, 17 August 2005 |
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Current Store: UK Store
Books : The Importance of Being Trivial: In Search of the Perfect Factby: Mark Mason
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Editorial Review: Sun, 11 July 2008: 'If you love facts and figures this book will be a treat.' Spectator, 12 July 2008: 'To the growing number of trivialists, I suspect this book may be fascinating.' Zoo, 27 June 2008: 'The first book to ask why we're obsessed with trivia.' Book Description: An entertaining and trivia-filled guide to our obsession with trivia Synopsis: If you're not remotely interested in the fact that Pete Conrad was the first man to fall over on the moon or that the stretch of road between the Strand and the Savoy is the only public highway in Britain where you are legally obliged to drive on the right, then The Importance of Being Trivial is very definitely not for you. If on the other hand you're intrigued by these pearls of information - and more importantly, intrigued by why you're intrigued by them - then Mark Mason's book will be required reading. An exploration of why little facts hold such a big fascination (interviews with the likes of John Sessions), it examines what our love of trivia says about us. The book touches on subjects as diverse as autism and the history of science, and features contributions from medical experts such as Simon Baron-Cohen. Mason sets out to discover the perfect fact - but along the way he learns how memory works, why Einstein and Picasso had more in common than you'd think, and - in asking why trivia is such a male pursuit - he uncovers fundamental truths about how men and women relate to each other. From the Back Cover: If you're intrigued by the fact that Jack the Ripper was left-handed, or that Heinz ketchup flows at 0.7 miles per day - and, more importantly, intrigued by why you're intrigued - then this book is required reading. Convinced that our love of trivia must reveal something truly important about us, Mark Mason sets out to discover what that something is. The quest takes him further than he could ever have imagined, from the Natural History Museum to Blackpool Tower, from a pub quiz in Suffolk to the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. It leads to lengthy conversations with three professors, the team behind QI, and half of Chas and Dave. It even involves a major scientific discovery at the foot of Big Ben. Mark's journey forces him to re-evaluate everything, from his view of knowledge to his relationship with his girlfriend. Trivia, far from being trivial, leads him to tackle life's fundamental questions. Why is it so difficult to forget that Keith Richards was a choirboy at the Queen's coronation when it's so hard to remember what we did last Thursday? Are men more obsessed with trivia than women? Can it be proved that house flies hum in the key of F? Can anything ever really be proved ? And the biggest question of them all: is there a perfect fact, and if so what is it? About the Author: Mark Mason's previous non-fiction includes The Bluffer's Guide To Football and The Bluffer's Guide To Bond. He is also the author of three novels, and has written for most British national newspapers as well as magazines, from the Spectator to Four Four Two. Browse for similar items by category:
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