World Trivia: The Book of Facinating Facts: Culture, Politics and Geography

by Michael Smith

Book Overview

The award-winning World Trivia reveals many amazing and amusing facts of culture, politics and geography around the world. Distinctly different from most trivia books, it illustrates a broad range of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966943708
• ISBN13: 9780966943702
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: East West Discovery Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.3" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Fun & Educational too

I purchased this book for an online group I moderate. The only gripes I've received from participants is that they are geographically inept and the questions make them feel dumb. However, they love the learning ability and we always get a kick out of the factoids and elaborations some answers are given. An example question: Q: which country's national sport is a competitive game between men on horses trying to drag a headless calf's carcass around an arena? While this might sound foreign to you, once you know the answer, you'd naturally like to know more about this strange sport. Not only does the book provide the answer, but it elaborates on how the sport is played; typical injuries; the variations to the sport; and the prizes given out to winners. Each question is on the odd-numbered pages; you turn the page to the next page for the answer. When its a geographical question, there is usually a map provided for context. There are also other drawings throughout the text. This is the perfect book for a trivia buff. That would be me, and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning trivia that is actually educational and useful. Answer to the question: Afghanistan.

Great car trivia

I loved the book. However, some of the pictures on the question page give a clue to the answer itself.

Goldfish Tanks and Waterfalls

Q: Of the word's tallest waterfalls, five out of ten are in which country? Q: In which major city are goldfish tanks found in the front lobby of almost every office? These are the types of fun questions Michael Smith asks in his book World Trivia. This is not just a book about politics and geography, but also contains facts about culture and that makes it even more entertaining than knowing how many people live in a specific country. In one country, when the space is divided up the resulting space per person is rather surprising. Michael Smith's questions and answers are entertaining page after page and this gives insight into global culture. He loves to travel and has been to over 70 countries where he immerses himself in the culture of each country. Only the other day I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant telling my husband that a Chinese fortune cookie was invented in America. Right there on page 238 I see it is in fact true and was invented in Los Angeles. ~The Rebecca Review

Second Edition - more interesting trivia

Like the prior edition this book contains a collection of trivia questions and answers that center around world culture, politics and geography. As such it is not only interesting but also educational. So many trivia books contain such obscure information that it has no value other than as a trivia question. That is not the case with either the first or the second edition of this book. "World Trivia", second edition is a complete rewrite that contains none of the questions of the first edition. Michael Smith again tackles one of the most difficult areas of trivia because culture, politics and many aspects of geography are in a state of constant flux. So, while the trivia questions and answers are accurate today, within a few years many of them may not be. With well-chosen educational and truly interesting questions the book is a recommended purchase.

Entertaining, but too short

"World Trivia" is a small book filled with trivia questions from around the world. Each page has a single question with the answer on the reverse. It contains an excellent selection of questions that I found genuinely interesting, however, with only one question on a page it contains only just over 130 questions. It would have been nice if there were two or three questions per page. There are very few trivia books that have the nerve to ask questions on culture and politics because they change so quickly in some parts of the world. That is the situation here, some of the questions and answers are outdated because of the rapid political and cultural changes in the Middle East. It still makes an interesting read and is a great book to leave lying around for company to pick up and leaf through.