This Book ... of More Perfectly Useless Information
by Mitchell Symons
Harper, HK$78
It has been observed This Book is the lager to Schott's Miscellany's dry sherry. A tad unfair, as trivia is by its nature competitive, while no one can be expected to know miscellany. London School of Economics-educated Mitchell Symons, 49, was principal writer for early editions of Trivial Pursuit and knows, for example, that it's physically impossible for pigs to look up at the sky and that Mao Zedong never brushed his teeth (he rinsed with tea). This Book ... of More Perfectly Useless Information is exactly that. Did you know ... the Dalmatian is the only dog that can get gout, Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt had their eyes corrected with laser surgery, drivers will be locked out of their cars nine times in their lives, every year 8,000 people injure themselves with toothpicks, Nepal is the only country without a rectangular flag, John Wop considered becoming a priest, Prince William is left-handed, Bill Clinton is a member of the mile-high club - as is Leonardo DiCaprio, but he hired his own jet - and the yo-yo originated in the Philippines as a hunting weapon?