The Encyclopaedia of Everything Else

William Hartston is a Cambridge-educated mathematician and an international chess master. He writes the off-beat Beachcomber column for the <i>Daily Express</i> and is the author of several books on chess numbers humour and trivia including <i>Sloths </i>and <i>The Things That Nobody Knows</i>. He has been one of the viewers on Channel 4's <i>Gogglebox.</i> <b>A delightful and witty treasure trove of utterly useless information by the author of<i> The Things That Nobody Knows</i>.</b><br><br>Most encyclopaedias are boring. They are so packed with worthy but dull facts that a great deal of weird and wonderful material is squeezed out. <i>The Encyclopaedia of Everything Else</i> takes the opposite approach and leaves out all the dreary stuff you can find elsewhere. <br><br>The result is the most fascinating astonishing varied and utterly useless collection of information ever assembled and organized between two covers. From aardvark tooth bracelets to the genus of tropical weevils known as Zyzzyva via Mark Twain's views about cabbages this is a quarter of a million words of sublime pointlessness. A delightful and witty treasure trove of utterly useless information by the author of <i>The Things That Nobody Knows</i>. Highly enjoyable... Captivating and inspiring Properly researched and the elegance of its pop-cosmology or pop-biology mini-narratives rivals that of many specialists. It is slyly witty and pleasingly optimistic. Highly enjoyable... Captivating and inspiring Properly researched and the elegance of its pop-cosmology or pop-biology mini-narratives rivals that of many specialists. It is slyly witty and pleasingly optimistic.