Admit it ... you're a reader! You sit down with a bowl of cereal, you know you're gonna read that box of cereal. If you're in the doctor's office, you didn't bring a book, and People magazine is the only printed material on offer ... you know you're gonna suck it up and take the plunge. And if you really, really have to use the bathroom....
Well, it helps to have reading material appropriate to one's situation.
One never knows just how long nature's call will be calling, so it helps to have reading material that doesn't require a lot of intense intellectual concentration. We're not saying that In Search of Lost Time is inappropriate fare, but getting through a single sentence could require a lot more time than you may have allotted to your throne room foray. Besides, being a book collector, we're assuming that you'd prefer that your copy of Proust's magnum opus be treated with a bit more respect.
Fortunately, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader is published for just such occasions:
Founded in 1987, this series of trivia books is one of the most successful boutique publishing ventures of the last quarter-century. The idea, as the publishers' website tells it, was simple enough: gather together the best trivia writers you can find and charge them
...with the task of combing the worlds of science, history, sports, politics, and pop culture to compile dozens of interesting articles that could be absorbed in just a few minutes. “Every article must be simple to read, ... and every page must either have an amazing fact or a good laugh—or both.”
The formula worked -- an amazing ten million+ copies of these little books of trivia are in print, including a number that are devoted to but a single subject: horses, hockey, history, Texas, quotations, puzzles, baseball, music, Minnesota, Hollywood, Christmas, cats, dogs, golf, New Jersey, trivia quizzes, and loads more:
These books are just the thing for the book collector in your family who also is a Trivial Pursuit fanatic. Did you know, for example, that
Octopi have three hearts.
The first ever income tax was levied in Great Britain, to fund the wars against Napoleon.
The average bra is designed to last for only 180 days of use.
The boots eaten by Charlie Chaplin in "The Gold Rush" (1925) were made of licorice.
Cockroaches fart every 15 minutes.
Well, you'd know these facts and much more if Uncle John's Bathroom Reader was part of your daily reading. Of course, it might be prudent to buy extra copies, should you plan to actually collect any of these titles....
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