QI

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It's all wrong, I tell you - Rated
The thesis of this book is that much of our `common sense' knowledge is made up of micro-myths, and most of these myths are mistaken. This is quite radical, if you think of it. If so much of the trivia of everyday knowledge is wrong, how much else of what we know for true is false? Maybe that's the appeal of such books, and this is a particularly good one with lots of random factoids I'd never read before, presented in a racy, engaging style. On the other hand it may all be a sad lad obsession (all the authors are male), appealing to the inner Mr Logic in us blokes. Chicken Tikka Massala was invented in Glasgow, Nelson never wore an eye-patch, we are only 60 miles from outer space (upwards), why biros are called bics in France...as my girlfriend kept saying when I informed her of such gems, "Sorry, why would I want to know that?"