A
book written by Judy Jones and William Wilson. It is essentially a
reference book, but unlike an almanac or encyclopedia, it is not a simple book laid out by some sort of subject criteria and displayed in a dry, "
factual" format. Instead, it has
divided itself into topics that may or may not have been used in the college you may or may not attended. And, to make it a little more interesting, the whole thing has a serious
slant to it (brought on by the authors themselves and the people who helped contribute to it).
In order to best explain how they present all the information they are trying to show the reader, let me share some of the sections titles (and an explanation).
- The Good Book as Good Read (A section showing the "nuances" between different translations of the bible)
- Fun Couples (Brief descriptions of various famous couples in history like Catherine of Aragon and Henry or FDR and Elinor)
- And Much Much More!!
A couple of problems with the book are some of bias' that come through in their writing. The biggest ones are the fact that these are, in fact, two Americans writing this book and their audience is definitely American, educated and slightly older (not to say i'm none of them or all of them or some of them :). Another odd thing that seems to come through is their anti-French slant. If you can get past that, and just enjoy their sarcastic handling of some interesting topics, it's a good read.
List of topics covered: American Studies, Art History, Economics, Film, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Science, World History, Lexicon.