Indolence raised to an art form.Fingerpainting would be an equivelent art form. Outrageous, nurishing recipies. The best thing about a dedicated follower of the semi-religious book, is that the rest of us need never see them. Until the Medical Examiner comes to check out the body...stuck in the formed depression on its couch...they represent the real silent majority. A rollicking tour de force.

because the rest of your time should be spent watching TV, as this book so clearly and persuasively shows. Great recipes, too!

Great short "Reads". You'd be surprised at the upstart of many Billion dollar companies.

Keep Playin.

One Love.

MB.

Set in 1771 on the Massachusetts coast, Lenice U. Strohmeier's Mingo is the picture book rendition of a tale handed down through the generations, about a young girl named Olivia who remembers the words of Mingo, her father's slave and her friend: "Freedom is freedom, and I'll take it any way it comes." Moving color illustrations by Bill Farnsworth add an exquisite touch to this heartfelt and memorable story.

I don't read in the bathroom, but that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying this book. Lots of trivia and fun facts for cocktail party or water cooler chatter.

This is a well researched and engaging historical text set 100 years before Lewis and Clark. It is a jouney of a Native American across this continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans outlining the rich and varied cultures of the many peoples who inhabited this land before the impact of European settlers. The author is comfortable and familar with his topic and weaves an engaging story. I strongly suggest this work for anyone who wishes to know, study, or to become aware of the history of the people who have inhabited this North Americian Continent.

I enjoyed following the main character through his journeys and learning the stories, medicinals, sports, traditions of the various tribes with which he traveled and stayed.

The notes at the end of each chapter bring you current with what is happening today in each area of the journey for the Native American People and make it a rich teaching text.

Excellent beautifully illustrated book well worth the money. The illustrations and layout are extremely well done. This is easy reading that covers some terrtory not well documented anywhere else (Vietnam.) Some historical inaccuracies especially in the history of the manufacture of "Chinese" crackers in the 20th century. Overall an excellent job! Highly reccomended to anyone who has an interest in the subject, or who just likes the imagery of the old labels.

Bright, colorful pages packed with color illustrations and photos chart the art and history of the firecracker, from their construction and advancement to the making of labels and items promoting them. Beautiful drawings pack an illustrated history which invites leisure browsers as much as researchers, and which is very highly recommended for general library collections.

This book shows great insite into the history of the firecracker and the intricate artwork involved with the packaging of them. The clarity of the illustrations are wonderful, its hard to believe some of the labels are as old as they are. I highly recommend this book to anyone who can remember the excitement of being able to "set off" these firecrackers on the 4th of July, without worrying about breaking the law. Those of you who were not as lucky to experience this thrill, will definitely find this book fun.

Everyone loves to go to the supermarket checkout lines and read the Enquirer. This book is nothing more than a bigger version of the Enquirer. The author tells interesting gossip about specially chosen famous people. I think he mainly chose people that were homosexual or had homosexual tendencies. It is amazing how many "stars" have homosexual leanings or who can't keep their pants on. If you like to read those rag mags, then you will enjoy this free for all.

As a recently retired teacher of 37 years I had gained quite a reputation as a "story teller". Many of the stories I told my students were of the same nature as Mingo's book subtitled, "Things Your History Teacher Never Told You About the 20th Century's Most Famous People". I DID tell them, at least what I knew but I was truly fascinated with the depth of information in Mingo's book. I would recommend it highly for adults. Some of the things he reported on I would not have shared with my 7th and 8th graders

What a disappointment! I love trivia, and trivia books, but this one is just stupid! The five minutes it took to read certainly weren't worth the money. No index. Typos all over the place. Obviously, this book was written in about a day and a half. Just an "instant" book for the "Ask Jeeves" folks.

I'll stay with the Book of Lists, which (unlike the above) *was* exhaustively researched and accurate. Another *great* series was the "Don't Know Much About History/the Bible/Geography/etc." series. Terrific books! Well written, interesting, and funny.

Save your money. Forget Jeeves, and get one of the far superior books above.

As a kid, I used to read fact books by the dozens. _The Book of Lists_ was a perennial favorite of mine. More recently, the picture of Jeeves on the bookshelf at the local library caught my eye. It claimed to have the answers to the "1001 most intriguing questions asked on the Internet". I took it home and read most of it pretty quickly.

But what a letdown it was. Sure, there are plenty of great questions here, such as "What did Mick Jagger do before singing?" and "Where did the term stool pigeon come from?", but there some mediocre ones as well ("Who invented the electric food mixer?", "Do you have a recipe for sauerkraut cookies?", "When will I die?") I also suspect that many of the questions asked were not really asked online, but were included because the answer is an interesting one. Ex: "I know _The Great Gatsby_, but what's the book _Gadsby_?" (the answer is that it's an entire book written without using the letter 'e'.) I suspect that the authors may have taken liberty to edit the questions themselves to be more interesting.

There are a number of typos in the book. Usually, I wouldn't count this against it, but I feel the book may have been rushed to print, which I fear is an indication to the quality of research for the answers.

Perhaps most insidious of all is the fact that there's no index in the back. Thus, if you remember reading about some fact and want to look it up later on, you're stuck going through the entire chapter associated with your topic. This might be another indication the book was rushed out as well.

Certainly there are many interesting facts contained here, but there are better fact books out there (e.g., David Feldman's _Imponderables_ series.)

I recently saw a review for this book from the question/answer guy who edits the Straight Dope column -- Ed Zotti. What he had to say was impressive. Words like "exemplary" were strewn throughout, so I figured I'd pick up a copy at the local bookstore.

I'm glad I did.

This book was not only well researched (sure, there are a couple of glitches; I've not read a fact book that doesn't have one or two!), it's hysterical. I'm not completely sure how these guys pull this off, but they've given the butler guy a pretty cool voice.

This is a stellar book. My recommendation to anyone who loves to laugh, learn and have a good time, is to run out and get this book. Put it in your briefcase for your lunch hour; take it in your backpack for your morning and afternoon commute; stick it in your bathroom, or place it on your nightstand. It's well worth it!

This is a good book, but not a great book. 'Nuff said. Email me with questions.

Maybe this is a boy book. I'm a boy, or, at least I was once, and the cool tricks explained here are the sorts which would cause my mother to cringe, "Boys will be boys."

These are the old standby gags you pulled in the third grade, or were amazed when your buddy impressed the girls with them.

The instructions are simple, complete with diagrams and drawings. They are part sleight-of-hand, part practice and part common sense. Baton twirling will take more time to master than spitting a nickel.

The "slice the fruit in the peel" banana trick is here, along with an apple variation. The "smoking fingertips" trick is here, and seems easier than I remember. You'll find the one I never mastered, the "basketball finger spin."

There are balloon tricks, including how to make animals.

My favorite is the "mummified finger," which is the one with the finger-sized hole in a small box.

I fully recommend "How to Spit Nickels" by Jack Mingo for young boys and other tricksters.

Anthony Trendl

I've been doing magic for about 3 years now, and this is the most comprehensive book of card magic I've come across. Their are a wide range of tricks, from "Finale" to "Aces and Kings" which makes for a more enjoyable read. The diagrams aren't as good as some other books I've seen and that's where it lost its 5th star, however it makes up for it in all other areas. I really recommend it!