Book Review: Interesting Facts for Curious Minds

On Christmas 2023, I was gifted the book Interesting Facts for Curious Minds by Jordan Moore along with similarly titled Interesting Stories for Curious People by Bill O’Neill, which I reviewed in March. As mentioned in past book reviews, my book pile is extensive, and I need to read through my books more quickly. Much like Interesting Stories, Interesting Facts is written at a middle school reading level, mixes humor with more serious topics, and cites none of its sources, although some sections match Wikipedia almost verbatim. As an added bonus, the name Dr. Seuss was frequently misspelled as Dr. Suess. This is a great place to get a taste of many different historical topics but not something to cite in a school project. As a result, this review will contain connections to my past blog articles and links to more reputable resources.

I already knew many of the facts found in this book and viewed these as a nice refresher for some of my favorite topics. The section “Fascinating Facts of Children’s Stories” included references to the Grimm brothers, the origins of the nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie”, and a shout out to the Roud Indexes, which I described at length in a recent essay on English pub culture. Another frequent “guest” to my blog who received a mention in this section was children’s book author Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame. The podcast Mobituaries, which I reviewed in January, had an excellent episode on her life and that of her daughter Rose Wilder, while I further commented on the mother-daughter writing team while discussing the role of women editors on well-known literary works in an essay.

The section “Drugs, Legal and Otherwise” bore strong resemblance to my strangely popular essay on the history of narcotics in the Real World and Middle-earth. Interesting facts in this section included a reference to hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms ingested by Aztecs during religious rituals, the time the US FDA tried to have jurisdiction over cigarettes by declaring them “drug delivery devices” in 1995, only to have the Supreme Court strike this down five years later in 2000, and the popularity of cannabis as the most consumed illicit drug in the US.

The book had a decidedly American focus, and I was delighted by the inclusion of Deborah Sampson Gannett who fought in the American Revolutionary War using the pseudonym Robert Shirtliff. Since Deborah signed up in my hometown of Uxbridge, MA, she has received past recognition on the blog, including her cobbled together “wedding photo” at Middleborough Historical Museum and memorial signage in Middleboro, MA. Elsewhere in Massachusetts, Canadian Jim Naismith invented basketball in Springfield in 1891, and the sport’s hall of fame (which I have yet to visit!) is in the city.

A handful of facts were completely new to me and therefore extra exciting. I had no idea that insect fighting was a sport in Asia with different regions preferring different species. I knew quite a bit about early industrial clocks but not as much about the first mechanical clocks, which apparently were built in what is now Germany and Switzerland during the last 13^th century. I also knew about the “Little Ice Age” from the 16^th through 19^th centuries but had not realized the cooling amount was 3.6°F (2°C). As for sports, shin-kicking is a contest in England especially among Cornish miners and their descendants, which comes as no surprise to me as someone who numbers among them.

I wish more details had been included in the facts found in some sections. “A Person Has to Work” included information on serfdom, medieval guilds, indentured servitude, and child labor laws during the Industrial Revolution but could have used better explanation. I enjoyed the section on “Rebels and Revolutionaries” and thought the author did a decent job describing the American Revolution, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, and others. Finally, I was delighted by the section “So Easy a Caveman Could Do It?”, which referenced not only the atlatl or handheld spear-throwing tool, which I lasted viewed at the Robbins Museum of Archeology and last used at an event in Danvers, MA during Trails & Sails 2024, but also Homo floresiensis, an ancient human from modern day Indonesia who grew to about 3'6" (42" or 1.07m), making them the exact size of hobbits.

This book is currently available on Amazon for $10.59 or for free online via Internet Archive. An audiobook is available on Audible for $0.99. The material is generally appropriate for all audiences. Like many books in the fun fact genre, this is a great gift for someone who enjoys learning a wide range of tidbits about different cultures and needs a break from the heavier reading found in academic literature.

Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 6/10

Accessibility: 8/10