Okay, I like to shake things up once in awhile. Before Christmas I came across this book in my local independent indie book shop, Fuller’s. I saw it on the shelf and made a beeline straight to it. A young woman was holding a copy in her hand and said to me, “Somebody had better get this for me for Christmas!” There were three copies in the shop.
1001 Ideas That Changed The Way We Think. I do enjoy these 1001 compendiums and have the ones that relate to both books and children’s books. They are great fun to dip into and read a few pages here and there. I find them both motivating and fascinating.
This one is no different. I asked for this book for Christmas but of course the people I asked did not rush down to the shop and get one of the three copies. I got a wonderful book voucher for Christmas but alas, the book itself had disappeared. Enter book depository and about three weeks after Christmas my book arrived. (Mr. P should have bought it before because now I still have the book voucher and the book. He could have saved a bit by getting this and foregoing the voucher.)
How does one read such a book? You can’t read it page after page because the information will go in one brain cell and be filed away by another to that forgotten data base in the back of our head. It may or may not ever be seen again.
I decided to go to random.org. I put in 1 to about 950, the number of pages and came up with: number 866. I could feel a little wave of anticipation as I thumbed through the pages of this heavy tome looking for the magic number. There are actually two selections on this page.
1. Rap Music: United States– I learned that the word “rap” as a verb or noun meaning to talk, actually dates from the sixteenth century, but its application to a form of music began among African Americans in the 1960’s. It goes on to explain the various styles of rap music, its structure and uses. There is also a large black and white photo of ‘Grandmaster Flash’ who is considered to be the grandfather of rap music in the USA. He was a Dee Jay in the 1980’s. So close the file folder on that bit of trivia and put it into my data base storage unit of brain cells.
2. The second item of trivia relates to Social Networking Service. It states the earliest way people connected to others (beyond snail mail and telephones) were email and chat programs. They appeared in the 1970’s. I remember when we immigrated into Australia in 1988 how hard it was to keep in touch with family overseas. I was excited because I bought a new word processor that made writing letters so easy. When email appeared I thought all of my Christmases had come at once. Instant communication at once. Then Facebook with instant photos of what was happening with family and friends. I do love social media for that reason alone. The paragraph says that USENET was our first instant messaging system and it developed as a system between Duke University and the University of North Carolina and went from there.
Okay that was fun. Tomorrow morning when I have my coffee I will have random.org choose another page number for me. Just think, in about 950 more days I will have an encyclopaedic mind of trivia for casually entertaining at dinner party conversations. (Not that I attend many dinner parties, I take comfort in knowing I will be ready.)
Other topics to name just a few from randomly exploring pages are:
*Symbols *Reformed Epistimology *Astrology *Robin Hood *Islamic State
*Sewer Systems *Mathematical Function *Many Worlds Theory (Universes)
*Skepticism *Expressionism in Music *Six Thinking Hats *Beatrice Potter
If I come across some interesting information about books or authors I will put them up on Tuesday Trivia.
Next time you are attending a dinner party make sure you are not sitting too close. Unless you are a trivia person like I am.
Travellin' Penguin 