Author Description

From the inquisitive mind behind the #1 international bestseller A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders, all the facts you didn’t know you wanted to know—and the stories of how we’ve come to know them In this illuminating compendium of far-ranging information, no topic is too trivial for serious consideration, from how one might determine the most average-size country in the world to the details of humanity's most ridiculous wars and the answer to who would win in a fight between Harry Potter and Spider-Man. Elledge's Nontrivial Trivia covers the breadth and depth of human experience, weaving its way through words and numbers, science and the arts, the spiritual and the secular. It’s a feast of facts for a hungry mind, including entries on the cosmos, the human planet (and the lines we draw on it), questions of measurement, history and politics, the natural world, leisure, and many “oddities” that don't fit elsewhere. Bizarre, brilliant, and filled with things you didn't know you didn't know, Elledge's Nontrivial Trivia evokes a sense of wonder at the scale of this planet, and the universe in which it sits. Publisher’s note: Elledge's Nontrivial Trivia was previously published in the UK as The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything.