Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things

Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Chartwell Books
ISBN: 0785834370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Relates facts and information about a host of ordinary things ranging from safety pins to negligees.

Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things

Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Chartwell Books
ISBN: 0785834370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Relates facts and information about a host of ordinary things ranging from safety pins to negligees.

Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody

Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781567316179
Category : Curiosities and wonders
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description


Sacred Origins of Profound Things

Sacred Origins of Profound Things PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101656077
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
In this enlightening and entertaining work, Charles Panati explores the origins of hundreds of religious rituals, customs, and practices in many faiths, the reasons for religious holidays and sacred symbols, and the meanings of vestments, sacraments, devotions, and prayers. Its many revelations include: * Why the Star of David became the Jewish counterpart of the Christian cross * What mortal remains of the Buddha are venerated today * How the diamond engagement ring became a standard * That the first pope was a happily married man * How Hindu thinkers arrived at their concept of reincarnation * Why Jews don't eat pork, why some Muslims don't eat certain vegetables, and how some Christians came to observe meatless Fridays Sacred Origins of Profound Things is an indispensable resource for all those interested in the history of religion and the history of ideas--and an inspiring guide to those seeking to understand their faith.

Brainiac

Brainiac PDF Author: Ken Jennings
Publisher: Villard
ISBN: 1588365522
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A witty, charming, and engaging dive into trivia’s colorful history, from America’s highest-earning game show contestant of all time and host of Jeopardy! “Insightful, informative, and written with a strong dose of humor and humility. . . . I loved this book.”—Will Shortz, crossword editor, The New York Times Ken Jennings is trivia’s undisputed king—and as he traces his rise from anonymous computer programmer to nerd folk icon, he explores his newly conquered kingdom: the world of trivia itself. Trivia, he has found, is centuries older than his childhood obsession with it. Whisking us from the coffeehouses of seventeenth-century London to the Internet age, Jennings chronicles the ups and downs of the trivia fad: the quiz book explosion of the Jazz Age; the rise, fall, and rise again of TV quiz shows; the nostalgic campus trivia of the 1960s; and the 1980s, when Trivial Pursuit® again made it fashionable to be a know-it-all. Jennings also investigates the shadowy demimonde of today’s trivia subculture, guiding us on a tour of trivia across America. He goes head-to-head with the blowhards and diehards of the college quiz-bowl circuit, the slightly soused faithful of the Boston pub trivia scene, and the raucous participants in the annual Q&A marathon in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, “The World’s Largest Trivia Contest.” And, of course, he takes us behind the scenes of his improbable 75-game run on Jeopardy! But above all, Brainiac is a love letter to the useless fact. (Who knew that there’s a crater on Venus named after Laura Ingalls Wilder? Ken Jennings, that’s who.) Engaging and erudite, Brainiac is an irresistible celebration of nostalgia, curiosity, and geeky obsession—in a word, trivia.

Panati's Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias

Panati's Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Harpercollins
ISBN: 9780060964771
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
A look at the last one hundred years of American pop culture includes discussions of pop songs, books, and media

An Uncommon History of Common Things

An Uncommon History of Common Things PDF Author: Bethanne Patrick
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1426212275
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Pop culture fans and trivia lovers will delight in National Geographic’s highly browsable, freewheeling compendium of customs, notions and inventions that reflect human ingenuity throughout history. Dip into any page and discover extraordinary hidden details in the everyday that will inform, amuse, astonish, and surprise. From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, this book features hundreds of colorful illustrations, timelines, sidebars, and more as it explores just about every subject under the sun. Who knew that indoor plumbing has been around for 4,600 years, but punctuation, capital letters, and the handy spaces between written words only date back to the Dark Ages? Or that ancient soldiers baked a kind of pizza on their shields— when they weren’t busy flying kites to frighten their foes?

The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told

The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told PDF Author: Rick Beyer
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060760184
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
What most of us don't know about our presidents could fill a book—and this just happens to be that book! From the archives of The History Channel® comes a treasure trove of quirky presidential history that will truly astonish, bewilder, and stupefy. Like Abraham Lincoln's duel or Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting . . . and let's not forget about the president who went skinny-dipping in the Potomac every day! That's the kind of presidential history you'll find in The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told: One hundred little-known stories to make you shake your head in wonder. If you want to find out how "Hail to the Chief" came to be the president's song, why the Oval Office isn't square, which president saved the game of football, and why Washington, D.C., could have been named Hertburn, this is the book for you. Did You Know About: The custody battle that made George Washington an American? The counterfeiters who tried to steal Lincoln's body? The woman who brought down Andrew Jackson's cabinet? The man who was president for a day? You know what makes the presidents famous, but it's the stuff you don't know that makes them interesting. A feast of fascinating presidential tidbits awaits.

Panati's Browser's Book of Beginnings

Panati's Browser's Book of Beginnings PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 9780395562383
Category : Encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
Describes the origins of more than 1000 objects, ideas, movements, and concepts, including checkers, the computer, ragtime, Islam, ice cream, the abacus, Yiddish, and many other familiar and not-so-familiar things

The Browser's Book of Endings

The Browser's Book of Endings PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
A witty & comprehensive look at the world's endings.

Shri Sai Satcharita

Shri Sai Satcharita PDF Author: Govind Raghunath Dabholkar
Publisher: Sterling Publishers Pvt., Limited
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 918

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Book Description