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Description edit
The team behind the New York Times bestseller The Book of General Ignorance turns conventional biography on its head — and shakes out the good stuff. Following their Herculean — or is it Sisyphean? — efforts to save the living from ignorance, the two wittiest Johns in the English language turn... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
A typical anthology type of book, akin to the "Treasury of Deeption," "Treasury of Royal Scandals," "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew," and other books of that genre.
Not a reference work in any meaningful sense, but a quick and pleasurable collection of biographical... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Ada Lovelace: Daughter of Lord Byron and his wife Annabella, she was a mathematician and one of the first people to recognize the potential of what would later be called the computer. She is credited with writing the first computer program.
- Mary Kingsley: Add a description of this character.
- Blake
- Dee
- Emma
- Florence Nightingale
- Jeremy Bentham
- Nelson
- Catherine
- Morris
- Peary
- Leonardo
- Oates
- Karl Marx
- Lambert
- Hughes
- Galton
- Andersen
- Cuthbert
- William
- Santa Anna
- Marie
- Parsons
- Genghis Khan
- Colette
- Lord Byron
- H. G. Wells
- Sigmund Freud
- Franklin
- Jack
- Cora
- Nikola Tesla
- Tallulah
- Jiang
- James
- Kelley
- Andrew Jenner: The country doctor who developed the first practical vaccine against smallpox.
- Ann Lee
- Gordon
- Maria
- Jeffrey
- Crowley
- Heaviside
- Giuseppe
- Alexander the Great
- Charles
- Anne
Setting & Locations edit
- London
- England
- Europe
- France
- New York
- Great Britain
- Paris
- United States
- South America
- Mexico
- Rome
- Russia
- China
- Cambridge
- Greece
- West Africa
- Naples
- Greenland
- Canada
- Jamaica
- Poland
- Hollywood
- Turkey
- Bristol
- Germany
- Crimea
- Southwark
- Texas
- Athens
- St. Petersburg
- Philadelphia
- North Pole
- Devon
- Australia
- Italy
First Sentence edit
George Street in Edinburgh is one of the most elegant thoroughfares in one of the best designed cities in the world.
Table of Contents edit
Introduction - John Lloyd
Prologue - John Michinson
Chapter 1 There's Nothing Like A Bad Start In Life
Chapter 2 Happy-go-lucky
Chapter 3 Driven
Chapter 4 Let's Do It
Chapter 5 Man Cannot Live By Bread Alone
Chapter 6 Grin And Bear It
Chapter 7 The Monkey Keepers
Chapter 8 Who Do You Think You Are?
Chapter 9 Once You're Dead, You're Made For Life
Chapter 10 Is That All There Is?
Authors & Contributors edit
- John Mitchinson (Author)
- John Lloyd (Author)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 920
Subjects edit
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