1
of
1
The Most Interesting Book in the World
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 44 ratings, 5 reviews)
Brief Description
'Charming, hilarious, and guaranteed to make you the most interesting person at any party. Or the most annoying' - Adam Rutherford ‘Weird and wonderful facts you didn’t know you needed. Full of quirky nuggets of information and trivia’ - Sun ‘Joyously bizarre facts in a new...
Read More
Format: Hardback
$4500
Unit price
/
Unavailable
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
The Most Interesting Book in the World
$4500
Unit price
/
Unavailable
A miscellany of things too strange to be true, yet somehow are, by former BBC QI Elf turned bestselling author, Edward Brooke-Hitching, in this remarkable treasury of tales and trivia packed full of images and photographs.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
'Charming, hilarious, and guaranteed to make you the most interesting person at any party. Or the most annoying' - Adam Rutherford
‘Weird and wonderful facts you didn’t know you needed. Full of quirky nuggets of information and trivia’ - Sun
‘Joyously bizarre facts in a new book from a QI brainbox’ - Daily Mail
Drawn from a former BBC QI Elf's lifetime’s search for the weird and the wonderful, The Most Interesting Book in the World is a miscellany of things too strange to be true, yet somehow are.
This remarkable treasury of tales and trivia will whisk you on a jaw-dropping journey through time and space, stopping off to marvel at only the obscure, the startling and the straight-up weird.
In it, Edward Brooke-Hitching considers questions such as:
- Why is a cat technically a liquid and a solid?
- How did nineteenth-century scientists attempt to signal aliens?
- Why did the Dutch once eat their prime minister?
Nowhere else will you find woven together the stories of the religious leader who attempted to build a robot messiah from a dining table, the anti-gravity ‘air-walkers’ of Victorian London, and the pirates who rode sheep; or practical advice for correctly exorcising a house and casting ancient love spells, along with recent scientific discoveries like the mould that can navigate a maze and that humans can glow in the dark.
A unique hybrid of encyclopaedia, trivia and drunken-bar raconteur, all stitched together in one colossal Frankenstein volume packed full of images and photographs - this is the ultimate must-read for anyone looking to tickle the cortex of their curiosity.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781398532373
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 10 October 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 23.0mm
Width: 135.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 320
About the Author
Edward Brooke-Hitching is the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling books The Phantom Atlas (2016), The Golden Atlas (2018), The Sky Atlas (2019), The Madman's Library (2020) and The Devil's Atlas (2021), all of which have been translated into numerous languages; he is also the author of Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports (2015). He is a writer for the BBC series QI. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an incurable cartophile, he lives surrounded by dusty heaps of old maps and books in Berkshire.
Also by Edward Brooke-Hitching
View all-
The Madman's Library
BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Anybody who loves the printed word will be bowled over by this amusing, erudite, beautiful book about books. It is in every way a triumph. One of the loveliest books to have been published for many, many years' — Alexander McCall Smith 'Quite simply the best gift for any book lover this year,...Hardback$4800Elsewhere:$5299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Phantom Atlas
A STUNNINGLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK REVEALING THE GREATEST MYTHS, LIES AND BLUNDERS ON MAPS 'Highly recommended' - Andrew Marr 'A spectacular, enjoyable and eye-opening read' - Jonathan Ross The Phantom Atlas is an atlas of the world not as it ever existed, but as it was thought to be. These marvellous and mysterious phantoms—non-existent islands, invented mountain ranges, mythical civilisations, and...Hardback$5400Elsewhere:$5999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Madman's Gallery
Enter The Madman's Gallery - the perfect gift book for any art lover. Discover an eccentric exploration through the curious history of art, to find the strangest paintings, sculptures, drawings, and other artistic oddities ever made. From the author of the bestseller The Madman’s Library (Sunday Times Literature Book of the Year 2020, Radio 4 Book of the Week) comes...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Love; A Curious History
‘Edward Brooke-Hitching's delightful book is a collection of curiosities. From a 19th-century lonely hearts ad to a nuptial blessing of the bride’s buttocks, an entertaining history of love over the millennia that proves when it comes to the heart, little has changed.’ Daily Mail From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas and The Madman’s Library (Sunday Times...Hardback$5900Elsewhere:$6500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Madman's Orchestra
From the bestselling author and former BBC QI Elf comes a fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of music. In The Madman’s Orchestra, join Edward Brooke-Hitching as he lifts the curtain on the strangest episodes from the entire history of music, taking us on a backstage tour of surprising and eccentric stories. From the musical secrets of...Hardback$6999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Devil's Atlas
'Very beautiful and illuminating' – Mariella Frostrup Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas, delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devil’s Atlas is an illustrated guide to the heavens, hells, and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colourful maps, paintings, and captivating stories, the reader...Hardback$5999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
What's the Weirdest Thing About Animals?
Think you know everything there is to know about our world’s weird and wonderful animals?Well think again.From bottom-breathing turtles to fish that live in trees, set off with Edward Brooke-Hitching on a fact-packed safari to discover the strangest, silliest and down-right weirdest things our planet’s amazing animals has to offer.Written by former QI elf and author extraordinaire, the first book...Paperback$2299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
365 Amazing True Things to Read in Bed
Bedtime is about to get a lot more interesting. 365 Amazing True Things to Read in Bed is a joyful collection bursting with wild facts, weird wonders, and unbelievable-but-true stories — one for every night of the year. You'll learn things like... Where does it rain diamonds? What does a comet smell like? Why would you keep a dog up...Hardback$3299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Sky Atlas
Beautiful ... endless, brilliant, unforgettable stories' Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 6* Combining myth and science, this breathtaking book [is] packed with stunning images' Daily Mail After the enormous international success of The Phantom Atlas and The Golden Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching's brilliant book unveils some of the most beautiful maps and charts ever created during mankind's quest to map the skies...HardbackSold Out -
The Golden Atlas
'Stunning...divine' Stephen Fry ‘A fabulous book, good enough to eat with a spoon! Marvellous’ John Lloyd, creator of QI ‘Perfect for the armchair adventurer historian, this is a rich visual exploration of some of the most beautiful charts ever created’ National Geographic 'Introduces us to a whole different way of looking at maps. Great illustrations, most engaging - the author...HardbackSold Out
More from History & Military
View all-
Saving Elli
One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseSuicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Man's Search For Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the author’s groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...Paperback$1800Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Betrayal
‘Tom Bower is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic storyteller and a master of intricacies.’ Sunday Times The British Crown is in crisis, with constitutional threats at home and abroad. At a landmark moment in royal history, can King Charles overcome the scandals that blight the Royal family? Can the broken bonds between the Houses of Sussex...Paperback$3499Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Chief and the Empire
The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential Māori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the Pākehā world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Discipline
Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Shattered Lands
'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' – PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation … both original and important' – MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Matariki: The Star of the Year
In mid-winter, Matariki rises in the pre-dawn sky, and its observation is celebrated with incantations on hilltops at dawn, balls, exhibitions, dinners, and a vast number of events. The Matariki tradition has been re-established, and its regeneration coincides with a growing interest in Māori astronomy. Still, there remain some unanswered questions about how Matariki was traditionally observed. These include: What...Paperback$3399Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Goliath’s Curse
Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp offers a radical retelling of human history through the lens of collapse, delving into what this means for our uncertain future. This narrative spans from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. It's grounded in the latest research and a comprehensive database of more than 440...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThe Good Settler
‘Where once I saw a view as I drove around the Taranaki coast along State Highway 45, I now see confiscated land from an invasion road. The creation story I used to subscribe to, the one in which hard-working people came here and settled the land, now jars. Weirdly, even the lawn looks different. The form of things just won’t...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Keep Calm – We Are Coming
Keep Calm — We Are Coming briefly backgrounds the New Zealand Special Air Service deployment in Afghanistan — then goes into action. While primarily training Afghan forces, in Kabul the NZSAS had to respond to a series of ‘spectacular attacks’ by heavily armed Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests and determined to inflict major casualties. In the words of those who...Paperback$4000Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
