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Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things
From the duo behind the massively successful and award-winning podcast Stuff You Should Know comes an unexpected look at things you thought you knew.
Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant started the podcast Stuff You Should Know back in 2008 because they were curious—curious about the world around them, curious about what they might have missed in their formal educations, and curious to dig deeper on stuff they thought they understood.
As it turns out, they aren't the only curious ones. They've since amassed a rabid fan base, making Stuff You Should Know one of the most popular podcasts in the world. Armed with their inquisitive natures and a passion for sharing, they uncover the weird, fascinating, delightful, or unexpected elements of a wide variety of topics.
The pair have now taken their near-boundless "whys" and "hows" from your earbuds to the pages of a book for the first time—featuring a completely new array of subjects that they’ve long wondered about and wanted to explore. Each chapter is further embellished with snappy visual material to allow for rabbit-hole tangents and digressions—including charts, illustrations, sidebars, and footnotes. Follow along as the two dig into the underlying stories of everything from the origin of Murphy beds, to the history of facial hair, to the psychology of being lost.
Have you ever wondered about the world around you, and wished to see the magic in everyday things? Come get curious with Stuff You Should Know. With Josh and Chuck as your guide, there’s something interesting about everything (…except maybe jackhammers).
Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant started the podcast Stuff You Should Know back in 2008 because they were curious—curious about the world around them, curious about what they might have missed in their formal educations, and curious to dig deeper on stuff they thought they understood.
As it turns out, they aren't the only curious ones. They've since amassed a rabid fan base, making Stuff You Should Know one of the most popular podcasts in the world. Armed with their inquisitive natures and a passion for sharing, they uncover the weird, fascinating, delightful, or unexpected elements of a wide variety of topics.
The pair have now taken their near-boundless "whys" and "hows" from your earbuds to the pages of a book for the first time—featuring a completely new array of subjects that they’ve long wondered about and wanted to explore. Each chapter is further embellished with snappy visual material to allow for rabbit-hole tangents and digressions—including charts, illustrations, sidebars, and footnotes. Follow along as the two dig into the underlying stories of everything from the origin of Murphy beds, to the history of facial hair, to the psychology of being lost.
Have you ever wondered about the world around you, and wished to see the magic in everyday things? Come get curious with Stuff You Should Know. With Josh and Chuck as your guide, there’s something interesting about everything (…except maybe jackhammers).
297 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 24, 2020
817 people are currently reading
3,705 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 403 reviews
December 8, 2020
Like most inveterate readers, from childhood I read whatever I could lay my hands on. Not just fiction, I also read the back of cereal boxes, entire encyclopaedia volumes, trivia pursuit game cards, brochures, and my grandparents stash of Reader’s Digest magazines, among other things. This habit exposed me to a rather random selection of nonfiction topics, some of which piqued my interest more than others, and occasionally sent me ‘down a rabbit hole�, an indulgence that was considerably more difficult in the decades before the Internet (yes, I’m old). All of this preamble goes some way to explain my interest in Stuff You Should Know.
Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things originates from the popular podcast of the same name founded by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant in 2008. Admired for their enthusiasm and their sense of humour, the duo indulge their sense of curiosity delving into the weird, fascinating, delightful, or unexpected pieces of any given subject. The book contains new content, though there are often links to previous podcast episodes, so old fans and new readers alike should be satisfied.
It’s fair to say that not everyone will feel they need to know, or care, how Murphy Beds came to be, where the Scotland Yard Crime Museum is, or why Cyanide Pills are so popular among spies, but I found almost all of the random topics explored in Stuff You Should Know to be interesting (I couldn’t care less about Income Tax). Josh and Chuck explore a mix of history, psychology, cultural relevance and trivia germane to each specific subject, complemented with charts, graphs, illustrations and additional asides in a concise yet playful manner.
Whether you are a trivia buff, in need of new conversational topics, a game show hopeful (especially for The Price is Right), or just insatiably curious, Stuff You Should Know will both inform and entertain.
Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things originates from the popular podcast of the same name founded by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant in 2008. Admired for their enthusiasm and their sense of humour, the duo indulge their sense of curiosity delving into the weird, fascinating, delightful, or unexpected pieces of any given subject. The book contains new content, though there are often links to previous podcast episodes, so old fans and new readers alike should be satisfied.
It’s fair to say that not everyone will feel they need to know, or care, how Murphy Beds came to be, where the Scotland Yard Crime Museum is, or why Cyanide Pills are so popular among spies, but I found almost all of the random topics explored in Stuff You Should Know to be interesting (I couldn’t care less about Income Tax). Josh and Chuck explore a mix of history, psychology, cultural relevance and trivia germane to each specific subject, complemented with charts, graphs, illustrations and additional asides in a concise yet playful manner.
Whether you are a trivia buff, in need of new conversational topics, a game show hopeful (especially for The Price is Right), or just insatiably curious, Stuff You Should Know will both inform and entertain.
November 3, 2022
Disappointing
December 13, 2021
A fun bunch of trivia & it would have been right up my alley except their humor didn't hit my funny bone too often & they left some pretty gaping holes in a few of the stories, too. The audiobook edition had some bonus material at the very end after the commercial for their publisher & their brief bios. They were questions from listeners that were interesting, so hang in there & listen to them.
December 3, 2020
If you love Josh and Chuck’s podcast “Stuff you should know�, you will enjoy this book. Seriously, what are you waiting for??
If you have not listened to the podcast but enjoy whipping out them information bombs at gatherings (whenever that will happen safely again), read this book.
If you have not listened to the podcast but enjoy whipping out them information bombs at gatherings (whenever that will happen safely again), read this book.
February 15, 2021
DNF
Should be called «ÌýNot very funny stuff you don’t care aboutÌý»
Should be called «ÌýNot very funny stuff you don’t care aboutÌý»
January 5, 2021
Written poorly, with a first person familiarity that is juvenile. Eight of ten words are unnecessary with the topics poorly chosen. It has no sense of the absurd yet manages to be grossly offensive. As an example - on the topic of Cyanide,
"Not only did the Nazis infamously use cyanide as a key ingredient in the Zyklon B poison that killed millions of innocent people during the Holocaust, they also used it on themselves. A lot. If you were to judge their taste for the poison based on their frequency of consumption, it appears to have been only slightly less voracious than Tony the Tiger's appetite for Frosted Flakes (It's Gravvvvve!)"
Gas chambers, Dachau, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Treblinka & Tony the Tiger. This is Mr. Clark's and Mr. Bryant's idea of humor. The paucity of ideas is such that the best these two can do is to compare the murder of million to a breakfast cereal and a cartoon character.
The 1982 murder of 8 innocents in Chicago also receives mention that is purportedly humorous.
On & on it goes. Pass on this poorly written, offensive piece.
Jakob Blankitny
Rosa Marie Burger
Miriam Eshel
Haya Friedman
The Grossman family
All of them deserve more and so do you.
"Not only did the Nazis infamously use cyanide as a key ingredient in the Zyklon B poison that killed millions of innocent people during the Holocaust, they also used it on themselves. A lot. If you were to judge their taste for the poison based on their frequency of consumption, it appears to have been only slightly less voracious than Tony the Tiger's appetite for Frosted Flakes (It's Gravvvvve!)"
Gas chambers, Dachau, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Treblinka & Tony the Tiger. This is Mr. Clark's and Mr. Bryant's idea of humor. The paucity of ideas is such that the best these two can do is to compare the murder of million to a breakfast cereal and a cartoon character.
The 1982 murder of 8 innocents in Chicago also receives mention that is purportedly humorous.
On & on it goes. Pass on this poorly written, offensive piece.
Jakob Blankitny
Rosa Marie Burger
Miriam Eshel
Haya Friedman
The Grossman family
All of them deserve more and so do you.
November 17, 2021
Just like an episode of SYSK without any ads or unrelated background conversations. This was kind of my dream.
December 22, 2020
Huge SYSK fan. I listen to every new episode (three a week! plus SYSK Selects!), I saw them on tour, I really love listening to them. But the book is not that good. With regards to a few different things. One are the topics themselves, which I admit is fairly subjective; I'm sure plenty of people thought all the topics in the book were great. There are 27 topics in the book, and I would say I thought that six were really great. Fair enough, not for everyone. Another issue I had were the footnotes. There were way too many of them, and fell into two categories: either they were just dumb "witty" asides that had nothing to do with the information and should have been left out, or they were actually relevant and should have been included in the body of the text itself. Footnotes aren't just a place to continue the sentence, they shouldn't be paragraphs long. So, a very odd editing choice. The final issue is just the writing itself, it's not cohesive and some of their introductions make zero goddamn sense. There's an entire chapter about dog smells (which is pretty bad), and the introduction is about Christopher Nolan's use of crumbling dreamscapes in Inception and how what a person is experiencing while they're asleep can influence their dreams. Great! Would you then expect that intro to segue into "and sometimes you dream about your grandmother's Frito Pie just to wake up and see that your dog has their stinky feet in your face." So stupid. I'm going to keep listening to the podcast because I love them, and maybe all these topics would have been better as episodes and just failed because they were written down because maybe they're not that good at writing? Or maybe Nils Parker is to blame, who knows. But I don't want to read anything else from them.
May 29, 2021
Coffee table information with lots of historical mistakes.
January 17, 2022
This is exactly what I expected to get with this book, no more, no less. It's essentially the Stuff You Should Know Podcast in book form with some illustrations. The problem for me is that it just doesn't translate to book form as well as one would hope. Sure the tangents and humor are still there along with a wealth full of knowledge and information, but it's just not as good. I can understand why the footnotes annoyed some people, as there are far too many of them and they go so in depth at times that you forget what you're reading to begin with. If you're a fan of the podcast I recommend you at least check this out, but I think many will feel it's a little off just like I do. I've been listing to the SYSK podcast for close to 15 years now and I'll continue to do so. I hope Josh and Chuck were able to cash in a bit with this book because they've earned it.
February 23, 2022
This book is full of fascinating facts and exploration of seemingly banal and obscure topics. In every chapter, you will learn a lot, and while much of it isn’t exactly essential to know, it sure is a lot of fun.
Some of my favorite chapters were about the pet rock craze in the 70s, The Price is Right, canines�
sense of smell, and the psychology of being lost. Fans of the podcast will be pleased to see that each chapter has many asides and detours into related topics and, of course, plenty of puns and an ample
amount of “Dad� humor. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook.
� David
Some of my favorite chapters were about the pet rock craze in the 70s, The Price is Right, canines�
sense of smell, and the psychology of being lost. Fans of the podcast will be pleased to see that each chapter has many asides and detours into related topics and, of course, plenty of puns and an ample
amount of “Dad� humor. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook.
� David
March 29, 2025
My amazing girlfriend got me this book because she knew I was a big fan of the pod (she’s a great gift giver). The book is packed with fun and interesting stories in bite-sized chapters that made it perfect for reading between other books or whenever I wanted some variety. It is full of the same wit and humor as the show—I loved reading it !!
Some of my favorite chapters were The History of Facial Hair (1), Mr. Potato Head (2), Do(ugh)nuts (12), The Jersey Devil (13), Kamikaze (15), and The Perfect Price is Right Game (26).
Some of my favorite chapters were The History of Facial Hair (1), Mr. Potato Head (2), Do(ugh)nuts (12), The Jersey Devil (13), Kamikaze (15), and The Perfect Price is Right Game (26).
January 7, 2021
I have been a fan of this podcast since about 2012, and wanted to support their book, and had an audible credit, so I thought it would be a bit like a longer podcast. It is and it isn't, and they were up front about that on the podcast, so I knew that going in. The podcast is more of a conversation, while this was two separate parts reading through the text. It did still retain their delivery, and I laughed out loud at least a few times while listening at a few dry one-liners. Like the podcast, the topics vary widely, and cover the topics in a moderate amount of depth, but topics tend to relate to one another in surprising ways. I do feel a bit like I might have missed out a bit on the pictures in the hard copy of the book, but I feel like the vocal delivery makes up for it, and there was a special little bit at the end for audiobook listeners. If you are a fan of the podcast, some form of this book is a no brainer. If you don't know about it, this might seem strange, based on some misconceptions about what the book might be based on the title.
January 3, 2021
This format works a lot better in podcast form. Stuff You Should Know makes a good coffee table book but it isn't really a page turner in any sense (also... if you're not an American a lot of these topics might go over your head). "How To Get Lost" & "Aging" were two chapters I particularly liked.
April 18, 2022
I love the Stuff You Should Know podcast and the book was informative, but what I love most about the podcast is the repartee between Josh and Chuck. Reading this as an audiobook on and off for over a year didn’t quite feel the same as enjoying their podcast episodes.
May 10, 2021
4.5/5 - Exactly what you expect from a SYSK book: deep(ish) dives into a variety of topics and occasional cheesy jokes.
April 28, 2021
I have never listened to this podcast, so I came into this book just trusting the title and hoping to learn a little about history and maybe some science about interesting questions we all wonder about. But instead of being "stuff you should know" it was more like random facts that I think very few people would find interesting, topics like: facial hair, Mr. Potato head, and Murphy beds. While most chapters were low on the interesting scale, I did like three chapters: cyanide, kamikazes, and child prodigies. I also really appreciate their enthusiasm for learning new things.
-"Our hope is that in listening to this book you feel more connected to the world around you, to the person next to you on the train, and the stranger on the opposite side of the world, to the beginning of human history, and to the end of eras that you weren't alive for, to places you may never go, and people you will probably never meet."
-On aging: "It's not just about extending life span, it's about increasing health span and how expanding health span elongates life span."
-"Our hope is that in listening to this book you feel more connected to the world around you, to the person next to you on the train, and the stranger on the opposite side of the world, to the beginning of human history, and to the end of eras that you weren't alive for, to places you may never go, and people you will probably never meet."
-On aging: "It's not just about extending life span, it's about increasing health span and how expanding health span elongates life span."
May 18, 2021
If you know the kind of random and unconventional topics that Josh and Chuck come up with, you would expect the same out of this book. Overall, there are a lot of interesting and random topics that might really be the "Stuff you should know"-type.
Some of the chapters I particularly liked-
1) Jack Kevorkian, his story and how he ushered in assisted suicide in many states.
2)The Scotland yard museum (the dark museum), the concept of death masks and the pseudo science of phrenology.
3)Kamikaze Chapter was also pretty interesting.
4)Keeping up with the Joneses and the psychology of one-upmanship.
5)Cyanide pills chapter was a kind of Aha moment for me and very interesting.
Some other chapters on random topics are interesting as well.
But there were other chapters that didn't really pique my interest and were kind of meh. But that is what SYSK is all about, just random topics and as they say that "there's something interesting about everything ".
You'll definitely be learning some new facts but nothing exceptional or unputdownable per se.
Some of the chapters I particularly liked-
1) Jack Kevorkian, his story and how he ushered in assisted suicide in many states.
2)The Scotland yard museum (the dark museum), the concept of death masks and the pseudo science of phrenology.
3)Kamikaze Chapter was also pretty interesting.
4)Keeping up with the Joneses and the psychology of one-upmanship.
5)Cyanide pills chapter was a kind of Aha moment for me and very interesting.
Some other chapters on random topics are interesting as well.
But there were other chapters that didn't really pique my interest and were kind of meh. But that is what SYSK is all about, just random topics and as they say that "there's something interesting about everything ".
You'll definitely be learning some new facts but nothing exceptional or unputdownable per se.
December 31, 2020
Light reading. Some of it entertaining and some not as much. I imagine these guys work better in podcast form and I agree with other reviewers re the excessive footnotes, some parts of which belong within the body of the text.
Most of the footnoting is just to be silly, though.. Maybe I would laugh more if their sense of humor was more akin to my own. I don't know. Some people are just funnier out loud and fall flat on paper.
As for the Stuff You Should Know, most of it isn't. But I enjoyed the trivia anyway. I think you could more accurately call it "Wait Til You Hear This" because it isn't anything you actually need to know. It's just stuff you never heard before. You'll probably find some of it pretty interesting.
Most of the footnoting is just to be silly, though.. Maybe I would laugh more if their sense of humor was more akin to my own. I don't know. Some people are just funnier out loud and fall flat on paper.
As for the Stuff You Should Know, most of it isn't. But I enjoyed the trivia anyway. I think you could more accurately call it "Wait Til You Hear This" because it isn't anything you actually need to know. It's just stuff you never heard before. You'll probably find some of it pretty interesting.
January 20, 2022
I don't listen to podcasts but if I did, I would tune in to this one. If you enjoy finding out stuff about a lot of random stuff, then this is the book for you! I must admit to picking and choosing because as a non-drinker, all about mezcal ranks very low on my need-to-know list. I also skipped the one about trichotillomania -- Working at a public library and this pandemic has turned me a tiny bit into a hypochondriac, so no. LOL! But sign me up for the history of facial hair, Mr. Potato Head and the Pet Rock, the Murphy Bed, donuts, demolition derbies, child prodigies, to name a few!
January 23, 2021
Again, this is all the stuff I’m massively into; random facts, weird niche topics, great trivia tidbits and a healthy dose of humour.
A very enjoyable read.
A very enjoyable read.
January 27, 2021
I was so let down by this book. The topics were underwhelming. It wasn’t even original material.
November 22, 2021
Boring although, admittedly, I didn’t read beyond the first few chapters.
February 1, 2022
Stuff You *Don't Need to Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly *Boring Things
August 16, 2021
A very interesting potpourri of information about all sorts of random subjects. Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant are the creators of the hit podcast Stuff You Should Know and have chosen 27 new topics to investigate (Chuck chose 14 and Josh chose 13) for the book. It can as the authors point out be read in any order as each topic is chosen at random because it piqued their curiosity. I usually read a chapter before going to sleep and found that was a good way to read it. It's not the sort of book I would want to read in one go but rather it's one to dip into each day.
I liked the authors style which was informative and entertaining and would often contain witticisms and amusing asides. Similarly the use of footnotes added to the enjoyment and these were often very funny. The text is broken up by illustrations and sometimes lists of information (like what was great about the 1970s).
I found some of the topics more interesting than others which might have been because the podcast is aimed at the American market. That's not a bad thing but some of the subjects would be of more interest to someone in the USA than someone in Britain.
My favourites were: Murphy beds, Keeping up with the Joneses, Kamikaze, Cyanide Pills and The Scotland Yard Crime Museum. A Murphy bed, I learnt, is one that folds into the wall and so is neatly stashed away during the day time. Its creator William Murphy had come up with the idea as he wanted to entertain a lady friend in his one bedroom apartment but one did not invite a single lady into ones bedroom during the late 19th century - not the done thing at all! So by folding the bed away his bedroom became a parlour and the niceties were observed. It obviously worked as he ended up marrying her!
I discovered that the phrase 'Keeping up with the Joneses' was derived from a comic strip of the same name. The Joneses never appeared in the comic strip (rather like Maris in Frasier!). Thus was a very interesting chapter that went into why the name Jones was chosen and gave some examples of well to do Joneses that it might have been based upon.
Kamikaze I enjoyed for its Japanese connection. Having read the book The Japanese it was very interesting to see how the roots of the concept went back to the 12th century Samurai code where death is more honourable than surrender.
The cyanide pills chapter was fascinating as I learnt that apple pips contain cyanide but that you'd have to crunch 140 of them to have any chance of dying! It was the death of choice for the Nazi High Command I discovered!
The Scotland Yard Crime Museum was completely unknown to me - and the reason why soon became apparent. It isn't open to the public! Which is a real shame as it sounds fascinating. It has only been open to the public for six months (during 2015 and 2016) as an exhibition arranged by the Museum of London. Josh and Chuck were dismayed to find that they missed it by three months, arriving for a visit to the UK in 2016. Such a shame because they sooooo wanted to see it. And could have written a very entertaining chapter on it I'm sure!
All in all I felt I'd learnt a lot from the book about all sorts of quirky subjects. I may even try to find the podcast!
I liked the authors style which was informative and entertaining and would often contain witticisms and amusing asides. Similarly the use of footnotes added to the enjoyment and these were often very funny. The text is broken up by illustrations and sometimes lists of information (like what was great about the 1970s).
I found some of the topics more interesting than others which might have been because the podcast is aimed at the American market. That's not a bad thing but some of the subjects would be of more interest to someone in the USA than someone in Britain.
My favourites were: Murphy beds, Keeping up with the Joneses, Kamikaze, Cyanide Pills and The Scotland Yard Crime Museum. A Murphy bed, I learnt, is one that folds into the wall and so is neatly stashed away during the day time. Its creator William Murphy had come up with the idea as he wanted to entertain a lady friend in his one bedroom apartment but one did not invite a single lady into ones bedroom during the late 19th century - not the done thing at all! So by folding the bed away his bedroom became a parlour and the niceties were observed. It obviously worked as he ended up marrying her!
I discovered that the phrase 'Keeping up with the Joneses' was derived from a comic strip of the same name. The Joneses never appeared in the comic strip (rather like Maris in Frasier!). Thus was a very interesting chapter that went into why the name Jones was chosen and gave some examples of well to do Joneses that it might have been based upon.
Kamikaze I enjoyed for its Japanese connection. Having read the book The Japanese it was very interesting to see how the roots of the concept went back to the 12th century Samurai code where death is more honourable than surrender.
The cyanide pills chapter was fascinating as I learnt that apple pips contain cyanide but that you'd have to crunch 140 of them to have any chance of dying! It was the death of choice for the Nazi High Command I discovered!
The Scotland Yard Crime Museum was completely unknown to me - and the reason why soon became apparent. It isn't open to the public! Which is a real shame as it sounds fascinating. It has only been open to the public for six months (during 2015 and 2016) as an exhibition arranged by the Museum of London. Josh and Chuck were dismayed to find that they missed it by three months, arriving for a visit to the UK in 2016. Such a shame because they sooooo wanted to see it. And could have written a very entertaining chapter on it I'm sure!
All in all I felt I'd learnt a lot from the book about all sorts of quirky subjects. I may even try to find the podcast!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2020
Apparently, these guys (the authors) are a pretty big deal in the world of podcasting, and while I like trivia and fun-facts as much as the next guy, you'll probably like this book more than I did ... There are a couple of problems here: first, almost all of the topics they present here are lame or boring, stuff most people don't care about and the "stuff you should know" should never be boring stuff; next, it's hard to find the "stuff I should know" because that stuff is wrapped in long-winded history lessons that more closely resemble "how stuff works" (and someone already wrote that book, right?) - I don't care about how stuff works, I just want to collect the "stuff I should know" and get the hell outta here ... this is actually a two-star book but I think these guys are actually good writers and there are some funny bits here ... if you really think you need to know about fold-away beds and nervous tics, then have at it, but remember that you'll never get this time back
January 27, 2022
This was a very interesting distraction! I love amassing (and sharing) random bits of knowledge - in fact, that is one of the reasons I became a librarian. Josh and Chuck are clearly very passionate about researching topics and sharing that information with their listeners, and I definitely learned things I hadn't known before listening. It is always enjoyable for me to hear authors reading their own work - I feel the author can emphasize sections or add a humorous delivery that an actor/narrator might not pick up on. There was definitely a LOT of that going on in this book.
If I had to pick favorites, I'd say the chapter called "Do(ugh)nuts" and the one called "The perfect Price is Right game" are the two that come to mind.
The subtle difference between the discourse and footnotes was a bit of a challenge, sometimes, but it added to the general ramblingness of some of the topics, and made me feel as though I was listening to a conversation between friends. I haven't jumped on the podcast bandwagon yet, but this book is piquing my interest!
If I had to pick favorites, I'd say the chapter called "Do(ugh)nuts" and the one called "The perfect Price is Right game" are the two that come to mind.
The subtle difference between the discourse and footnotes was a bit of a challenge, sometimes, but it added to the general ramblingness of some of the topics, and made me feel as though I was listening to a conversation between friends. I haven't jumped on the podcast bandwagon yet, but this book is piquing my interest!
January 30, 2021
If you have ever followed the podcast these two hosts, you would know they follow whatever interests or intrigues them. This book ranges widely over all kinds of interesting topics, beginning with beards, their evolutionary purposes, types, functions, etc and ending with child prodigies, their who, how, etc. The tone and attitude is irreverent with occasional sarcasm and scurrilous PG13 asides, but most of the topics they examine will probably interest most readers, even topics diverse as how to get lost, mezcal, the physiology of aging, roadies (who set up for concerts), the jersy devil, kamakazes, and the Kevorkian.
April 20, 2021
Huge fan of both the podcast and the book. Extremely fun read about a variety of topics. I love all the research and how each chapter keeps it fresh with another topic. The footnote banter and puns are definitely a fun treat (although if you haven’t listened to the podcast, I can see them being a little confusing). All in all, go read it and go listen to them!
September 26, 2021
Not a bad attempt for a first book. I loved the subject matter and the range of topics covered. Very true what I've come to know and love from Josh and Chuck. I did feel like the footnotes were a bit overdone and distracting - I love the rambling tangents and humor that go with the podcast, but for whatever reason that didn't really seem to translate well to the printed work. I understand what they were going for, but it just didn't really work for me. Other than that though it was excellent, and now I'm armed with a whole bunch of new trivia facts.
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