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Product Description
Product Description
Sometime about 30,000 years ago, somebody stuck a sharp rock into a split stick—and presto! The axe was born. Our inquisitive species just loves tinkering, testing, and pushing the limits, and this delightfully different book is a freewheeling reference to hundreds of customs, notions, and inventions that reflect human ingenuity throughout history.
From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, An Uncommon History of Common Things 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?
Every page of this quirky compendium catalogs something fascinating, surprising, or serendipitous. A lively, incomparably browsable read for history buffs, pop culture lovers, and anyone who relishes the odd and extraordinary details hidden in the everyday, it will inform, amuse, astonish—and alter the way you think about the clever creatures we call humans.
From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, An Uncommon History of Common Things 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?
Every page of this quirky compendium catalogs something fascinating, surprising, or serendipitous. A lively, incomparably browsable read for history buffs, pop culture lovers, and anyone who relishes the odd and extraordinary details hidden in the everyday, it will inform, amuse, astonish—and alter the way you think about the clever creatures we call humans.
About the Author
Bethanne Patrick is a writer and book critic. Her features, profiles, and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, People magazine, and other publications.
John Thompson is the author and co-author of more than a dozen books including Dakotas, America’s Historic Trails, and National Geographic Almanac of American History.
John Thompson is the author and co-author of more than a dozen books including Dakotas, America’s Historic Trails, and National Geographic Almanac of American History.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE,
By
This review is from: An Uncommon History of Common Things (Hardcover)
I gave this book to the family for Christmas "From Santa", and since I had 10 days off work over Christmas, I had time to pick it up several times. It is a very interesting book if you have a desire to know the origins of sayings, holidays, and almost anything else you can think of. It is a fun, fact filled book that even gives you 10 best home remedies for common ailments. It's a great book for your own home "library".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Did they do ANY research?,
By Lacerta Regina "language geek" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: An Uncommon History of Common Things (Hardcover)
My husband bought this book because he wanted a bathroom reader and I'm a useless-information junkie. I was hoping the book would be packed with nifty tidbits and juicy anecdotes. But halfway through it, I was getting the sneaking suspicion a lot of what I was reading was ... well ... somewhat lacking in the facts department.The entries are, for the most part, excessively brief and throw out bits of history and culture helter-skelter, without any attempt at context. I assumed that was just the editors, trying to make things fit on the page. There were several instances in the sections on traditions, ceremonies and rituals where a single origin theory was presented as fact, when there are actually several competing theories (as with the origins of Mother Goose). But when I got to the bit on baby names, I felt like smacking myself in the forehead. The authors had NO idea what they were talking about as regards Scandinavian names -- they said the children of Olaf would be Harald Olafsson (son) and Sigrid Olafsson (daughter). Then, to compound their error, they said some Scandinavian names followed the maternal line, and the children of Sigrid would be named Liv Sigridsdottir and Leif Sigridsdottir. That's the stupidest thing I've ever read. "Son" means son (obviously) and "dottir" means daughter. Not even the drunkest Viking would name his son daughter-of-Sigrid. My only conclusion is the authors came across some girls named for their mothers and made the stunning leap that ALL of that family's kids had the same surname. I have to wonder how many other times similar errors and leaps of illogic were made; clearly their fact-checkers (if they had any) did not do their jobs. In short, the book is somewhat entertaining, but its claims to be a "history" of any sort are questionable at best. It is a collection of popular theory, rumor, myth and legend, packaged in a bright, easy-to-read volume. But before you go quoting it to anyone, you might want to check your "facts." 17 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Uncommon History of Common Things,
By Turtle - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: An Uncommon History of Common Things (Hardcover)
Great book! Alot of fun to read! Bought for husband as Christmas present. Lots of interesting and facts and antedotes in this book, worth the money. Will read myself when he gets done!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is available in paperback,
By Disappointed in St. Louis "Disappointed" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: An Uncommon History of Common Things (Hardcover)
Fun book but I felt is was too expensive in hardback. I am not sure why Amazon is not selling the paperback version but I found it for $9.98 in my local big box book store. This seems to be one case where Amazon does not have everything.
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