Customer Reviews
Careful - not for everybody - By: Andrew, 27 Aug 2008 
I had high hopes for this book but was left a little disappointed.
There was lots of stuffin here that I had forgotten but most of it I will surely forget again because I'm not too interested. The bits I was interestingin (maths & science) I found that I did know (because I read sciencey books anyway) & it felt a bit lightweightin that area.
The book mostly covers early secondary school topics & touches on some of the basics from 'O' level (I guess that's GCSE now).
Overall, I think it is worth a read & it does deliver what it tries to. My problem is that my expectations were unrealistic (but that's not the author's fault).
a feast of bite sized information - By: Peter Wade, 16 Aug 2008 
This is the age of bite ( or is it byte) sized information. The older generation i.e. me think we are divided from the younger by the fact that we learnt our information by rote. The old exam system was based you learning what the teacher told you or wrote on the board & you passed exams by regurgitating it .
As a result we confused knowledge with intelligence.These days you do not have to know the capital of Kazakhstan ( Astana) as the Internet will tell you.
I am often told by the less intelligent that most human endeavours are easy or straightforward because you can look it up on the Internet. They forget it is raw information & you have to intelligently apply it.
I constantly tell people that no doubt it tells me on the Internet how to build a car or a house but I will not be attempting to do so.
This book is the information we oldies think we should know. I have to say that even though I went to a Grammar school have a fair collection of A levels & a professional qualification there is a lotin there that they neglected to tell me. or I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is handily divided into English language literature, maths, science, history, geography & general studies.
Some of the don't tend to change but whole countries have disappeared & been replaced by new ones. If you knew Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso & the capital is Ouagadougou you need to get out more or maybe you do to pub quizzes.
Like i before e this is a great book but again suffers form one minor criticism it should have an index.
Highly recommended & a joy to read.
...I Do Now! - By: D. A. Pearce, 18 Jun 2008 Leafing through thisin the book shop my smug, 'I still know that!' expression was rapidly replaced with an, 'I never knew that!' look of horror!... So I bought it immediately, & having just finished this delightfully ingenious tome I am now happy to say that although I may not have 'Known That', I do now!
A great book, birthday & Christmas presents for this year are taken care of!
Great Stuff - By: Mark R., 18 Jun 2008 I bought this book for my Dad, trying to look clever whilst reminding him he is old. When he started asking me if "I knew this or that" I realized how much I had forgotten from school, & I made a complete fool of myself.
I asked my father to lend me the book now! I needed a quick read through, but he wouldn't let me have it!!
Great fun.
Mark
What is photosynthesis?! - By: Dotty May, 18 Jun 2008 Apparently, like loads of other people, I go around thinking that I still know everything that I learnt at school, whenin fact, I bet I can't remember half of it, & it wasn't even that long ago! When someone actually asked me to tell them what photosynthesis was I found that I no longer knew anything more than 'it's how plants live & something to do with carbon dioxide & green stuffin leaves'! And more disturbingly all my basic maths skills have also got lost somewherein the depths of time. This book is a godsend to anyone who wants to be reminded of all these skills so that you no longer feel like a dunce at the pub quiz or just generally really, & it also has loads of things that I was never even taught at school which are of genuine interest. It looks so nice on your shelf too that its a good one to buy for awkward relatives & friends - as long as they won't be insulted!!
