The Second Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson (Faber £12.99) (From The Northern Echo)

The Second Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson (Faber £12.99)

2:34pm Wednesday 6th July 2011 in Non-Fiction By Harry Mead, Columnist

ANOTHER follow-up helping, by the producer and researcher of the BBC panel game QI.

Unlike Schott’s lists, the entries here are snappy cameos: eg “What kind of stripes make you look thinner? Vertical ones, surely? Nope...” Some questions might never occur to anyone: “What’s the best way to weigh your own head?” The answers to many others not quite as unlikely are often engrossing: “Which animal has saved most lives?” The horseshoe crab – an extract from its blood invaluable in drug testing.

“What was Beatrix Potter’s first published work?” A paper entitled On the Germination of Spores of Agaricineae.