| ||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for Schott's Original Miscellany 'Schott's Original Miscellany is without doubt the oddest, nay maddest, and possibly merriest, title you will come across in a long day's march through the shimmering desert of contemporary publishing' Observer 'This bizarre little book manages to be both totally useless and nearly indispensable' Daily Telegraph 'Entertaining, informative and unpredictable, Schott's Original Miscellany is a book like no other' Saga
Product Description
If "Schott's Original Miscellany" could claim to be essential then it is only logical that the distillation of ten years consideration of little known but important facts and the small details that make life fascinating should appear under the title "Schott's Quintessential Miscellany". And like its predecessor it is entertaining, informative, unpredictable and utterly addictive.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
After collecting the marvelous Schott's Almanac each year since 2006, it came as a bit of a shock to learn that there was not going to be a 2012 edition. Undeterred I thought I would try the "Quintessential Miscellany". I have to say it is not a patch on the Almanacs and in fact it's a real disappointment. Half the size, half as interesting, a real let down. All in all it's just a book of odds and ends that is hard to get to grips with and in my opinion does not do Mr Schott justice. Sorry but I would not recommend it.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Goods arrived safely, and were well packaged. The book is a welcome addition to the rest of the Schotts series.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Fun, but maybe a bit short on Miscellany?
27 Nov 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a fan of trivial knowledge, and a great admirer of Schott's previous books, I was eager to read this new volume of "uncommon knowledge, vital minutiae, and indispensable irrelevance." These books are not designed to be read for hours at a time, but are quite enjoyable in short bursts.
A random sampling of some interesting sections:
- Occupations of note (A Knockknobbler is a dog catcher)
- Bortle Scale (An astronomer's scale of sky darkness)
- All of Alfred Hitchcock's movie cameos
- Color markings for underground utilities
...and numerous others. (Be sure to not miss the "Authorial Miscellany" on the last page!)
While I found this newest edition to be fun, it seemed to hold my interest a bit less than previous versions. A number of entries were simply quotes or aphorisms ("A sound faith is the best divinity; a good conscience the best law; and temperance the best physic" - Anon.), or other facts that just don't seem relevant to modern time (or even students of history). Maybe Schott is starting to run low on miscellany?
In summary, I would recommend that readers start by sampling his earlier works, and then come to this one if they're longing for more.
A random sampling of some interesting sections:
- Occupations of note (A Knockknobbler is a dog catcher)
- Bortle Scale (An astronomer's scale of sky darkness)
- All of Alfred Hitchcock's movie cameos
- Color markings for underground utilities
...and numerous others. (Be sure to not miss the "Authorial Miscellany" on the last page!)
While I found this newest edition to be fun, it seemed to hold my interest a bit less than previous versions. A number of entries were simply quotes or aphorisms ("A sound faith is the best divinity; a good conscience the best law; and temperance the best physic" - Anon.), or other facts that just don't seem relevant to modern time (or even students of history). Maybe Schott is starting to run low on miscellany?
In summary, I would recommend that readers start by sampling his earlier works, and then come to this one if they're longing for more.
I Like the Sequences of Torqued Transforming Terms...
9 May 2012
Format:Hardcover
Most of these are Classifications, subtypes of, and are valid,1-2-3 eggs in carton, this opens the trapdoor and we can peer into the complexities of 37 types with platonic voyeurism, "who knew" all these subtypesetc. But most of these are static anatomy, 1-2-3 in a row without movement. SO, the second type I like better, the Continuums of dynamic physiology or change, alterations of the same word-type, it's more poetic. Well I mean like 480 ways to spell scissors! You think boring but no, because down the ski slope you go, undulating thru scissars, scissers, scissirs, on to scysszors, scysszurs, syssars, cisszors, this is pure poetry being the permutation of an item to the max (would make a nice wallpaper or giftwrap paper, eh...) Oh and "foreign terms for Tintin comic characters," nice to see Captain Haddock morff to Capita Haddock, Kaptajn H., Kapteeni H., Kapetanie Xantok, but wait theres moar dont want to spoil it go see for yourself (a cloisonne or faberge egg sort of)... Same for "phrases for stupidity," see the number koalesses into a critical mass which tips the balance, He makes clothes for fishes, He numbers the waves, He makes ropes of sand--you get stultification in spades... Oh and swim in the OEDictionarys downpour of dozens of words for--rain. Bedrabble, drizzle, impluvious, mizzle, pelt, spate. (Why not put these on a shower curtain for fluidity cubed, re-freshing)... And you go see the dozens of words starting with "sn-" but all referring to the schnozz, with snifting or snubbing... Oh and to corral the names of "notable regional winds," (the very sounds on a whitenoise tape), remember the Chinook in Colorado, Harmattan in the Sahara, Mistral gonna slam you in winter in South France, Levanter blew the Med down, Williwaw violent in the Magellen straits, better end with the Sirocco that "soporiffic N. Africa wind blowing over Italy," recuerdo buena indeed. SO, go surf on the dozens of others all one item maypoled via permortainings of the variations on a theme makes static classification into dynamic transmutation without transmogrification either. Get the book, the whole 160-p. brandy-keg to take slow savored sips from, or is it a balsamic vinegar boutique-bottle. Miscellany rains? reins? reigns!!!
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
