Open this book anywhere, any time, any place for bite-size morsels of essential (and not-so-essential) knowledge.We have two mottos here at Portable Press: "Get smart" and "Have fun." As the publishers of the wildly popular Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, we have twenty years' experience in translating our mottos into bestselling books, but we also know that not every reader is a bathroom reader.That's why we've created this definitive collect...

The smartest and funniest quotations of all time, artfully arranged into witty—and surprising—categories. Every page will entertain, educate, and delight.Uncle John's dedicated team of quotationeers have scoured the worlds of entertainment, history, literature, politics, sports, and more to bring you this unique collection of utterances that bear repeating. From silly to profound, from Aristotle to Mr. T, you'll discover insights on such topics as love, sex, conspi...

A loving look at toys and games—and the people who make and play them—from the past and present.Albert Einstein once said, “Play is the highest form of research.” Uncle John adds: “And it’s really fun!” And so is this e-book, which includes several classic articles from the Bathroom Reader archives along with a few all-new entries (including an inside look at the Angry Birds phenomenon). So whether you prefer a pair of dice, a deck of cards, a yo-yo, a game control...

Bite-sized bits of information to give you the edge on trivia night—from crime and punishment to the rich and famous to ghosts, ghouls, oddballs, and more!Packed with more than 400 pages, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: Attack of the Factoids is a fact-a-palooza of obscure information. Like what, you ask? Here are just a few extraordinary examples:* Bats always turn left when they exit a cave.* In the 1960s, astronauts trained for moon voyages by walking on ...

Celebrate the winners of this competition for Weirdest, Wildest, and Most Hilarious Trivia of the Year . . .Forget the Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes—after two decades of producing interesting and mind-boggling stories—the folks at the Bathroom Readers' Institute have come up with their own collection of pop-culture awards!This unique volume provides a new way to recognize some of the world's greatest (and oddest) achievements. Where else could you find...

With this volume filled with thousands of bizarrely fascinating facts, we're on a roll!Is there any other single book in the universe with this many awesome tidbits of bite-sized information? Nope. And that's a fact! At nearly 400 pages (with a handy index for your fact-seeking convenience), Wise Up! is a must-have for anyone who likes their information on the go. It's organized into hundreds of topics—everything from sports and entertainment to word origi...

Fact: Chocolate contains the alkaloid theobromine, which in high doses can be toxic to humans, and in even small amounts can kill dogs, parrots, horses, and cats.This means that despite its name, the Kit-Kat candy bar is not a recommended snack for your kitty-cat. I wonder how many cats have died because of this confusion.Fact: The most germ-laden place on your toilet isn't the seat or even the bowl--it's the handle.The s...

The best of the weirdest news, facts, and fun from all over the world!Where else could you learn about a woman who broke her legs flying a pig, a student who got credit for dressing like a lobster, and a man who patented a method for determining the sex of a spinach plant? Uncle John rules the world of bizarre information and humor, so get ready to be thoroughly entertained. Read all about . . .·The world's longest ear hair·A girl raised by dogs

In day-to-day speech we use words and phrases without a passing thought as to why we use them or where they come from. Max Cryer changes all that by showing how fascinating the English language really is. Did you know that the former host of Today, Jane Pauley, claims to have coined the term “bad hair day,” or that a CBS engineer named Charley Douglass invented the name and use of “canned laughter” for television, or that “cold turkey” as a term for quitting something immediately ...

Dialogue must contribute to the telling of the story said Victorian-era novelist Anthony Trollope more than one hundred years ago and his words have been a yardstick for writers ever since. A more recent novelist, Stephen King, wrote, "When dialogue is right, we know. When it's wrong we also know—it jags on the ear like a badly tuned musical instrument." In "Shut Up!" He Explained (the title comes from a Ring Lardner poke at the way some people overwrite), William Noble shows you how to write...

Pick your next movie to watch with this collection of four decades of 4-star reviews from the Pulitzer Prize–winning film critic.Spanning the length of Roger Ebert's career as the leading American movie critic, this book contains all of his four-star reviews written during that time from About Last Night . . . to You Can Count on Me. A great guide for movie watching.

**New York Times BestsellerThe creator of The New Yorker’s long running satirical column, and “one of the funniest people in America,” pays tribute to comedic geniuses both past and present, including Mark Twain, George Saunders, Nora Ephron, and more (CBS Sunday Morning).**Library of America’s collection of hilarious stories, essays, and articles is an exclusive Who’s Who of the very best American comic writing. Classic pieces of American humor appear her...