Towards the end of last year I ran a series of posts highlighting the reference books I had found most useful the year before. As we are approaching the final months of yet another year I will be repeating the series. There will be some books pop up here that were on last years list as I have continued to use many of the same points of reference but also some new titles that I have found useful.
There will be a separate thread coming up in the next few weeks recommending some other useful reads but this series is purely works I would term "Reference Books".
This year has seen massive improvements in my quizzing and these are some of the books that have helped me along the way.
Most Useful Reference Books 2013 #10
10 - Passing Time in the Loo Volume 1
Funnily enough this years list starts with a book I found out about as a result of publishing my list last year. I was recommended this title and it has turned out to be very much 'quizzing gold'!
I have the Kindle version but the link above is to the paperback version which is the same. In hindsight I would have bought the Paperback version as any reference book on Kindle tends to be rather hard to navigate although the nature of this book makes it a tad more easier than some of the others.
I found the first section of this book to be particularity useful as it contains synopsis of famous novels which has helped to get key information about books to stick. From reading through these I have scored points in all ranges of quizzes from pub quizzes to the British Quiz Championships and time and time again on TV quiz shows. Its very easy to read, nicely set out and concise.
Being a quizzer who also works full time I simply do not have the time to read the amount of literature I would like to. I would hope at some point to read the full novels that this book focuses on but realistically that may never happen so a book like this is invaluable. Well worth a look!
Possibly my most read Kindle title of the year!
I look forward to spending time in the future with the further volumes of this...hint hint Santa!
Hi Daniel
ReplyDeleteI have a few of your top ten reference books and was just looking at the rest of them on Amazon. One guy has given the following poor review and I wondered what your comments were
"The idea behind this book is excellent, but I was very disappointed with the result. It has a heavy bias towards American literature and culture which is not apparent from the cover. Its choice of 'great books' is decidedly eccentric and tainted with political correctness - Toni Morrison but no Dickens. Similarly there's a partisan feel to the selection of supposedly great people, for example in the gushing tribute to Mandela that makes no mention of his less-than-saintly early years. But worst of all are the numerous, glaring, laughable errors of fact. Here are a few, all taken from the same short article: Margaret Thatcher won Finchley "at age 32"; in the 1964 election Macmillan was "deposed" and Ted Heath "came into power"; Heath was "re-elected" in 1970 and "sailed through the 1974 election"; and Thatcher "won the nomination for Prime Minister of the newly formed National Coalition Government". All utter nonsense. This book ought to be a valuable storehouse of information, but how can you possibly assume any of it's accurate when you know it contains rubbish like this? Worthless."