Last Months Reading - Part 1

As regular readers will know, I like mentioning books that have proven useful in terms of quizzing on the blog and from now onwards Ill post a summary of some of the books I have been reading/using in the month, with my thoughts on whether they are useful and whether its worth you investing some time in them. No better place to start than here, hence heard are some of the factual works Ive read this month...

Britain From Above - 5/5




I picked this up from a local charity shop for pennies, not expecting much. Its based on the Andrew Marr TV series of the same name which I didn't watch at the time. The book contains hundreds of photographs of, as the title suggest, Britain from above and first things first, some of the photos are awe inspiring. Its worth the price of the book alone just to see them. However, the season I am scoring this book a 5/5 is that the text that goes with them is fact packed, quizzing gold. As both a player and a setter I got such a wide range of information from this book that it will keep me going a while. If your struggle sometimes with British Geography questions then this is a must, and even if you don't, I am sure there is something for everyone.


Eatons Modern Ready Reckoner: Essential Everyday Trivia - 5/5



Bargain of the month. Only £1.50 new on Amazon at the moment and well worth ordering. See the previous post from later July with all the info, but as I said then, this is a gem of a book for quizzing!


Do Not Pass Go - Tim Moore -3.5/5




I have read several of Tim Moore's works and enjoyed them all! As well as being humorous travel logs they are always fact packed and "Do Not Pass Go" fits this mould. The book is centred around the Monopoly Board and Time visits each location and presents a useful History, meeting locals and throwing facts at you left right and centre! Superb reading, but perhaps a tad long.


The Art of Travel - 4/5



Anything by Alain De Botton is well worth reading and this book more than so! Alain uses the words and works of famous writers, artists and travellers to describe the ideas and habits of travelling. With some great pictures and art work its a great throughout provoking read and certainly taught me a thing or two!

From Absinth to Zest: An Alphabet of Food - 4/5



Food and Drink is one of my weaker areas, and whilst in a charity shop recently, I picked up an excellent series of books published by Penguin all bout great Food Writing. The first surprised me, as prior to this, I was unaware Alexander Dumas had produced a notable work on Food. A dictionary of Cuisine of sorts. This book contains snippets from that larger work and at under 100 pages was a nice easy read, plenty of info and facts, and has made me consider purchasing the full dictionary itself!


Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die 3.5/5



Again, another series I got from a recent trip to the charity shop was the "Unforgettable...." series from BBC Books. In this book, 40 places to see are focused on with great pictures and tons of facts on each. Some of the entries contain things you will have read time and time again (Taj Mahal etc) but then there are some more obscure places that prove very interesting indeed!