All-Star Goofball Trivia


Book Description

Why would a soccer star wear his underwear inside-out on game day? For good luck, of course. And he's right at home in All-Star Goofball Trivia, a collection of the strange facts and silly stories from the world of sports.




All-Star Goofball Trivia


Book Description

Why would a soccer star wear his underwear inside-out on game day? For good luck, of course. And he's right at home in All-Star Goofball Trivia, a collection of the strange facts and silly stories from the world of sports.




The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English


Book Description

Booklist Top of the List Reference Source The heir and successor to Eric Partridge's brilliant magnum opus, The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this two-volume New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is the definitive record of post WWII slang. Containing over 60,000 entries, this new edition of the authoritative work on slang details the slang and unconventional English of the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge's own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English published sources given for each entry, often including an early or significant example of the term’s use in print. hundreds of thousands of citations from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, and songs illustrating usage of the headwords dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning New to this edition: A new preface noting slang trends of the last five years Over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia New terms from the language of social networking Many entries now revised to include new dating, new citations from written sources and new glosses The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.




All-Star Sports Trivia


Book Description

A must-have book for inquisitive young sports fans, this collection of sports trivia entertains as it informs, presenting insider knowledge from the world of sports in the distinct Sports Illustrated Kids style. More than simply a list of questions and answers, this full-color, interactive book details the answers to sports' curious questions — Why is the NHL's trophy called the Stanley Cup? Who was baseball's first designated hitter? When were the first Olympics held? Why is San Francisco's football team called the 49ers? — complete with photos and illustrations that entertain as they inform. Featuring hundreds of questions, young fans will be stumping the adult sports fans in their lives with their expert insider knowledge.




When Elves Attack


Book Description

“The undisputed king of the comic crime novel.” —Providence Journal Nobody does Florida weirdness quite like Tim Dorsey! Case in point: When Elves Attack, the New York Times bestselling author’s twisted Christmas present to his legion of adoring fans who can’t get enough of thrill-killer and Sunshine State historian Serge A. Storms, the most endearing psychopath since Dexter. Dorsey offers the perfect antidote for all those sappy feel-good holiday stories with this zany blockbuster extravaganza in which his wonderfully deranged serial killer Floridaphile delivers his special brand of Christmas cheer. More outrageous than Santa Claus in a Speedo, When Elves Attack serves up a Yuletide feast of the “pure gonzo humor” the New York Times Book Review enthusiastically attributes to this fearlessly funny writer. Think Bad Santa and National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, blend in Dorsey’s trademark appetite for destruction, and you’ve got hilarious crime fiction black comedy that anyone would be thrilled to discover stuffed in their Christmas stocking.




The Collected Amazing Facts-- & Beyond!


Book Description

An awesome treasury of facts so fake they seem real.




Planet Funny


Book Description

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year The witty and exuberant New York Times bestselling author and record-setting Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings relays the history of humor in “lively, insightful, and crawling with goofy factlings,” (Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go Bernadette)—from fart jokes on clay Sumerian tablets to the latest Twitter gags and Facebook memes. Where once society’s most coveted trait might have been strength or intelligence or honor, today, in a clear sign of evolution sliding off the trails, it is being funny. Yes, funniness. Consider: Super Bowl commercials don’t try to sell you anymore; they try to make you laugh. Airline safety tutorials—those terrifying laminated cards about the possibilities of fire, explosion, depressurization, and drowning—have been replaced by joke-filled videos with multimillion-dollar budgets and dance routines. Thanks to social media, we now have a whole Twitterverse of amateur comedians riffing around the world at all hours of the day—and many of them even get popular enough online to go pro and take over TV. In his “smartly structured, soundly argued, and yes—pretty darn funny” (Booklist, starred review) Planet Funny, Ken Jennings explores this brave new comedic world and what it means—or doesn’t—to be funny in it now. Tracing the evolution of humor from the caveman days to the bawdy middle-class antics of Chaucer to Monty Python’s game-changing silliness to the fast-paced meta-humor of The Simpsons, Jennings explains how we built our humor-saturated modern age, where lots of us get our news from comedy shows and a comic figure can even be elected President of the United States purely on showmanship. “Fascinating, entertaining and—I’m being dead serious here—important” (A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically), Planet Funny is a full taxonomy of what spawned and defines the modern sense of humor.




Raising Wildflowers


Book Description

This book is for the mom or dad or grandparent who is currently fat in the middle of raising kids and thinks they're either doing it all wrong or they'll never make it. It's for those who wake up before dawn to make sure the kids get a healthy breakfast before heading out for school. It's for the parent who struggles to help their child overcome unique challenges (in my case, autism). It's for the one who sits up late at night, worried about whether or not their child will make it to college. It's for the one who cries during choir performances and laughs at silly faces. It's for those that work all day and come home at night to make a meal, do the laundry and hand-sew that DANG sheep costume for the school play. This book is also for those without children. It's for the young person out there second-guessing bringing children into the world. It's for the ones who consider themselves broken and don't want to pass on those characteristics to another generation. It's for those who can't stop watching the horrors of the evening news. It's for the wanderer who doesn't think they have time to commit to parenting. It's for the cynic who believes the world is overpopulated. It's for the one who is simply afraid to take that step - to create a human being and be dedicated to their care and feeding for ... forever. This book exists because not only WAS I that parent, I'm STILL that parent. I'm the mom crying in the bathroom while the bath water runs so no one can hear me. I'm the mom who wonders if I'm doing the right thing, if I'm making horrible mistakes. Have they brushed their teeth this week? Are they eating enough vegetables? Do I have them in enough extra curriculars? This is a book about how raising my kids to be functioning members of society was not only my job, it was my greatest desire. Knowing that they have grown to be independent, respectful, happy adults means that, in a way, I made it, too. How I did it (and kept my sanity) may not be entirely traditional, but it worked for us. That finish-line moment, knowing that my husband and I molded these amazing people into unique, wonderful wildflowers. This is our story. Hopefully, by the very first page you realize ... you are not alone.




Someday, Someday, Maybe


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Lauren Graham, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, comes a witty, charming, and hilariously relatable debut novel about a struggling young actress trying to get ahead―and keep it together―in New York City. It’s January 1995, and Franny Banks has just six months left of the three-year deadline she set for herself when she came to New York, dreaming of Broadway and doing “important” work. But all she has to show for her efforts so far is a part in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters, and a gig waiting tables at a comedy club. Her roommates―her best friend Jane, and Dan, an aspiring sci-fi writer―are supportive, yet Franny knows a two-person fan club doesn’t exactly count as success. Everyone tells her she needs a backup plan, and though she can almost picture moving back home and settling down with her perfectly nice ex-boyfriend, she’s not ready to give up on her goal of having a career like her idols Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. Not just yet. But while she dreams of filling their shoes, in the meantime, she’d happily settle for a speaking part in almost anything—and finding a hair product combination that works. Everything is riding on the upcoming showcase for her acting class, where she’ll finally have a chance to perform for people who could actually hire her. And she can’t let herself be distracted by James Franklin, a notorious flirt and the most successful actor in her class, even though he’s suddenly started paying attention. Meanwhile, her bank account is rapidly dwindling, her father wants her to come home, and her agent doesn’t return her calls. But for some reason, she keeps believing that she just might get what she came for. Someday, Someday, Maybe is a story about hopes and dreams, being young in a city, and wanting something deeply, madly, desperately. It’s about finding love, finding yourself, and perhaps most difficult of all in New York City, finding an acting job. Praise for Someday, Someday, Maybe “A winning, entertaining read . . . [Lauren Graham] has smartly mined just the right details from her own experience, infusing her work with crackling dialogue and observations about show business that ring funny and true.”—The Washington Post “A charmer of a first novel . . . [Graham] has an easy, unforced style and, when the situation calls for it, a keen sense of the ridiculous.”—The Wall Street Journal “With insight, care, and an abundance of humor . . . Graham demonstrates that her acting chops are not her only talent.”—Library Journal “Thoroughly charming.”—Entertainment Weekly “Sweet, funny, and full of heart . . . a dazzling debut.”—Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed and Where We Belong “Warm and funny, charming and smart.”—Diane Keaton, New York Times bestselling author of Then Again “Graham deftly captures what it’s like to be young, ambitious, and hopeful in New York City.”—Candace Bushnell, New York Times bestselling author of Sex and the City and The Carrie Diaries “Fresh and funny and full of zingers, Lauren Graham’s charming writing style instantly drew me in.”—Meg Cabot, bestselling author of the Princess Diaries and Heather Wells Mystery series




Talking to Strangers


Book Description

Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers and why they often go wrong—now with a new afterword by the author. A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Press How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to one another that isn’t true? Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland—throwing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times.