The back cover promises that Each item is certain to produce a chuckle and that the information is intriguing and entertaining. The sub-title for this tome reads A Compendium of Useless Information. It did not include uninteresting or incorrect though it should have. For years newspapers around the country ran a column either under the byline L. M. Boyd or Mike Mailway. The daily listing of anecdotal trivia was targeted at the Paul Harvey listening crowd. As a new reader and inquisitive child, I avidly read the postings. Only years later did I figure out that, like Paul Harvey, a lot of the so-called information was just urban legend and rumor. Triviata could easily be a compilation of bits from that column. Boring, incorrect, and not one item made me chuckle. But then, I thought Paul Harvey was a boring, blustering, right-wing idiot.

That’s pretty much the opinion part of my review. However, I am going to pick out a few items at random by closing my eyes, flipping pages of the book, and listing the item that came up. Let’s say five of them. Then let’s do a little internet research on each item. Cause if it’s on the internet, it must be true.

1. (from page 72)

   Modern timepieces are electric, self-winding, magnetic, solar-cell-powered, etc. The most accurate time-measuring device of all is the system of twin atomic hydrogen masers installed at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory in 1964. It is accurate to within one second per 1,700,000 years.

   

   The web page of the U. S. Naval Observatory (which is charged with keeping time for the Department of Defense) says about their current atomic clock Its rate does not change by more than about 100 picoseconds (0.000 000 000 1 seconds) per day from day to day. By my quick and probably inaccurate calculations, that means it’s accurate to one second in 27, 397, 260 years. So they’ve improved a fair amount since 1975. None of the history I found at their web site or at Wikipedia mentions once being a part of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. In this case, the information is somewhat useful, but uninteresting as presented and definitely did not induce a chuckle.

2. (from page 93)

   An ancient remedy for toothache was to eat a mouse.

   The editors of Prevention Magazine in The Doctor’s Book of Home Remedies credit to the ancient Egyptions placing a recently dead mouse against a toothache sufferer’s gums. The Journal of American Folklore reported in 1899 that according to some eating the crust of bread gnawed on by mice would cure toothache. Given the plethora of toothache remedies in folklore, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was in fact attempted, though I can’t find a good reference for it on the quick search. Still, uninteresting and definitely no chuckle. Grossed me out, in fact.

3. (from page 194)

   From the 11,200-foot peak of Mount Izaru in Costa Rica, you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is the only point in the Americas from which such a view is possible.

   I am suspicious of this claim. It’s repeated in a number of places, urban legend like. But it doesn’t look like any serious investigation of it has been done. More like a claim of a travel agency or local tour company that spread. Particularly because the correct name seems to be Irazú. Meaning that the books and web sites that are passing along this tidbit are copying each other rather than going to some definitive source.

4. (from page 166)

   Fish can be caught in the Sahara Desert. Strangely enough, there are many underground streams in the Sahara where, by digging through the sand, a desert angler can obtain fresh-water fish.

   Please. Seriously?

5. (from page 156)

   Seventeen harvest mice have a combined weight close to that of a 150-pound man. The mice, however, need about 17 times as much food a day as does the man.

   Fullerton needs a calculator. That’s 8.8 pounds per mouse. Rats may be that big, but it’s an uncommon harvest mouse that weighs that much. Did I mention still not chuckling?

Perhaps his trivia on golf (a fair number appear) is much more accurate. I doubt it.

Image USNO Master Time Clock was produced by an arm of the U. S. Federal Government and is in the public domain.

Title: Triviata: A Compendium of Useless Information
Author: Timothy T. Fullerton
Illustrator: Harold Montiel
Imprint / publisher: Hart Publishing Company
Format: Paperback
Length: 240 p. (includes index)
Publication date: 1975
ISBN-10: 0-8055-1154-7
Subject: Curiosities and wonders
LC classification: AG243 .F85