Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can't Live Without

If you want to know the size of Delaware or how long the small intestine is, this isn't your book. But if you want to find out about Thomas Jefferson's axe murderer grandson or how to stop a nosebleed by running an ice cube down the back of your neck...then you can't pass this up. Part of this book's charm is in its division of chapters by topic - and then a natural conversational type of progression within each one as it takes off organically into various lists and explanations. Trivia is at its best when it's weird and N.L. Belardes has a special mastery of it.One of the other commenters here mentioned that Belardes falls short on the "weirdness" task, for example, calling out his list of odd jobs. Fair enough - he's entitled to his opinion. But if I met somebody who was a mermaid at a city aquarium or an organ sorter for a meat packing plant or a fake psychic who read tarot cards for a 900 line or a chicken sexer (sex distinguisher), I'd want to ask them all kinds of questions. I once met a guy whose job it was to bite the testicles off lambs with his front teeth and that was at least an hour long conversation. Just saying.You gotta get this book. It's fun.

Different than any other trivia/factoid book you will ever come across because it comes from the unique mind of Nick Belardes. Truly interesting and bizarrely random with so many different stories and facts from every source and subject. Fun to read from start to finish or pass the time with a page or twonow and then in bed, at work, in the bathroom, on a plane, at jury duty...

There is a good bit of information in this book, but I found it too disorganized to be interesting. I quit reading about half way through.

Sorry, Nick. I can live without it.These may be the author's obsessions, and he makes it clear they are, but they're not mine.

This book is incomplete and biased. There is a lack of sources and the writing is poor. I am confused as to how this got published. I will read anything but honestly this is terrible. If possible, I would give it zero stars. It isn't really even trivia just random items which do not really qualify as facts. It is so bad that it is odd -- what were the publisher, editor, and writer thinking?

I didn't know whether to cherry-pick my way through Random Obsession based on the blurb, or simply sit down and pore my way through it. This is the high-octane version of Trivial Pursuit; some of the strangest, weirdest, and most unbelievably true things you're going to read. Ever.Flavor chemistry? Check.Serpents of light? Check.Thomas Jefferson's ax-murdering grandson? Check (possibly).If you're looking for confirmation that the world really is as strange as place as you secretly believe, then look no further than Random Obsessions.

Bring this book to your next Trivial Pursuit party and impress everyone with your collection of minutia! A great book for the flight or to prove to your kids that you know lots of stuff. I throughly enjoyed it.

From the reviews I read this seemedlike a book that would be extremely interesting.I was very disappointed in the book. I was looking for more facts than just words on a page.