Overview

Drawing from over twenty years of experience going to hitherto untouched parts of Europe and beyond, Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls trace with infectious enthusiasm the history of cosmetics, the customs of the harem of Istanbul, how the Venetian republic was run, the antiquities of Sicily, the werewolves at the ancient Olympics. They examine why gnats buzz in circles, the boiling down of mummies for medicine, Goethe's colour theory, the Napoleonic coincidences, Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen of New Orleans, the origins of the constellations, man made deserts and how English titmice disproved one of the dogmas of evolution in 1946. The longest words in Turkish, the Egyptian labyrinth at Crocodilopolis, Alfred Packer and American cannibalism along with the over the top cities of Magna Graecia Sybaris, Croton and Akragas are but the tip of the iceberg in a book that will also outline exactly how to eat an ortolon.

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9781860111327

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Reviews

'Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls...writers par excellence.' Simon Calder, The Independent

Rarely does a title announce its uses as boldly as this does. A compact collection of amusements and historical anecdotes compiled by the founders of the excellent Cadogan travel guides, there are two readers it presumes to serve. The first, an intelligent traveller in need of distraction from absent busses and stalled flights. The second, an avid trivialist seeking a choice addition to their collection of what may be referred to as 'books for the bog' (a fact they acknowledge in the segment about the rise and fall of the modern toilet). The reputation of the Cadogan guides was made by its balance of comprehensive research, robust local knowledge and a friendly writing style largely immune from futile attempts at objectivity. The guides provide a personal account of a place instead of a simply regurgitating a tourist catalogue with an inflated listings section. This book boasts those same virtues, particularly with its sense of character. Whether recounting familiar stories of the origins of chess, the 'Seven Wonders of the World', and the birth of the modern Olympics; or more exotic obscurities such as the linguistic theories of the Saturn-worshipping 'Catastrophists', the legends of Greek Arcadia; or essaying on the perfections of croquet and civilisation, the authors are unfailingly interesting and know how to end an anecdote smartly. Logic puzzles and ancient riddles are slipped into the mix, and everything is bang up-to-date (they even mention the London bid for the Olympics!). As with any good book of its kind, the clincher is whether you'd wish its authors were your friends, capable of spicing up any conversation with an neat Did you know ... without becoming boring about it. Well, consider the matter clinched. (Kirkus UK)

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