Description
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Great Lives looks beneath the surface and uncovers fascinating but little known stories behind the famous, near-famous, infamous, and shoulda-been famous. Read about: *The assassination that touched off WWI because a motorcade took a wrong turn *Dr. Ruth's early years as an Israeli soldier *The other Bolyen girl in Henry VIII's bed *America's first prima ballerina, an Osage Indian *The man who invented tap dancing *Vidal Sassoon: hairdresser by day, freedom-fighter by night *Bandits, bad girls, and Beatles hangers-on *Icons for the digital age and more! As always, we've filled every page with precious nuggets of never-before-seen factoids and fun information to give you more than your money's worth of trivia.
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Philo T. Farnsworth is not a household word despite the fact that he invented something found in most every household: television. Farnsworth is just one of hundreds of subjects in this hefty comic compendium that plumbs the depths in a survey of great lives. Readers also learn about T’sai Lun, the Chinese eunuch who invented paper ? and by extension, toilet paper. Other clever unknowns include the inventors of Velcro, Bakelite, and the microwave oven. Of course, not all of the ?great lives” here are anonymous. The ?Fun with Heretics” section includes Thomas Paine and Rousseau, revealing some unexpected peculiarities. Liberace, Pancho Villa, and Freud happily coexist in this sometimes raunchy romp. Among the topics? ?Philosophers Who Got Killed,” ?Child Geniuses” (and its evil twin, ?High School Dropouts”), and much more.
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