So Book #1: QI Book of the Dead
I love QI until the ends of the earth, not only because I adore Stephen Fry, but because I love learning about completely random topics, even if they aren't exactly 'useful'. This book is one of the offshoots of the series. I think I acquired this from a pound shop for a bargain £1, but frankly I would have happily paid a lot more for this!
Essentially this is a series of mini biographies of interesting people from history, from obvious people like Florence Nightingale (did you know she spent 50 years of her life in bed?) to more obscure people like Nikola Tesla (apparently invented the internet, email and texting... in 1900. A hundred years early. What a guy!). The chapters are formed under somewhat random themes like lovers, passionately driven people, ... er.... monkey owners... but do allow the writers Lloyd and Mitchenson to cover people you have probably never heard of. The biographies form bite sized chunks that make them easy to devour; it's very easy to read a couple here and there if you don't have a lot of time. It's a decent sized book at 407 pages, but is the sort of thing you could pick up and abandon and come back to months later without suffering as you would with a novel because you have forgotten what happens previously.
Overall this is a great, interesting book that has led me to want to research some of those featured inside, because those bite sized chunks just don't seem enough!
9/10, because the title and idea of the book could have been a little clearer than it is.
You can buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/QI-Book-Dead-John-Lloyd/dp/0571244912/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311597093&sr=8-2
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