mental floss presents Condensed Knowledge: A Deliciously Irreverent Guide to Feeling Smart Again [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I really sat on the fence on whether to give the book four or five stars. I would give it 4 1/2 if that were an option, but there were a few little thing about the book that bugged me enough to prevent a five star review (although I do give the magazine five stars.) The first (minor) error I noticed is in the chapter "Condensed General Science" under "Sexy Animal Facts", where the author states that "A goldfish has a memory span of only three seconds". I hold a degree in Biology, and can categorically say that is untrue. This is an urban legend and supposition, which has been disproved in several studies in animal behavior in which goldfish were taught to swim in elaborate mazes over the span of several days. If they only had a three second memory, they would be unable to complete the maze correctly with ever improving times day after day (which shows that learning occurs.) The television show 'Mythbusters' did a primitive version of one of these studies on one show, by the way. This isn't a big point, but is worth noting.

I object to the politically correct use of the terms of 'BC' and 'BCE' instead of 'BC' and 'AD'. Although the calendars are identical there is no valid reason to dispense with the terminology in place since about 525 AD just to be politically correct. It is annoying, reduces the comprehensibility of the dates in the book and in no way improves the calendar.

I find it a bit ironic in the chapter "Condensed History" that sometimes journalism professor Peter Haugen has a section called "Rotten to the Corps: Tyrants with Horrific Rap Sheets" in which obvious winners such as Stalin and Hitler make the grade, but so do three 'Pasas' from nineteenth century Turkey, due to forced relocations of peasants during wartime. They may well have been bad guys, but even historians disagree whether or not this was an unfortunate byproduct of war or genocide of a minority group. My point is that there is a lot of ambiguity here, and elevating them to the same plane as Hitler while leaving every single corrupt Middle Eastern despot off the list entirely is patently ridiculous. Bottom line: this list lacks historical objectivity.

In "Condensed Literature" the allegation is made that Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is still 'fresh and funny' after 600 years. Everybody can have their own opinion, but I have read "The Canterbury Tales", and can say from personal experience that absolutely nothing could make "The Canterbury Tales" in any way fresh or funny.

Finally, under "Condensed Religion" there appears a box titled "The Problem of Evil" which attempts to refute religion as a belief system. The logical assertions are not well constructed, and most any individual dedicated to any monotheistic religion (that I know of, anyway) will have no difficulty recognizing the fallacies in the rather disingenuous arguments presented.

Overall, this is a credible, interesting book, though I don't think it is quite up to the quality of "Mental Floss" magazine. I recommend the book, but, as always, read skeptically, and let the arguments make sense before you change long-held beliefs. Having said that, the book is fun and irreverent. Despite my critiques, I am glad I bought it.