Turbocharge your brain with the most exhilarating, laugh-out-loud trivia book ever written!

Be catapulted on a whirlwind adventure through the zany, weird, and utterly fascinating realms of knowledge, as we take trivia to a whole new level of fun!

Packed with 1,522 mind-blowing facts spanning science, history, pop culture, and more, this rip-roaring, side-splitting tome is perfect for trivia buffs and inquisitive minds of all stripes, comprising everything from the astonishing to the absurd, the hilarious to the hair-raising, and everything in between. Brain-Boosting Facts for Curious Minds is your ultimate source of brain fuel, entertainment, and enlightenment.

Why choose this book?

• Over 1500 intriguing, hilarious, and amazing facts
• A snappy, gonzo-style of writing that'll keep you hooked from start to finish
• An absolute hoot of a read that entertains and educates simultaneously
• Perfect for trivia lovers, casual readers, and anyone looking to jazz up their intellectual arsenal
• The ultimate conversation starter, ice-breaker, or pub quiz secret weapon

With Brain-Boosting Facts for Curious Minds, you'll never be caught without something interesting to share, impressing friends and family with your seemingly endless storehouse of fun facts. So, what are you waiting for? Dive into this boundless abyss of brain-boosting goodness, and let the adventure begin!

Grab your copy of Brain-Boosting Facts for Curious Minds now and embark on the wildest, most entertaining ride through the world of trivia!

This is an introductory book about the history and contemporary usage of the Chinese language.

Chinese is generally considered a difficult language. It is also a fascinating and important language that cannot be ignored. A growing number of English speakers are learning the Chinese language to the enrichment of their lives and the admiration of their friends. Chinese does, however, present a number of challenges. Written Chinese looks like a random set of stroke, dots and dashes. In its handwritten form, it looks like a series of undifferentiated squiggles. Spoken Chinese sounds like a rapid series of almost identical monosyllables with rising and falling intonations.

This book is a contemporary introduction to the modern Chinese language as it is used in China during the first few years of the twenty-first century. China has changed so much and so dramatically over the past century, and indeed over the past twenty years, and these changes are reflected in the language. Textbooks written only twenty years ago are now quite quaint. Much information on the actual use of putonghua (Mandarin Chinese), the use of dialects or various romanization systems is now out of date. The aim of this book is to present current realities. China is a country with a long history, and to understand modern China we must know something of its past. The same applies to the language. Earlier stages of Chinese still have a deep influence on the current language, and we should at least be aware of such influences.

This book is not a language textbook for those wishing to learn Chinese. It does not try to teach the Chinese language. It is a book about Chinese. It has been written for people who are thinking of taking up Chinese and would like some insights into what they are letting themselves in for. As the Chinese strategist, Sunzi said, zhi ji zhi bi, bai zhan bai sheng.--Know yourself and know the other: a hundred battles, a hundred victories. The same applies to learning Chinese.

Want to occupy your mind while you're on the john?

Then At Home On The Throne: 1,028 Funny, Engrossing, Useless & Interesting Facts About Science, History, Pop Culture & More is for you!

This up-to-date bathroom reader is filled with 1,028 trivia gems on a vast range of topics, from history and science to pop culture and the bizarre. Whether you're looking to expand your knowledge or simply pass the time, this book is sure to have something for adults, teens and the whole family.

From mind-bending science facts to jaw-dropping historical mysteries, At Home On The Throne has got it all. But be warned: once you start reading, you might not be able to stop!

A rollercoaster ride through the weirdest, wildest corners of human knowledge, you'll discover:

• does Diamond Dust really exist?
• what is the longest word ever written?
• which US president fought duels and killed two men?
• how did an olympic athlete win a gold medal for 4th place?
• what are the odds of getting killed by a champagne cork?

This ain't your grandma's trivia book. Daniel Kane's writing style is like a shot of adrenaline to the brain, keeping you hooked and engaged as you explore the twisted, labyrinthine corridors of human knowledge. You'll laugh, you'll gasp, and you might even scream - but you won't be able to put this book down.

So if you're looking for a book that will make your throne time more enjoyable than ever before, At Home On The Throne is the perfect choice. Get your copy today and get ready for a wild ride!

Pounce on a whisker-twitching adventure with Interesting Facts for Curious Cats!

This fun and engaging book is packed with over 1,000 lesser-known trivia and secrets about cats, cat culture, and everything feline. It's the ultimate treat for cat lovers and trivia buffs alike!

Why choose this book?

• Explore the truly strange realm of cats
• Learn about cat culture in historical and modern times
• Decode your cat's thoughts through their mysterious body language
• The purr-fect science behind their soothing purrs
• Heartwarming tales of heroic and lovable cats
• Unique traits of various cat breeds that will make you go Me-Wow!

Daniel Kane's witty and entertaining writing style will have you hooked from the very first page. Curl up with Interesting Facts for Curious Cats and embark on a paws-itively delightful journey through the captivating world of our feline friends.

Grab your copy now and embark on the wildest, most entertaining ride through the world of cat trivia!

During the late 1960s, throughout the 1970s, and into the 1980s, New York City poets and musicians played together, published each other, and inspired one another to create groundbreaking art. In Do You Have a Band?, Daniel Kane reads deeply across poetry and punk music to capture this compelling exchange and its challenge to the status of the visionary artist, the cultural capital of poetry, and the lines dividing sung lyric from page-bound poem.

Kane reveals how the new sounds of proto-punk and punk music found their way into the poetry of the 1960s and 1970s downtown scene, enabling writers to develop fresh ideas for their own poetics and performance styles. Likewise, groups like The Fugs and the Velvet Underground drew on writers as varied as William Blake and Delmore Schwartz for their lyrics. Drawing on a range of archival materials and oral interviews, Kane also shows how and why punk musicians drew on and resisted French Symbolist writing, the vatic resonance of the Beat chant, and, most surprisingly and complexly, the New York Schools of poetry. In bringing together the music and writing of Richard Hell, Patti Smith, and Jim Carroll with readings of poetry by Anne Waldman, Eileen Myles, Ted Berrigan, John Giorno, and Dennis Cooper, Kane provides a fascinating history of this crucial period in postwar American culture and the cultural life of New York City.

The essays in this book focus attention on the vibrant New York poetry scene of the 1960s and 70s, on the poets who came after what is now known as the New York School. A range of writers and scholars examine the cultural, sociological and historical contexts of this wildly diverse group of poets.

The Kitans established the Liao dynasty in northern China, which lasted for over two centuries (916-1125). In this survey the reader will find what is currently known about the Kitan language and scripts.
The language was very likely distantly related to Mongolian, with two quite different scripts in use. A few generations after their state was defeated, almost all trace of the Kitan spoken and written languages disappeared, except a few words in Chinese texts. Over the past few decades, however, inscriptions from the tombs of the Liao emperors and the Kitan aristocracy have been at least partially deciphered, resulting in a significant increase of our knowledge of the Kitan lexicon, morphology and syntax.

By the mid-1960s, New American poets and Underground filmmakers had established a vibrant community. Allen Ginsberg, John Ashbery, Robert Duncan, Robert Creeley, and Frank O'Hara joined Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Robert Frank, Alfred Leslie, and Andy Warhol to hang out, make films, read poems, fight censorship, end racism, and shut down the Vietnam War. Their personal, political, and artistic collaborations led them to rethink the moving picture and the lyric, resulting in an extraordinary profusion of poetry/film hybrids.

Drawing on unpublished correspondences and personal interviews with key figures in the innovative poetry and film communities, Daniel Kane's stunningly erudite and accessible work not only provides a fresh look at avant-garde poetry and film but also encourages readers to rethink the artistic scenes of the 1960s and today. We Saw the Light will reframe the very way we talk about how film influences poetry and force us to think anew about the radical ways in which art is created and in turn influences subsequent work.

During the late 1960s, throughout the 1970s, and into the 1980s, New York City poets and musicians played together, published each other, and inspired one another to create groundbreaking art. In Do You Have a Band?, Daniel Kane reads deeply across poetry and punk music to capture this compelling exchange and its challenge to the status of the visionary artist, the cultural capital of poetry, and the lines dividing sung lyric from page-bound poem.

Kane reveals how the new sounds of proto-punk and punk music found their way into the poetry of the 1960s and 1970s downtown scene, enabling writers to develop fresh ideas for their own poetics and performance styles. Likewise, groups like The Fugs and the Velvet Underground drew on writers as varied as William Blake and Delmore Schwartz for their lyrics. Drawing on a range of archival materials and oral interviews, Kane also shows how and why punk musicians drew on and resisted French Symbolist writing, the vatic resonance of the Beat chant, and, most surprisingly and complexly, the New York Schools of poetry. In bringing together the music and writing of Richard Hell, Patti Smith, and Jim Carroll with readings of poetry by Anne Waldman, Eileen Myles, Ted Berrigan, John Giorno, and Dennis Cooper, Kane provides a fascinating history of this crucial period in postwar American culture and the cultural life of New York City.