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Books : I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot from School
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Rating: 
- Well-organised reference book, but too short
This book is split into chapters based on the traditional school subjects, such as geography, history, maths, and then within each chapter split into 'typical things we were taught', ranging from the list of British kings to trigonometry to Charles Dickens.
There are certain chapters you'll skip, either because they were your specialist subject at university or because you're still not interested years later. But there are chapters you'll definitely be saying "I used to know that!" for.
It doesn't take very long to read the entire book, but that's only half the usefulness, because my copy will be taking a prominent place on my shelf- because next time anything that relates to these subjects comes up, I'll remember (I hope) that if I've forgotten it, this is the first book to turn to.
My only criticism is that perhaps 192 pages is a little ungenerous and the authors could easily have found an extra 50% of stuff that we've also forgotten from school. Or maybe that's being saved for a sequel.
Rating:
- Careful - not for everybody
I had high hopes for this book but was left a little disappointed.
There was lots of stuff in here that I had forgotten but most of it I will surely forget again because I'm not too interested. The bits I was interesting in (maths and science) I found that I did know (because I read sciencey books anyway) and it felt a bit lightweight in that area.
The book mostly covers early secondary school topics and touches on some of the basics from 'O' level (I guess that's GCSE now).
Overall, I think it is worth a read and it does deliver what it tries to. My problem is that my expectations were unrealistic (but that's not the author's fault).
Rating:
- a feast of bite sized information
This is the age of bite ( or is it byte) sized information. The older generation i.e. me think we are divided from the younger by the fact that we learnt our information by rote. The old exam system was based you learning what the teacher told you or wrote on the board and you passed exams by regurgitating it .
As a result we confused knowledge with intelligence.These days you do not have to know the capital of Kazakhstan ( Astana) as the Internet will tell you.
I am often told by the less intelligent that most human endeavours are easy or straightforward because you can look it up on the Internet. They forget it is raw information and you have to intelligently apply it.
I constantly tell people that no doubt it tells me on the Internet how to build a car or a house but I will not be attempting to do so.
This book is the information we oldies think we should know. I have to say that even though I went to a Grammar school have a fair collection of A levels and a professional qualification there is a lot in there that they neglected to tell me. or I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is handily divided into English language literature, maths, science, history, geography and general studies.
Some of the don't tend to change but whole countries have disappeared and been replaced by new ones. If you knew Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso and the capital is Ouagadougou you need to get out more or maybe you do to pub quizzes.
Like i before e this is a great book but again suffers form one minor criticism it should have an index.
Highly recommended and a joy to read.
Rating: - ...I Do Now!
Leafing through this in the book shop my smug, 'I still know that!' expression was rapidly replaced with an, 'I never knew that!' look of horror!... So I bought it immediately, and having just finished this delightfully ingenious tome I am now happy to say that although I may not have 'Known That', I do now!
A great book, birthday and Christmas presents for this year are taken care of!
Rating: - Great Stuff
I bought this book for my Dad, trying to look clever whilst reminding him he is old. When he started asking me if "I knew this or that" I realized how much I had forgotten from school, and I made a complete fool of myself.
I asked my father to lend me the book now! I needed a quick read through, but he wouldn't let me have it!!
Great fun.
Mark
- Well-organised reference book, but too shortThis book is split into chapters based on the traditional school subjects, such as geography, history, maths, and then within each chapter split into 'typical things we were taught', ranging from the list of British kings to trigonometry to Charles Dickens.
There are certain chapters you'll skip, either because they were your specialist subject at university or because you're still not interested years later. But there are chapters you'll definitely be saying "I used to know that!" for.
It doesn't take very long to read the entire book, but that's only half the usefulness, because my copy will be taking a prominent place on my shelf- because next time anything that relates to these subjects comes up, I'll remember (I hope) that if I've forgotten it, this is the first book to turn to.
My only criticism is that perhaps 192 pages is a little ungenerous and the authors could easily have found an extra 50% of stuff that we've also forgotten from school. Or maybe that's being saved for a sequel.
Rating:
- Careful - not for everybodyI had high hopes for this book but was left a little disappointed.
There was lots of stuff in here that I had forgotten but most of it I will surely forget again because I'm not too interested. The bits I was interesting in (maths and science) I found that I did know (because I read sciencey books anyway) and it felt a bit lightweight in that area.
The book mostly covers early secondary school topics and touches on some of the basics from 'O' level (I guess that's GCSE now).
Overall, I think it is worth a read and it does deliver what it tries to. My problem is that my expectations were unrealistic (but that's not the author's fault).
Rating:
- a feast of bite sized information This is the age of bite ( or is it byte) sized information. The older generation i.e. me think we are divided from the younger by the fact that we learnt our information by rote. The old exam system was based you learning what the teacher told you or wrote on the board and you passed exams by regurgitating it .
As a result we confused knowledge with intelligence.These days you do not have to know the capital of Kazakhstan ( Astana) as the Internet will tell you.
I am often told by the less intelligent that most human endeavours are easy or straightforward because you can look it up on the Internet. They forget it is raw information and you have to intelligently apply it.
I constantly tell people that no doubt it tells me on the Internet how to build a car or a house but I will not be attempting to do so.
This book is the information we oldies think we should know. I have to say that even though I went to a Grammar school have a fair collection of A levels and a professional qualification there is a lot in there that they neglected to tell me. or I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is handily divided into English language literature, maths, science, history, geography and general studies.
Some of the don't tend to change but whole countries have disappeared and been replaced by new ones. If you knew Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso and the capital is Ouagadougou you need to get out more or maybe you do to pub quizzes.
Like i before e this is a great book but again suffers form one minor criticism it should have an index.
Highly recommended and a joy to read.
Rating:
- ...I Do Now!Leafing through this in the book shop my smug, 'I still know that!' expression was rapidly replaced with an, 'I never knew that!' look of horror!... So I bought it immediately, and having just finished this delightfully ingenious tome I am now happy to say that although I may not have 'Known That', I do now!
A great book, birthday and Christmas presents for this year are taken care of!
Rating:
- Great StuffI bought this book for my Dad, trying to look clever whilst reminding him he is old. When he started asking me if "I knew this or that" I realized how much I had forgotten from school, and I made a complete fool of myself.
I asked my father to lend me the book now! I needed a quick read through, but he wouldn't let me have it!!
Great fun.
Mark