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The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp through Civilization's Best Bits

by: Erik Sass, Steve Wiegand, Editors Of Mental Floss

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When you think of the word “Amazon,” we’re sure the first thing that comes to mind is the fantastic website where you can buy our book (buy our book!) or half-naked warrior women. But here are three tantalizing tidbits you might not know--and why you need to act now.



1. Find Gold
There’s something about long, tropical rivers that seems to drive people batty. But the Basque conquistador Lope de Aguirre was by all accounts a murderous sociopath long before he got to the Amazon. Take, for instance, the time a judge sentenced Aguirre to be flogged. The brutish Basque hunted the terrified magistrate across 4,000 miles of rough South American terrain, barefoot, to kill him! So, in 1560, it probably wasn’t the best idea to invite Aguirre along on the quest to find El Dorado, the legendary city of gold. After 900 miles of unbroken rain forest, Aguirre was fed up. He led a mutiny that killed more than half of his fellow conquistadors. Then, he declared himself prince of Peru, Tierra Firma, and Chile. Eventually he and his tiny army attacked Panama…where he was killed and dismembered so his body parts could be paraded around the colony.
The bright side: El Dorado is still out there, waiting for you to discover it! Just don’t bring a friend like Lope.



2. Invest a Dollar
When it’s not making people crazy, the Amazon seems to inspire bizarre, larger-than-life schemes. In 1967, American shipping magnate and billionaire Daniel Ludwig bought a larger-than-Connecticut sized chunk of the Amazon to create a gigantic industrial and agricultural complex called the Jari Project. It didn’t work out. All the construction led to massive soil erosion, screwing up the “agricultural” part of his plan. After sinking $1 billion into the project (back when $1 billion really meant something) Ludwig called it quits in 1982. It was eventually put up for sale for $1--a great deal, if you’re willing to assume $354 million in debt.
The bright side: For anyone with a dollar and a dream, it’s your lucky day: the Jari Project is still for sale!



3. Make New Friends
The pictures of spear-wielding tribesmen produced in May 2008 may have been a hoax, but it’s true that there are literally dozens of so-called “uncontacted” native tribes in the Amazon basin--Stone Age peoples who have never had any contact with the outside world! While this seems preposterous, it makes sense when you consider the Basin’s size, over 2.7 million square miles in area, half of which is covered by dense rain forest and divided by 15,000 rivers and tributaries. Altogether, there are believed to be about three dozen uncontacted tribes in Brazil and 15 in Peru.
The bright side: If you’re up for the adventure, you have more than 50 chances to claim fame and fortune. Just make sure you don’t accidentally give everyone smallpox.



… And so much more!
What you’ve just read isn’t available in our book, but don’t worry--roughly 82% of the rest of history is. Our twelve essential chapters tackle everything from civilization’s baby steps in the Fertile Crescent to the Pope’s first text message, the 6,000-pound super-wombats of early Australia to the Goose Crusade of 1096, the golden hemorrhoids of the Philistines to the most important assassinations of the 20th century, and everything else that’s wacky, entertaining, and completely, unbelievably true.

Product Description:
With mental_floss's trademark smart-aleck approach, combined with hilarious (but true) trivia, world history has never been such a joyride.

Rating: - The Mental Floss History of the World
The book arrived in great condition and in time to be given as a Christmas present. Excellent service!

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Rating: - COOL!!!
This book is fun and brilliant! I am also receiving the Mental Floss Magazine now and love that just as much! Ordering the magazine as birthday gifts for friends and relatives this coming year!

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Rating: - Entertaining and Informative
As a regular reader of the Mental Floss website, I enjoyed the quirky condensed history of this book. Considering the breadth of human civilization, they touched on every facet of history, however briefly, with humor and insight. The format was great, breaking each era down into concise summaries by geographic region and also elaborating on positive and negative contributions of each period. My only criticism is the inaccurate portrayal of Henry VIII's schism with the church on page 198, the purpose ... Read More

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Rating: - A Python-esque look at history's "best bits"
The editors at Mental Floss magazine have put together an irreverent, though fairly detailed, romp through civilization's best bits. This info is taken straight from the cover ribbon, dear reader. The graphics and text on the jacket just scream "Monty Python", but that's not a bad thing, as the Python gang always had a healthy respect for historical and social satire, a fact that clearly isn't lost on this lot.

What you get here is 12 chapters and 400 pages of quick reading historical tidbits ... Read More

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Rating: - Fun, but still a little slow going
It's a heroic task to make the minutae of history succinct and enjoyable and the authors do a creditable job. Just understand that it's not possible to make the history of the world quite what everyone would call a "romp." History buffs will love it and and it makes a good book to dip into randomly. I suppose it is not exactly high praise to call something good bathroom reading, but this is, as well.

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