Whether interested in Scoville units, cloud types, martini recipes, phobias, holoalphabetic sentences, how to tie a Windsor knot, Navajo code talkers or Hamlet in Pig Latin, Schott's Original Miscellany is a necessary read (or general skim) for any information junkie. There are countless delightful and droll nuggets of knowledge that you never knew you never knew!

The true joy of this book is that you can read it straight through, or hop around erratically. Randomly compiled information, thoroughly indexed, this compendium of witty and wayward facts will wow your friends and confound your critics. WARNING: This book is one to buy and not just borrow. Teasing your brain with these facts (unless you can recall like Johnny-Five) without having the reference book on your shelf would be torture. Check out http://www.miscellanies.info/ for a more formal introduction.

So, who is Ben Schott and why should we trust him? Well, it's not a pen name for Ben Stein. But his books have been thoroughly researched and he has a forum on his website in case you do have any arguments based on the information in the book(s). This book would make a wonderful gift for your nerdy friend. It is also the first of a trilogy (the rest are Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany, and Schott's Sporting, Gaming & Idling Miscellany) so you are covered for a few holidays in a row.