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amibunk's review
4.0
So. Much. Fun.
This is not a read-it-cover-to-cover kind of book. It is a leave-on-your-nightstand-and-occasionally-peruse-it kind of a book. The knowledge inside of it ranges from Latin phrases to English authors to American politics. The writing is informative and very witty. Beware however, reading this book gives one a false sense of intelligence that may persuade one to enter into a foolish bet over a Jeopardy! question, thus resulting in a week of dish cleaning. Not that I'm saying that actually happened to me....
This is not a read-it-cover-to-cover kind of book. It is a leave-on-your-nightstand-and-occasionally-peruse-it kind of a book. The knowledge inside of it ranges from Latin phrases to English authors to American politics. The writing is informative and very witty. Beware however, reading this book gives one a false sense of intelligence that may persuade one to enter into a foolish bet over a Jeopardy! question, thus resulting in a week of dish cleaning. Not that I'm saying that actually happened to me....
al13ex's review
2.0
I have read about half of this book before I realised that I'm doing it wrong. It is very complex and simplistic at the same time, because there's a lot of information, multiple domains and just some basic knowledge offered for each of them. There are plenty of things here that I'm not actually interested in knowing and besides, it's not like I'll just start memorising everything in here. So, no, this is not helping me at all, but I'm keeping it just in case I might need to know about a thing or two...
kevgm's review
3.0
It's a good compilation of interesting but basic facts to increase your knowledge on areas such as literature, politics, architecture, science, etc. It's a light and easy to understand book, but I'm not sure that's much of a good thing, many times I was reading about a certain topic which I found interesting just to end up wondering why didn't they decided to go deeper into it.
It's pretty much outdated now, almost all that's included here you can read about on the internet in a much more complete way.
It's pretty much outdated now, almost all that's included here you can read about on the internet in a much more complete way.
kmoses87's review
4.0
I enjoyed the variety of information in the book. I was disappointed, though, with how much it focused on talking about people, especially in the World History section.
radioactve_piano's review
5.0
I loved this book! My parents gave it to me when I graduated college and it had been following me around ever since (all two pounds of it). Broken into manageable sections with just about every topic you'd want to know more about, this massive tome of a book is full of interesting tidbits as well as the facts everyone should know. The writing is conversational, without being dumbed down, and the information is well-chosen.
I read it precisely the way they don't recommend reading it: straight through, page 1 to page 679. I actually thought it was a fabulous read that way, but was content to devote myself to no other books while reading this -- and taking my time so that some of this actually sunk in.
I read it precisely the way they don't recommend reading it: straight through, page 1 to page 679. I actually thought it was a fabulous read that way, but was content to devote myself to no other books while reading this -- and taking my time so that some of this actually sunk in.
chelseydavidson's review
3.0
Not your typical reference book, An Incomplete Education reads in a natural way, a way that you could read cover to cover recreationally. There's a reason why there's been multiple editions of this fantastic read, covering but not limited to such topics as art, politics, economics, film, literature, music, philosophy, world history, religion, and science. It goes into what you should know about these oft-dry subjects, dealt with in that laidback fashion that lends itself to a conversational tone. An Incomplete Education does a miraculous thing by getting to the point without flaking on the details. I recommend it.
dray's review
5.0
I liked this book. i thought it might be like a bathroom reader, but it is much better than that (although i like random fact books). As the title suggests, the book gives you the main thesis in many subjects of an undergraduate education. Although I took a wide array of courses in college there were many subjects i did not take. This book fills in the gaps and allows the reader to find additional resources if they like the material. it is well written, somewhat snarky but most importantly, highly readable.
lindzee's review
3.0
mostly information I already knew. Probably would be better if you hadn't paid attention in class