Futility Closet 2: A Second Trove of Intriguing Tidbits

Here's a second helping of entertaining oddities in history, literature, language, art, philosophy, and mathematics from Futility Closet, the online catalog of beguiling curiosities: joyous dogs, soul-stirring Frenchmen, runaway balloons, U-turning communists, manful hummingbirds, recalcitrant Ws, intractable biplanes, vengeful whales, hairless trombonists, abusive New Zealanders, unreconstituted cannibals, mysterious blimps, thrice-conscripted Koreans, imaginary golf courses, irate Thackerays, and hundreds more. Plus the amusing inventions, curious words, puzzles and oddities that regularly entertain millions of website visitors and podcast listeners.Editorial Reviews "A wild, wonderful, and educational romp through history, science, zany patents, math puzzles, wonderful words (like boanthropy, hallelujatic, and andabatarian), the Devil’s Game, self-contradicting words, and so much more. Buy this book and feed your mind!"-- Clifford A. Pickover, author of The Mathematics Devotional"Futility Closet delivers concentrated doses of weird, wonderful, brain-stimulating ideas and anecdotes, curated mainly from forgotten old books. I'm hooked -- there's nothing quite like it!" -- Mark Frauenfelder, founder, Boing Boing

Greg Ross edits the popular website Futility Closet, a collection of entertaining curiosities in history, literature, language, art, philosophy, and mathematics. Previously he spent 20 years editing science, engineering, and education publications for publishers such as IEEE, UNext.com, and American Scientist magazine. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.