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Book Report

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The Blogger Abides: Words and Phrases I've Misused

Good news, everyone! I wrote a book! It's called The Blogger Abides, and it's based on my experience writing for Mental Floss and other publications over the years. Longtime readers of this blog will recognize the book as a very Flossy affair: it includes a lengthy foreword by Ransom Riggs, and it was edited by Adrienne Crezo. Have you ever wondered what it's like to interview famous people who are intimidatingly awesome and/or rude? Have you asked yourself, "Do bloggers wear pants?" Have you... READ ON

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That is All: John Hodgman's Transcendent Final Audiobook of Complete World Knowledge

Today marks the beginning of the end of audiobooks. But don't cry -- there is still time to buy the last audiobook you will need before the coming global superpocalypse. You see, John Hodgman has released his final audiobook of complete world knowledge: That is All. It is full of jokes, celebrity cameos, mostly fake trivia, two references to Kale City Kale Chips, and fond recollections of Hodgman's now-burned speed zeppelin Hubris. Some of the narration occurs while Hodgman travels aboard the HMS... READ ON

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THAT IS ALL, John Hodgman's Final Book of Complete World Knowledge

Photo by Brantley Gutierrez. John Hodgman's third and final book of complete world knowledge, That is All, hits bookstore shelves today, 11/1/11. I hope you'll buy a copy, because you'll need it when Ragnarok occurs. Oh, You Haven't Heard of Ragnarok? That is All is predicated on the premise (ahem, CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE) that, starting quite soon, we will enter a pre-apocalyptic period leading up to the end of the world, or to be more specific, Hodgman's "COMING TOTAL ULTRACOLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION... READ ON

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The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions

Julia Suits has assembled a book filled with ads for real prank machines used in fraternal lodges in the early part of the 20th century, complete with an introduction by David Copperfield. This volume is extremely appropriate for readers of mental_floss, as it's full of trivia on weird inventions, the history of pranks, and a very special form of Americana. The book is bizarre and hilariously perverse, packed with clippings from catalogs sent to the high muckety-mucks at the Modern Woodmen of America,... READ ON

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10 Questions from Liberty University Exams

We're excited to have author, journalist, and Brown University senior (he's still a senior!) Kevin Roose blogging with us this week. His new book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University is about the semester he spent at Liberty University. We'll let Kevin take it from here: BY KEVIN ROOSE Liberty, as you probably know by now, isn't a middle-of-the-road Christian college. As one of my professors, Dr. Dekker said, only a dozen schools still teach young-earth... READ ON

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5 Things I Learned By Being the World's Worst Evangelist

We're excited to have author, journalist, and Brown University senior (he's still a senior!) Kevin Roose blogging with us this week. His new book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University is about the semester he spent at Liberty University. We'll let Kevin take it from here: BY KEVIN ROOSE Unlike their counterparts in the secular world, Liberty students don't spend their spring breaks drinking and cavorting at SeÃ±or Frog's. But that doesn't mean they don't head... READ ON

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8 Things You Didn't Know About Jerry Falwell

We're excited to have author, journalist, and Brown University senior (he's still a senior!) Kevin Roose blogging with us this week. His new book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University is about the semester he spent at Liberty University. We'll let Kevin take it from here: BY KEVIN ROOSE There's no doubt that Jerry Falwell was controversial. Many remember him as the arch-conservative Moral Majority leader who took to the airwaves after September 11, 2001 and blamed... READ ON

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5 Rules from my Semester at America's Holiest University

We're so excited to have author, journalist, and Brown University senior (he's still a senior!) Kevin Roose blogging with us this week. His new book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University is about the semester he spent at Liberty University, the late Jerry Falwell's college for young evangelicals. Kevin's book is engaging, thoughtful and just a delight to read. If you like what you see, be sure to order a copy. We'll let Kevin take it from here: BY KEVIN ROOSE For... READ ON

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3 Ridiculous Stunts by Contemporary Artists

This week we're lucky to have guest blogger Elizabeth Lunday, author of Secret Lives of Great Artists: What Your Teachers Never Told You about Master Painters and Sculptors, spilling the dirt on the artists you thought you knew. We'll let her take it from here: BY ELIZABETH LUNDAY. As you get into postmodernism and contemporary art, the artists seem to only get more outrageous. Here are some examples of the weird and wild behavior of 20th century artists: 1. Andy Warhol does the Love Boat? If Andy... READ ON

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3 Modern Artists and the Politics that Affected Their Work

This week we're lucky to have guest blogger Elizabeth Lunday, author of Secret Lives of Great Artists: What Your Teachers Never Told You about Master Painters and Sculptors, spilling the dirt on the artists you thought you knew. We'll let her take it from here: BY ELIZABETH LUNDAY. If you think politics were rough for Neoclassical artists, the Modernists had even more troubles. Modern art arose in part as a reaction to the carnage of World War I and became established just in time for the carnage of... READ ON