There
is absolutely no reason to pick up Schott’s Original Miscellany by Ben
Schott. It is merely 160
pages of seemingly random, albeit interesting, facts.
However, Schott’s selection of factoids do provide a diversion
which can be sampled in small doses as the reader has the opportunity.
Beginnings
with a short glossary of terms used to describe golf shots, Schott
continues in a haphazard manner until he finally lists the seven deadly
sins and the four cardinal virtues. While
the subject matter and manner in which he addresses it does not lend
itself to easy organization, there are some items which seem as if they
should have been grouped together, notably a listing of the Ivy League
colleges (on page 69) and the fight songs for those same colleges (p.57).
Many
of Schott’s lists are complete, especially when the number of the group
is finite and small, such as the listing of the months of the French
Revolutionary calendar (p.88), or even longer, such as Schott’s chart of
the presidents of the United States.
However, just as frequently, Schott will provide a selection of
information. For these,
Schott doesn’t even attempt to explain his criteria for inclusion.
Readers are therefore left with a “selection” of capital
cities, although no clue as to why Uaanbator, Mongolia should be included
but not Rangoon, Myanmar..
Of
course, Schott’s Original Miscellany is not meant to be an
almanac, but merely a book of interesting tidbits which can be dipped into
again and again to find facts which Schott, at the time he was compiling
the book, felt would be of interest to people.
In many was, the book seems like a shorter, and more personal
version of the Books of Lists that were published in the 1980s by
Amy Wallace, Irving Wallace andDavid Wallechinsky.
The
selection of font (Garamond 8.5) seems to be a little small and light for
the cream colored paper used in the books production. While it gives the book a nice Victorian appearance, it also
makes some of the sections difficult to read, especially on the busier
pages of the collection.
For all the problems with the book, it does
provide an interesting 160 pages of information which can be enjoyed as
the reader opens the book at random or pages through it in order to see
what pieces of trivia Schott has elected to bestow upon his readers.
