Title: The Q.I. Book of the Dead
Author: John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 435
Rating: 8/10
John Lloyd and John Mitchinson – The Q.I. Book of the Dead
I should preface this review by pointing out that this was the book that I started my 24-hour Dyslexia Action charity readathon with – for the first two and a half hours, I was finishing this off. It certainly isn’t a book that you’d want to read over and over again, nor a book that you could sit down and whizz through in one sitting, unless you were trying to raise money for charity by trying to read for 24 hours straight.
That said, it is a reasonably long read, but try not to be fooled by the blurb of the book which makes it sound as though it only talks about a dozen historical figures. It’s true that the book is broken up in to sections, and certain key figures like Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin take up more than their fair share of the manuscript, but it would be unfair to say that the book is all about them.
In fact, Lloyd and Mitchinson, the two writers who are behind the creation of Q.I. and a bunch of other well-known TV shows, have clearly done their research – more than that, they’ve done so much research that this book is brimming with the fruits of their labours, and I personally can’t see any way in which they could’ve improved it. There’s only so much you can fit in, with a given amount of words.
John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
Theoretically, the book is split in to seven different sections, which focus on a different aspect of existence from bad starts in life to the relationships we have with our contemporaries and the eternal question of ‘what happens next?’ It makes for a fascinating read, the kind of book that you learn from all the way through despite it never setting out a formal agenda – the two authors dip from subject to subject with a natural ease, and despite it being a book of facts and historical figures, it seems to follow a consistent journey from start to finish.
If you’re fan of the Q.I. television series then you’re going to be a fan of this book, as well as the rest of the books that have been released since the show achieved mainstream recognition. They all follow a similar theme, focusing on anything that could conceivably be classified as ‘quite interesting‘. This book passes the test for sure, and I’d recommend it if you’re a keen reader and a pursuer of knowledge.
A Q.I. promo from god knows how long ago…
