Let me start by saying I hate reading with a passion. No I don’t mean reading on the Internet, but reading a book in a relaxed environment trying to focus on a story. My mind often wanders onto something else and then I lose the plot and end up re-reading sections over and over until the inevitable boredom sets in.

There is however one book that has changed my reading habits and that is ‘The Book of General Ignorance’:

Compendium of popular misconceptions, misunderstandings and common mistakes culled from the hit BBC show, QI. Published to coincide with the fourth series broadcast in September 2006. If, like Alan Davies, you still think that Henry VIII had six wives, the earth has only one moon, that George Washington was the first president of the USA, that Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, that the largest living thing is a blue whale, that Alexander Graeme Bell invented the telephone, that whisky and bagpipes come from Scotland or that Mount Everest is the world’s tallest mountain, then there are at least 200 reasons why this is the book for you.

Including information that:

• Henry VIII had only two wives
• The earth has seven moons
• All human beings have four nostrils
• Coffee is not made from beans

I have already posted about my fondness of the quiz show programme called QI, but the book really is as equally deserving of my attentions. With the usual QI charm, I actually find myself picking up a book again after all these years of staring at digital information.

You don’t even have to be an avid watcher of the programme on the BBC to enjoy this book. For anyone who lives in general ignorance (which lets face it is most of us!), this is a saviour for souls like myself who have lost the interest in reading.

Shop: QI - The Book of General Ignorance