Schott's Miscellany 2009: An Almanac - Ben Schott

Open Schott’s Miscellany 2009 (Bloomsbury, $30) to any page and you’ll find something interesting.  Broken up into sections that go from “The World & Gazetteer,” “Society & Health,” “Government,” to “Form & Faith,” this quirky almanac is full of random surveys, facts, figures, and even, which I thought was great, an “In Brief” section which handily sums up major stories and personalities of the last year.  There seems to be a little bit of everything here (do you know what QWERTY Tummy is? Well, I sure didn’t. Or how about Globaloney? Check it out on page 196).  This is a book that I will definitely keep where I can grab it for a quick, informative read.