Table of Contents
Introduction: Some serious trivia 1
I The Cosmos, and Everything in It
Some creation myths 6
The Big Bang and evolution: Probably not a creation myth 10
Some perspective on time 13
Some perspective on space 15
Overcoming the speed limit of the universe 17
Regarding galaxies 21
Some noteworthy galaxies 23
Near neighbours: Every star and substellar object within 10 light years of Earth 25
A profusion of sun-gods 27
Even nearer neighbours: The planets 29
Not every big round rock orbiting the Sun is a planet The not-quite-seven dwarfs 32
A brief tour of the dwarf planets 34
A selection of space-faring animals 37
II The Human Planet, and the Lines We Draw On It
A history of the world, told through its largest cities 40
How many countries are there in the world? 42
The largest countries by area … 46
… and the smallest 48
The largest countries by population … 50
… and the smallest 51
The oldest and youngest countries in the world 52
The largest islands on the planet 55
The world's most populous landmasses: Or, why 'just a small island' is a self-serving lie 58
Some curious and interesting US county names 59
Some frankly not very curious and interesting US county names 62
III Questions of Measurement
Some notes on large numbers, part 1: Everything changes 66
A good way of measuring the world 71
Another, worse way of measuring the world 75
A quick note on how we measure space 78
A brief interlude on prefixes 80
Some notes on large numbers, part 2: The great beyond 82
What year is it, again? A selection of calendars 84
IV Histories and Politics
Some particularly memorable dates 92
Some notes on independence day around the world 94
A complete list of countries never colonised by European powers 100
The nastiest atrocities in human history 101
Some stupid wars 105
Some not especially stupid wars which are nonetheless cursed with stupid names 110
The Fourth Horseman cometh: The worst pandemics in human history 115
The deadliest events of all 119
Some important things invented by women 120
Some important things invented by the Chinese 122
Some things probably not invented by the Chinese, but for which they often get the credit 125
Some African civilisations 126
The Seven Wonders of the World, and why you (mostly) can't see them any more 130
Reach for the skies: A history of the world, told through its tallest buildings 134
A brief history of gay marriage 140
V The Natural World
Some earthly extremities 144
The world's longest rivers 148
Counting crows and other animals: Some global species populations 151
A note on conservation status 154
Some penguins 155
Some real chimeras 160
The earth moves: How can you measure the size of an earthquake? 165
Which were the biggest earthquakes on record? 167
The deadliest earthquakes in history 169
When the wind blows: Some notes on the Beaufort scale 173
VI Matters of Communication
The problem with languages 178
Which languages have the most native speakers? 180
Which are the most popular second languages? 181
Which languages have the world's most speakers overall? 183
Some mutually intelligible languages 184
Unfamiliar countries: Some names you may not recognise 186
Some genuine tourism slogans 188
Some notes on flight 191
Some notes on airports 194
VII Leisure: On Culture, Food and Sport
Some extremely famous people you've probably never heard of 200
The world's biggest film franchises 203
The biggest movies of all time 206
Okay, but what about inflation? 208
A possible list of holders of the title 'highest-grossing film of all time' 210
Some films that probably sold more tickets than any Avengers movie 211
Some stolen paintings 213
The biggest-selling music artists of all time, probably 217
Some unusually long-running TV programmes 220
A compendium of pen names 224
Some authors banned by the Nazis 227
Some delicious delicacies 228
Some hybrid fruit and veg 230
Some noteworthy ice-cream flavours 232
Some sports that were invented by mixing one game with another, very different game 236
Some observations on the FIFA World Cup 237
A brief history of the modern world, told through some extremely popular toys 242
VIII Oddities: The Things That Don't Fit Elsewhere
A recent history of the world, told via the OED 'Word of the Year' 246
Flagpole diplomacy: On a largely unnoticed arms race 247
Some different colours of noise 250
So you think you're paranoid? 11 odd superstitions from around the world 253
Santa and friends: Who brings Christmas presents around the world? 255
The Swedish town where every Christmas brings goat arson 258
A few offcuts: Some fragments of other lists 261
IX The End
A selection of things that may kill us all 266
Some things that will happen because of man-made climate change 270
Some ideas of an afterlife 274
Last words down the ages 280
A note on sources 285
Acknowledgements 291
