The Big Book of Women’s Trivia
by Alicia Alvrez
Published by Conari Press
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Connie Anderson
“Women’s matters are anything but trivial.” This quote, written by anonymous (who was likely a woman) was on the cover.
How do you review a book that has hundreds of answers to maybe previously unspoken Did You Knows?
Divided into nine categories that range from clothing to beauty to sports to celebrities—it end with feminine facts you absolutely cannot live without. Some are trips down memory land, others antiqued laws, others about men/women way of doing things that we already just know—but interesting to see in print—like TV remote usage, reading directions and the like.
Here are a few fun ones, some stats and some “stupid stuff” to share:
—Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, was already a Roosevelt distant cousin) so she didn’t have to change her name.
—Women invited bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and the laser printer.
—In 1900 life expectancy for women was 48.3 years, but by 1998 it was almost 80.
—Divorce rate
—19% of women worked outside the home in 1900, but by 200 the figure was 77%.
—Only female mosquitoes bite, feeding on blood, while the male fees on rotting fruit and vegetables.
—More men read on the toilet than women.
—The book The Female Member says there are 640 names for female genitals–twice as many a there are for the male member. (They obviously have not been in my SPAM email file lately, right ladies?)
This is a very fun book, the kind women (and men) might read while in the bathroom, especially during National Bathroom Reading Week, the second week in June.
Oh yes, researchers at Northwestern University want us to know that men change their minds two to three times more than women—but I won’t change my mind about how much I enjoyed this book.
Alicia Alvrez is the pseudonym of a San Francisco area writer who specializes in compiling facts about women and writing for and about women.
Armchair Interviews says: Great gift for yourself and your “private reading,” or as a gift to a woman friend.