I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot from School

by Caroline Taggart

Series: Blackboard Books (General)

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666	7	37,155	(3.22)	7
Reference. Nonfiction. HTML: This small but mighty collection will trigger your memory with fun facts you learned in school-from adverbs to the Pythagorean Theorem. Witty, engaging, entertaining-a book you'll pick up again and again. Author Caroline Taggart discovered two things while researching this book and talking with other people: One, everybody had been to school. And two, they had all forgotten entirely different things. Contained in this handy little book are the facts that you learned in school, but may not remember completely or accurately. Covering a variety of subjects, this book features all the most important theories, equations, phrases, and rules we were all taught years ago. Rediscover: History: The first president to occupy the White House was John Adams in 1800 Religion: The seven deadly sins and the names of the twelve apostles Literature: In which Shakespearean play "The quality of mercy" speech appears Science: The periodic table of elements devised by a Russian chemist in 1889 includes the symbol for lead (Pb), silver (Ag), tin (Sn), and gold (Au) Nature: How photosynthesis works The information-presented in easy-to-retain, bite-sized chunks-is accurate and up-to- date. It will touch a chord with anyone old enough to have forgotten half of what they learned at school. Here is a perfect gift for every perennial student. .… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)

More a small collection of answers to pub trivia questions than a serious reference. Most of the contents I never learned at school but afterwards. The book seems to focus on the US and Europe. (

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PhillipThomas | Jan 24, 2023 |

I'm not sure what the author was trying to achieve. It is too lightweight to be a reference book, nor did it make me nostaligic about my school days. (

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martensgirl | Mar 27, 2015 |

Unfortunately it got rather boring for me in the chemistry section as I had advanced courses in Chemistry in school. The physics and biology part were interesting.
All in all it was rather superficial (which wasn't so surprising given the length of the book and the complexity and vastness of topics to cover).
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Tam2603 | Apr 18, 2013 |

The premise of the book is that we all learn a wealth of information in school, but forget a great deal of it, because it doesn't pertain to our everyday life. This book promises to refresh our memories of generally known subjects of information, that are probably familiar to us, but the details are lost in the recesses of time. As such, the book is divided in sections according to subject matter, such as reading or math. The most common areas of school study are utilized, followed by a final chapter that collects bits of knowledge from a variety of the elective type studies, the fine arts and mythology and the planets and so on.

As the introduction indicates, I did find that I knew much of the material covered or had studied it at some point. If I could, I would be a perpetual student - too bad no one actually pays me for that - so I rather enjoy reading scholastic material, even a book like this that doesn't go deep, it just skims the surface of stuff you should know. Perhaps the best use for the book, though, is for a bit of fun trivia quizzing amongst friends, or to relieve boredom on road trips. Indeed, we did use it for that latter purpose. There's nothing special about this book, but it does make you feel a touch smarter, and can offer entertaining quizzing games with creative application. (

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nmhale | Dec 13, 2012 |

Hardly anything new here. Can't see how in today's modern age that you would need it as a reference as anything said is very easily obtained with 2 clicks. (

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bergs47 | Jun 21, 2010 |

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I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot from School

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Epigraph

I've a grand memory for forgetting. - Robert Louis Stevension

Dedication

For Jon and Nic, who are old enough to start forgetting this sort of stuff, and for Mishak and Camille, who are just beginning to learn it.

First words

Introduction: When I started to write this book, I realized that I did remember lots of different things, but I didn't always remember those facts completely, or necessarily accurately.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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▾Book descriptions

Reference. Nonfiction. HTML:

This small but mighty collection will trigger your memory with fun facts you learned in school-from adverbs to the Pythagorean Theorem. Witty, engaging, entertaining-a book you'll pick up again and again.

Author Caroline Taggart discovered two things while researching this book and talking with other people: One, everybody had been to school. And two, they had all forgotten entirely different things. Contained in this handy little book are the facts that you learned in school, but may not remember completely or accurately. Covering a variety of subjects, this book features all the most important theories, equations, phrases, and rules we were all taught years ago.

Rediscover:

History: The first president to occupy the White House was John Adams in 1800
Religion: The seven deadly sins and the names of the twelve apostles
Literature: In which Shakespearean play "The quality of mercy" speech appears
Science: The periodic table of elements devised by a Russian chemist in 1889 includes the symbol for lead (Pb), silver (Ag), tin (Sn), and gold (Au)
Nature: How photosynthesis works

The information-presented in easy-to-retain, bite-sized chunks-is accurate and up-to- date. It will touch a chord with anyone old enough to have forgotten half of what they learned at school. Here is a perfect gift for every perennial student. .

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Author Caroline Taggart discovered two things while researching this book and talking with other people: One, everybody had been to school. And two, they had all forgotten entirely different things. Contained in this handy little book are the facts that you learned in school, but may not remember completely or accurately. Covering a variety of subjects, this book features all the most important theories, equations, phrases, and rules we were all taught years ago.

Rediscover:

History: The first president to occupy the White House was John Adams in 1800
Religion: The seven deadly sins and the names of the twelve apostles
Literature: In which Shakespearean play "The quality of mercy" speech appears
Science: The periodic table of elements devised by a Russian chemist in 1889 includes the symbol for lead (Pb), silver (Ag), tin (Sn), and gold (Au)
Nature: How photosynthesis works

The information-presented in easy-to-retain, bite-sized chunks-is accurate and up-to- date. It will touch a chord with anyone old enough to have forgotten half of what they learned at school. Here is a perfect gift for every perennial student.

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