| Book of Answers: The New York Public Library Telephone Reference Service's Most Unusual and Enter Contributor(s): Berliner, Barbara (Author) |
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ISBN: 0671761927 ISBN-13: 9780671761929 Publisher: Touchstone Books OUR PRICE: $18.99 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 1992 Annotation: The dedicated and quick-witted staff of librarians from the New York Public Library Telephone Reference Service has compiled some of its strangest and most-asked questions into this delightfully readable book. Subjects range from history and culture to language and science, and a special section on trick questions and popular delusions in also included. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Reference | Trivia - Language Arts & Disciplines | Library & Information Science - General - Education | Reference |
| Dewey: 025.52 |
| Physical Information: 0.79" H x 5.02" W x 8.02" (0.57 lbs) 320 pages |
| Themes: - Geographic Orientation - New York - Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic - Cultural Region - Northeast U.S. |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: How many of these questions can you answer without calling the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service? Who really designed the American flag? How hot is the sun's surface? How does quicksand work? When was the Ark of the Covenant last seen? Who sat at the Algonquin Round Table? Where does the name The Grateful Dead come from? Why is Christmas abbreviated as Xmas? Can any creatures besides humans get a sunburn? How many muscles does it take to smile? To frown? Why are rabbits' feet considered good luck? You could, of course, do all the painstaking research yourself. Or you could pick up the phone and call the resourceful, erudite, quick-witted librarians of the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service, Tel Ref, for whom questions like these are all in a day's work. For the past twenty years, Tel Ref has met the information needs of a public as diverse as the subjects in the Library's catalog, and now they've compiled their most interesting, unusual, and most-often-asked queries into The Book of Answers -- a delight for browsers, a treasure trove of fascinating information, and the perfect companion to The New York Public Library Desk Reference. |
Contributor Bio(s): Berliner, Barbara: - Barbara Beruner has headed the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service since 1986. She and her staff of ten reference librarians are based in the Library's Mid-Manhattan Branch. Meunda Corey and George Ochoa are the authors of The Man in Lincoln's Nose: Funny, Profound, and Quotable Quotes of Screenwriters, Movie Stars, and Moguls and several other books. Ms. Corey is the coauthor of The Official Couch Potato Cookbook. |