cover image Schott's Sporting, Gaming, & Idling Miscellany

Schott's Sporting, Gaming, & Idling Miscellany

Ben Schott. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, $14.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-1-58234-406-5

Following on the heels of Schott's Original Miscellany and Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany comes this compendium of trivia of the recreational persuasion, packaged to look not unlike a 19th century almanac or reference guide. Included are Naismith's original rules for basketball (dating from 1892), the contestants and winners of every Superbowl through XXXIX, a glossary of fox hunting terms, different types of fish bait (and the fish each are most likely to attract), a list of questions used by Gamblers Anonymous to assess the degree of a person's addiction and innumerable other morsels. Devoid of any organizational logic, the book is not intended for serious, cover-to-cover reading, but serves as a bet and argument settler that will find itself at home next to the cash register at sportsbars.