Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Under "perhaps the surest path to getting written up" in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica", AJ Jacobs describes a game he'd play when reading the "EB". Take "a biographical squib that begins with the words 'French revolutionary'", then see how long it takes before what happens to him?
2. The second way AJ Jacobs suggests you get your own entry in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" is to explore the Arctic. Which of the following would NOT have made it under this criterion?
3. "Write some poems" is a piece of advice given by AJ Jacobs as a way of getting into the "Encyclopaedia Britannica", with being a "Surrealist [or] Russian formalist [poet]" particularly advisable. An example of the former - singled out for the absurdity of his early work in particular - is given as an American-born author who lived much of his life in Tangier, and is perhaps best known for his novel "The Sheltering Sky" (1949); who was he?
4. Another certain way to get your own write-up in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" is to become a botanist, preferably a Scandinavian one. In 1995, the "Glasgow Herald" announced to the world Professor Olaf Lipro's discovery of 'Solar Complexus Americanus', a Venezuelan plant which could produce and radiate its own heat. Fabulous! What was the date of the "Herald" edition which contained the announcement?
5. According to AJ Jacobs, "The 'Britannica's obsession with" a certain art-form "borders on the unhealthy". Comedies enacted in 18th Century Italy, featuring such characters as Capitano, Columbine, Harlequin and Zanni, he could only be describing what?
6. One of the easier ways to guarantee you'll get a write-up in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" is to win a prize. Well okay, not just any prize, and it might not be that easy to win. Okay, you have to win the Nobel Prize, but the plus is you can win it in any category. Which of these is NOT a Nobel category?
7. This way to make yourself "Britannica"-friendly is for men only, which is a fairly big hint in itself. An ancient practice, it is - barring accidents and vindictive wives - no longer practiced. Do I need say more? What is the 7th way AJ Jacobs lists for making you a dead-cert for your own entry in the "EB"?
8. Some ways of getting yourself an entry in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" are a little more sedentary than others. One of these is to design a type of a certain something which we all use - or at least see - every day, but mostly take for granted, if we notice them at all. Vital to absolutely everyone who wants to read, what should you design?
9. One for the ladies, the penultimate way Jacobs suggests will see you "Britannica"-bound is to "Become a mistress to a monarch". He does suggest, however, that it might be a good idea to launch your campaign sooner rather than later, but why?
10. This one might be a bit of a long-shot, but if you can manage to "Become a liturgical vestment" you are pretty-much writing your own "Encyclopaedia Britannica" entry right there. If you did decide to follow this route, which of these would you NOT want to waste your time trying to become?
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