Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind : Bizarre and Brilliant Facts about History, Science, Pop Culture, and much more!

By Brice Brant and Special Art Learning

Embark on an extraordinary journey through Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind!

This captivating book is filled with mind-blowing science facts, history, pop culture, and everything in between, making it perfect for curious and inquisitive minds of all ages.

 

Pore through geography facts, uncovering the mysteries of our planet's most intriguing places, from the land of the midnight sun to locations that seem too cold to live in. Travel to outer space where planets rain diamonds and another rains molten glass. Get to know the secrets of your own body and the wonders of chemistry. This book is your gateway to a universe of knowledge!

 

Share these intriguing stories with friends and family and captivate them with sports facts, peculiar animal behaviors, and ingenious inventions. Whether you read this from cover to cover or jump to the facts that fascinate you the most, Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind promises an adventure filled with astonishing discoveries. Open the book and dive into a world of incredible information especially made for the curious mind!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Special Art
• Release date: Sep 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9791255530473

Book preview

Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind

Bizarre and Brilliant Facts about History, Science, Pop Culture, and much more!

Brice Brant

ebook ISBN: 979-12-5553-047-3

[e-mail]

www.specialartbooks.com

© Copyright 2023 - Brice Brant, Special Art

All rights reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The facts presented in this book are accurate and true at the time of publishing. However, the world is constantly evolving, and new information may emerge that could impact the accuracy of certain facts. The author and publisher are not responsible for any changes or developments that may occur after the publication date.

Contents

Introduction

History, Gone But Not Forgotten

Once Upon a Time on Earth

Famous Figures

Animals That Made History

History’s Unsolved Mysteries

Science Matters

All Sorts of Science

Chemistry: The World Is Your Laboratory

Mind-Boggling Physics

To Infinity and Beyond!

Out of This World

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

On a Planet Far, Far Away

The Human Body and All It Can Do

Brain-Bending Facts Ahead

Hearts and Other Body Parts

If You Can Imagine It, You Can Create It

Ingenious Inventions and Terrific Technology

It’s All Fun and Games

Sweets, Snacks, and Food Facts

Pop Culture Pop Quiz

Music, Maestro!

Movie Magic and TV Trivia

Art Attack

Animal Madness

Birds, Mammals, and Marsupials

Cold-Blooded Creatures

Wonders of the Water World

Creepy Crawlies

Bugs or Insects?

Crawling to Flying

Score! Stupendous Sports

Golf

Soccer

Baseball

Tennis

Racing

Basketball

The Olympics

That’s a Sport!

Geography Gems

Asia

Africa

The Americas

Europe

Oceania

Antarctica

Grandeurs of the Globe

Hasta La Vista, Al Vita Zein, That’s All Folks!

Introduction

The world is full of mysteries, crazy coincidences, and scientific marvels. There’s a whole world of adventure out there, just waiting to be explored. If you’re reading this, perhaps you’re the type of person who likes to ask questions. Or wants to know more about how the world works. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you burp in space? How about which famous stories are more fiction than fact? Or is it possible to walk on water? What incredible things can your body do? Are animals ticklish? What exactly is extreme ironing? And who thought bubblegum-flavored broccoli was a good idea? All of these questions, and many more that you haven’t even thought of yet, will be answered in this book!

There are so many weird and wonderful facts to discover about our universe. You’ll be amazed and astounded by all of the incredible things you’ll learn in this book. Impress your friends, family, and teachers with all the unusual facts you find out about history, science, animals, geography, space, our incredible planet, pop culture, sports, and more. This book will shock and amaze you, have you laughing out loud, or squirming at the icky, ooky, and spooky parts! So, hold onto your hats, it’s going to be a wild ride!

History, Gone But Not Forgotten

Once Upon a Time on Earth

•  Did you know that during World War II, the United States military used carrier pigeons as a means of communication? These birds were trained to fly back to their home base with important messages attached to their legs, and they were often used in areas where radio communication was impossible.

•  There was a Japanese soldier who didn’t believe World War II had ended in 1945. It wasn’t until 1974 that he was finally convinced. His name was Hiroo Onoda, and he was trained to never surrender to the enemy. When Japan surrendered in 1945, Onoda thought it was a hoax or a trick, so he continued living in the jungle that he’d been assigned to, believing the war was still going on. Aircraft even dropped pamphlets into the jungle saying the war was over, but Onoda still didn’t believe it! He thought the pamphlets were propaganda from the enemy. For years, Onoda and three other soldiers survived off bananas and coconuts and lived in underground caves. He was officially declared dead in 1959, but that was because nobody knew where he was. He remained in that jungle for almost 30 years after the war until he was found in 1974.

•  The Ancient Greeks believed redheads became vampires when they died. Why would the Greeks believe something so crazy based on someone’s hair color? That’s because, in Ancient Greece, people usually had olive-toned skin and dark hair. Redheads, on the other hand, were sensitive to light and very pale, which sounded suspiciously like vampires to the Greeks. So, they decided the only logical conclusion was that redheads must become vampires after death!

•  The U.S. flag was designed by a seventeen-year-old. His name was Robert G. Heft, and he created the design in 1958 for a school project. He included two more stars on the flag than there were states at the time because he anticipated that Hawaii and Alaska would be joining the United States. Spoiler alert; he was right! Unfortunately, he only got a B minus for the assignment (I bet his teacher felt silly later on). Heft didn’t give up, though, he sent his design to the White House and was eventually phoned by President Eisenhower himself. The president told him his flag design would become the official design from then on. So don’t be too upset if you get a bad grade!

•  The University of Oxford is way older than the Aztec Empire. In the year 1096, the University of Oxford opened its doors to students. It’s true, Oxford is that old! Now, you may imagine the famous Aztec Empire as even older, but in actuality, it’s said that the Empire was founded around 1325. They’re both super old, but the University of Oxford is even older!

•  People were once used as alarm clocks. Before cell phones or even clocks, there was a job some people had where they would knock on someone’s door or window to wake them up. They were called ‘knocker-uppers’ and would use long sticks to reach people’s windows to wake them. Sometimes, knocker-uppers would even throw rocks or shoot peas at windows! You could hire someone to be your personal alarm clock, but unfortunately, you couldn’t press the snooze button on them.

•  In World War I, the French built a fake Paris to fool German bombers. The year was 1917, and the city of Paris was dangerously close to the intense fighting on the front lines. The German army was sending bomber aircraft during the night to make surprise attacks on civilians. It was a scary time to be in Paris! However, an Italian engineer named Fernand Jacopozzi came up with a brilliant plan. He suggested that the Parisians build a second Paris, a fake city, in order to fool the German bombers.

•  The word ‘freelancer’ comes from self-employed, sword-carrying mercenaries. A mercenary is a soldier who will fight for hire. ‘Lance’ is just another name for a spear, so a soldier who is hired and uses a spear or a sword should be called a ‘freelancer,’ don’t you think? Nowadays, a ‘freelancer’ is still a self-employed person but most likely isn’t a mercenary anymore. They can be writers, construction workers, artists, or consultants and work without a long-term commitment to any one employer.

•  There’s a world record for the person who holds the most world records. Yes, you read that correctly. His name is Ashrita Furman: he’s broken over 600 world records and currently holds 200. As a young boy, he developed a fascination with world records and decided to break some. Eventually, he became the person to hold records such as the ‘fastest mile on a pogo stick’ record and the ‘longest time to hula hoop underwater.’ Those are only a few of his hundreds of broken records!

•  The Titanic could’ve been saved by a key. This awful tragedy is well known—the Titanic ran into an iceberg and was sunk. However, this accident could’ve been avoided if someone had simply looked through a pair of binoculars. But the binoculars were locked within the crow’s nest, which is the highest point on a ship. The only person who had the keys was not on the ship, so nobody could get the binoculars and spot the iceberg before the ship crashed into it. Who would have thought a small key might have saved hundreds of people from tragedy?

•  It was never said that the Titanic was unsinkable. When stories about the Titanic are told, storytellers never forget the line about the infamous ship being unsinkable. However, the creators of the Titanic never claimed that! In fact, the Titanic wasn’t very unique or interesting to most of the population until it sank.

•  One of the designers of the Titanic was on board when it sank. His original design included schematics for things on the ship that would save hundreds of lives, but the other designers and owners refused to use them. Boy, he must have been cursing them!

•  You’ve probably seen lots of drawings of pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving. Can you picture what they’re wearing? Well, if you imagined them in a black hat with a big buckle on it, you’d be mistaken! Despite popular images depicting them this way, the pilgrims didn’t start wearing buckles on their hats until the 1800s, after the first Thanksgiving.

•  People often made their clothes out of flour sacks during the Great Depression in the 1930s. So, the companies that distributed these sacks made them brighter and more colorful to help people look fashionable. Ah, what a nice gesture! Though I can’t imagine a flour sack was comfortable to wear!

•  The ancient Greeks used a voting method called ostracism, which allowed citizens to vote on whether or not to banish a fellow citizen from the city-state for a period of ten years. This process was intended to prevent any one person from becoming too powerful and threatening the stability of the city.

•  Cowboys in the Old West didn’t wear cowboy hats much. The movies lied to us! It turns out that cowboys preferred smaller and neater bowler hats. However, they still liked to wear the iconic cowboy boots that are seen in the movies. Also, because cowboys worked so hard, they would wear plain boots while working, and intricately decorated boots when going into town.

•  The loudest recorded sound in history was from the Krakatoa volcanic eruption of 1883. It’s said the explosions were so violent they could be heard as far as Batavia, a village that was eighty miles away. Fortunately, the island of Krakatoa was uninhabited, so nobody was hurt. But the people of Batavia experienced deafening sounds. Their doors shook, things in their houses rattled, and they continued to shake throughout the entire day!

•  The United States Declaration of Independence was actually signed on the 2nd of July, not the 4th. We only credit the 4th as the day it happened because a revision was approved on the 4th.

•  Doctors once used leeches to treat sick patients. This is a practice that dates back to Ancient Greece and Egypt. It’s called bloodletting. Practitioners believed that problems in the blood were the cause of someone’s ailments, so they used leeches to extract a certain amount of blood from their patients. Fortunately, leeches aren’t a regular part of hospital treatment these days.

•  Germany uncovers around 2,000 tons of unexploded bombs per year. Between the years 1940 and 1945, the U.S. and British air forces dropped some 2.7 million tons of bombs on Europe, mostly on Germany. Even now, there are unexploded bombs found in residential areas. People have to evacuate when one is found because their safety is at risk. The bomb then has to be dealt with by experts.

•  The term ‘nazi’