James S. Fell

I got a review copy of this from the publisher through NetGalley and though it works as a one-a-day sort of read, that wasn't going to work, so... jamb a year's reading into a month and a half (while also having surgery to take me out of it for a while) and ... fun book.

I thought initially of giving this 4 of 5 stars but the story of November 12, 1970 and Oregon blowing up a whale carcass had me laughing out loud. That and his, ummm, .... colorful language throughout. I am not familiar with the FBpage that this came from, and if you reading these thoughts this aren't, it's Uncle John's Bathroom Books for adults, Daily Affirmation version (or Uncle Cecil's Straight Dope History version if you're old enough .) Right in the Author's Note, Mr. Fell says:
I can’t believe I have to say this, but Nazis are bad. Bad before World War II. Bad during. Still bad now. The worst kind of bad. There are no “very fine people” among them. If you disagree, you won’t like this book.

Well, I like this guy before I even start! (On Robert the Bruce: How do you get “the” included between your first and last name? “James the Fell” has a cool ring to it. It makes my name no longer a complete sentence.)

And...
"P.S. You’ll notice no shortage of Trump hate in this book. Fuck that guy.
June 14, 1946, was a dark day in history indeed.
June 17, 1972 Don’t get me wrong. Nixon was a piece of shit. But comparatively speaking, the Trump bar was so low it must have had some bizarrely powerful magnetic attraction to Earth’s molten core.
September 14, 1901 You may have noticed that there is no shortage of criticism of a certain semi-sentient dayglo taint stain of a president in this book"

So... language... if "cussing", "cursing", "swearing" or whatever (not liking Fanta Menace or Nazis) offends you, you also won't like this book. I like this stuff, so I knew a lot of this already, if not down to the details, and I learned a few things. And Fell has a way with the written word. Go Canada!

A few I highlighted:
Jan 2, 1492 They say no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but they kinda telegraphed that shit.
{Hah!}

February 11, 1812 Elbridge Gerry, who was such a dick he pronounced his last name with a hard G, like Gary instead of Jerry.
{Huh. Did not know that}

Feb 17,1974
The Secret Service, who must have trained at the Star Wars Stormtrooper Academy of How to Shoot Good, fired about three hundred rounds and he [Private Robert Preston, in a stolen UH-1] was hit five more times, but they were all minor injuries.
{Hah again!}

February 20, 1933 If you allow capitalism to run amok, it will; money has no conscience. [...] my point is that money often gets people to not give a fuck about morality.
{Yep}

Feb 23, 1445 Except, Gutenberg wasn’t actually first. A form of movable-type printing press was first created in Korea two centuries earlier by Choe Yun-ui, but for a number of reasons the invention didn’t catch on in Asia.
{Having lived in Korea for seven years, and learned much about their history, I knew this.}

April 18, 1521 Over the next five hundred years, some [Protestants] became chill and started ordaining gays, and others did fucked-up shit like playing with snakes and getting Trump elected.


April 30, 1905 "And FYI, before you share a meme with a “quote” by Einstein, google that shit first. He is one of the most popular figures to whom quotes are misattributed."
{Yes! Always check on quote sources, ... from anyone.}

May 17, 1954 Since most people only know about the first two amendments because of the endless shrieking about them on social media, I’ll elaborate. [The Fourteenth Amendment]

July 4, 362 B.C.E. Most of humanity’s governments have been oligarchies, where a minority rule via birthright (aristocracy), religion (theocracy), or wealth (democracy). Look at the United States and tell me that last one isn’t true.

July 29, 1974 {Great story about Geddy Lee's 21st birthday, and Neil Peart joining THE band.}

August 1 (my birthday!) 1980 Video didn’t kill [Christopher] Cross’s radio star, sucking did.
{Yes!}

September 25, 1981 Reagan, despite the deification of him by many on the right, was not a good president.… (meer)

On This Day in History Sh!T Went Down
By James Fell
This book is hilarious most of the time, informative and brilliant all the time! I wish my history classes had been taught like this. I might have paid more attention!
Each day of the year from January 1st to December 31st, a bit of history from that particular day somewhere in the past is explained. It's explained in everyday language with adjectives that would not be welcome in most classrooms. I think the author did a marvelous job of adding them just where they were needed to add the humor and wit to the story! I giggled a lot throughout the book. I am not saying this book only covers humorous events, far from it. Some were very sad and horrible. Regardless, I enjoyed the stories and the writing!
I did learn some things as I read too and that is also a big bonus! I definitely would recommend this book!
I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this entertaining book!… (meer)

I'm not looking to make any major life changes. I mostly bought the book because Fell is entertaining, and since he has been entertaining me for free on his Facebook page for a couple of years, I figured buying his book was the least I could do.

The book is a science based examination of the Eureka! moment, when stuff just falls in place for you and you suddenly "get" it, for a very wide range of possible its. Fell wanted to figure out why that happens, and if it could be controlled. The answer is not really, although he believes there are things we can do to improve the odds of it happening to us.

I did learn something important from the book though. My own workouts have been languishing for a couple of months. I'm still going to the gym regularly, but it hasn't been as fun. I had been jumping around doing different workouts because I thought I was bored. That wasn't it. I need the the tiny dopamine hit from seeing measurable progress. So I went back to a routine, making sure I do the same core exercises, because I need that "Fuck Yeah" every time I push up one more bench press rep. than I did on my previous visit.

The book is wildly entertaining, mixing up a bunch of science, abundant pop culture references, humor, and variety of curse words. You'll laugh and you'll learn stuff. And you might even have your own Holy Shit Moment.… (meer)