If you're trying to impress people with anecdotal knowledge, make sure it's interesting! Illustrated throughout with photographs and period art, these guides are jam-packed with intriguing events and fun facts from the realms of history, science, and culture. Each volume ends with a quiz to make sure you were paying attention.

If you're itching to know where the sky officially becomes outer space, if a butterfly could really cause a tornado, or why you can make a cup of coffee faster atop Mount Everest, this is the book for you. There's no reason to fear physics, which proves quite accessible in this far-ranging guide to the mysteries of astronomy, technology, and everyday oddities, with features on the contributions of Einstein, Schrodinger, Galileo, and Marie Curie.