The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful

Take an astonishing, amusing, and charmingly unconventional tour through the curious everyday lives of humans past.

No need to spend the day at an archaeological dig when you can simply make a cup of tea, clamber into your comfiest chair, and settle in with The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful, a compilation of 92 funny, strange, and strangely funny tales throughout human history.

Milo Rossi, the inquisitive mind behind the popular @miniminuteman on TikTok and YouTube, invites you to consider our own place in the long timeline of human development with this collection of anecdotes that shares the foibles, joys, and heartbreaks of being human (and an odd Neanderthal or two).

With chapters organized by the different stages and aspects of life—childhood, food and drink, friendship, play and leisure, rites and rituals, love and sexuality, fashion and beauty, education and work, sickness and health, and, of course, death—dive into a treasure trove of intriguing facts and stories, including:

• The Paleolithic cave art of a five-year-old girl
• What you would have eaten in ancient Pompeii
• The surprising and stinky origins of royal Tyrian purple dye
• Ol' Rip, the immortal (?) horned lizard from Texas
• How to win a round of the Royal Game of Ur, a nearly 5,000-year-old board game
• And much more!

Covering various facets of everyday life, The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful is sure to make you laugh, provide some spark to your next conversation, and, maybe, even give you a new perspective on how best to live this thing called life.

The Wonderpedia series offers comprehensive, display-worthy illustrated references on a range of intriguing topics, including archeological discoveries, world mythology, pop culture, global superstitions, and the fascinating stories behind signs and symbols. A cross-cultural exploration of what makes humans tick, this series magnifies the connective threads between us across time and geography and demystifies the surprising, confounding sides of life.