Have You Ever Wondered Where Baby kangaroos Go to The Toilet?

The book reviews published here are the opinions of the reviewers and not necessarily those of Selfishgenie Publishing.

I came across this book, "Funny You Should Ask", by a rather unusual route, because it came out of a radio programme.
 
Perhaps I had better explain. When I’m driving my car to the golf course to play golf on a Wednesday morning, I listen to the Zoe Ball show on BBC Radio 2. On that day each week she has a ten-minute feature in which the QI Elves are asked questions by members of the public and the Elves try to answer them.
 
Perhaps a bit more explanation for those who don’t know what QI is, or a QI Elf for that matter.

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QI is a panel show on BBC 2 TV in which the panellists try to come up with interesting (and possibly humorous) answers to various questions on a wide range of topics.

​Many of the answers given by the panellists turn out to be incorrect because we have been so badly taught over the years, having been given simplistic answers to complex questions. Some of the answers are wrong because our understanding of the world (and science) has advanced so much since we went to school (which was a very long time ago in my case).
 
Panellists score points if they can come up with the “interesting” (ie correct) answers rather than the obvious and usually incorrect ones. Comedian Alan Davis is the only permanent member of the panel and he usually has the highest negative score (points are deducted for the wrong answers). His main role on the show is to play the fool, which he does quite convincingly.

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Some of the QI Elves

Anyway, the people on the programme who set the questions and research the answers are referred to as the QI Elves and on Wednesday mornings some of them can be heard answering questions on Radio 2.
 
From those questions has come this book, featuring the best of the questions and their answers. It isn’t the first book to emerge from the TV show format, there are at least 7 Others based on the TV show alone. But I haven’t read those and I have read this.
 
A lot of the questions have been asked by children, but that is a good thing, because children ask some of the best and most challenging questions, as any parent can tell you.

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I’m not going to go into detail on a whole load of questions, but here are a few examples:
 

• If baby kangaroos are raised in their mother’s pouch – where do they go to the toilet?
• Do penguins drink sea water?
• Who invented sign language for the deaf?
• Why is there a dent in the bottom of some wine bottles?

 
Now, finding out the answers to most of the questions isn’t going to change your life very much, but a lot of the answers did make me say “Wow, I never knew that.” And, at my age, there’s not a lot of things that can make me say that.

At the very least it will give you some subjects on which to amaze/bore your friends with now that the pubs are open again and Covid-19 is starting to wear a bit thin as a  conversation topic.

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One of the great things about this book is that you don’t have to read it from cover to cover. It’s great to dip into when you take a fancy to it. The answers are also quite short, so it’s a great book for reading if you are liable to be interrupted from time to time – such as during the daily commute (or by your children asking awkward questions).
 
Because so many of the questions have been asked by children, the answers have to be presented in language that children can understand – which is also great for adults. There isn’t a huge amount of jargon used and where it is used, it is explained. That makes the book very readable. If you want the full scientific answers, then I’m sure you have the necessary knowledge on how to do the research.
 
Why only 4 stars? Well, let’s face it, it’s hardly War And Peace. It is interesting and entertaining though.
 
I am happy to recommend “Funny You Should Ask” to all lovers of trivia and for those, like me, who went to school so long ago that we were taught the world was round, when its actually an oblate spheroid. And if you really want to know where baby kangaroos go to the toilet – this book is definitely for you. To find out more about the book, click on the cover image​

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But the QI Elves aren’t the only people who answer questions. One of our authors does it too. Yes, he’s written three books (with a fourth in the pipeline) that answer the questions that you never knew you wanted to ask. His are aimed at more of an adult audience, but that doesn’t make them any less readable or informative.
 
So, If you want to find out more about this series of books, titled “I’m So Glad You Asked Me That”, then go to the “Books” tab of this website and scroll down to the non-fiction works.

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