An entertaining spin on the perennial trivia book. Encounter every imaginable danger in this comprehensive, unprecedented guide.

In their introduction, authors Phil Scott and Peter Engelman tell us that reading their book is like “junk food for the brain,” and liken Deadly: The World's Most Dangerous Everything to a bag of potato chips. Why? They claim that you may think you want only one chip, but will soon find yourself at the bottom of the bag. We here at Hylas Publishing would have to agree-the book is something of a guilty pleasure, and, just like a bag of honey-roasted fire-ants, absolutely delectable. Who among us can resist reading up on the most deadly odors, the most potent plagues, or the most poisonous pets? Who doesn't want to know which insect has killed off half of all the humans ever born on this planet? Or in which city it is that more people get bitten by other humans than by cats and rats combined? Deadly is filled with fascinating and morbid trivia with which you can both horrify and captivate your dinner guests. They may not return for seconds, but they will certainly never forget the event.

About the Author

Phil Scott lives and works in New York. He is a writer for Air and Space magazine, and is an internationally renowned expert on the history of flight. He is the author of The Wrong Stuff: Attempts at Flight Before & After the Wright Brothers, The Shoulders of Giants, and The Pioneers of Flight. He is the former managing editor of Flying and Omni, and he frequently writes for such publications as Scientific American and New Scientist. This is Peter Engelman's first book.