Some offbeat summer reading

Dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases and almanacs are valuable reference tools and chock-full of useful information.

But even they don't know everything.

For example, which famous people were expelled from school? What word can be made by rearranging the letters in "Britney Spears"? What is the difference between a gaggle of geese and a skein of geese?

And who the heck is Pete in the expression "for Pete's sake"?

These and hundreds of other questions -- many of which you'd probably never ask -- are answered with information found in four recent books that entertain as they inform, and would be as welcome on a browser's nightstand as on a researcher's reference shelf.

Those who treasure trivia will find a bumper crop of the stuff in "That Book ... of Perfectly Useless Information" (Morrow, $14.95). Mitchell Symons has filled 372 pages with little-known -- perhaps for good reason -- facts about birds, insects, animals, the arts, words and people.

For example, who knew that the longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds? Or that no former U.S. president has died in May?

And, one might wonder, which celebrities are allergic to garlic? Drew Barrymore and David Cassidy, to name two.

Speaking of famous people, actress Melissa Joan Hart can recite the mathematical pi to 400 decimal points, and the prolific Isaac Asimov is the only author to have at least one book in every category of the Dewey decimal system.

The "world's funniest joke" is told here, along with the "greatest urban myth." And the record is set straight about rice paper (it's not made from rice), lead pencils (they contain no lead) and koala bears (they aren't bears).

Subjects of lists include the guest villains on the "Batman" TV series, losing U.S. presidential and vice presidential candidates since 1900, names of famous people's pets, pop tunes based on classical songs, and names for things you might not know had names, including "ophyron" -- that's the space between the eyebrows.

And, "It's a Wonderful Life," "The Maltese Falcon," "North by Northwest" and "Singin' in the Rain" might be great films, but they're among several listed that didn't win a single Oscar.

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There's no telling what you'll find in "The Uncyclopedia: Everything You Never Knew You Wanted To Know" (Hyperion, $14.95) by Gideon Haigh.

Everything seems to be in random order -- although there is an index to help researchers -- so on one page, you'll find the political structure of Oceania, from Big Brother down, in George Orwell's novel "1984" along with a transcript of the conversation between the pilot and co-pilot of Korean Airlines Flight 007 just before it crashed in 1983.

And sharing another page is a list of vitamins -- alphabetical, of course -- and where they're found and what they do, along with an explanation of Ohm's Law of electrical resistance.

Maybe you "Kant" list 20 songs that have the names of philosophers in their titles, but Haigh can: His list includes "Nietzsche With a Pizza" by Skin Yard and "Flight of Plato" by Asphalt Jungle.

Other lists include foreign words for "leader," diseases named for their discoverers and the world's 10 biggest employers (No. 1 is Wal-Mart).

A table gives the who, how, when and where of 26 political assassinations since ancient times, while another points out the various methods of fortunetelling, including gastromancy (through ventriloquism), onimancy (from a person's fingernails) and tyromancy (by watching cheese coagulate).

Illustrations show how to identify various types of decorative moldings, fold a broadsheet newspaper for easy reading in tight spaces, and make an origami swan.

For those who want to end a relationship in Japanese, there are several suggestions, including "Don't cry," "Thanks for the beautiful memories" and "I really don't love you any more so I'm going to change my phone number."

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Yikes! Who would have thought the English language contained enough interjections to fill a 214-page book?

By George, it does, and the proof lies in "Zounds! A Browser's Dictionary of Interjections" (St. Martin's Griffin, $12.95 paperback), which claims to be the first such compendium.

Mark Dunn, aided by Sergio Aragones' illustrations, explains the origins and uses of more than 500 interjections, arranged alphabetically from "aaayy" (a greeting made popular by the Fonz on TV's "Happy Days") to "zzzzzp!" (a term indicating rapid progress and coined by Tennessee Williams in his 1945 play "The Glass Menagerie").

Dunn describes eight categories of interjections, including emotive response ("ouch," "oops"), greetings and farewells, and expletives ("dang" and "Holy Toledo" are among the polite ones).

Comic strips have been the source of several interjections: for example, "Ack!" from "Bloom County," "Leapin' lizards!" from "Little Orphan Annie," and "Rats!" an expression of disappointment frequently uttered by the frequently disappointed Charlie Brown in "Peanuts," which also made "good grief" and "auggh!" popular.

Several interjections were born in TV land, including "d'oh!" an expression of frustration from "The Simpsons"; "haminahamina," stammered by the usually blustery Ralph Kramden when he was at a loss for words on "The Honeymooners"; and Fred Flintstone's enthusiastic "yabba dabba doo!"

Then there's "Dyn-O-Mite!" a popular 1970s catchword that originated on the TV sitcom "Good Times."

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Following in the footsteps of "Schott's Original Miscellany" (2003) comes "Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany" (Bloomsbury, $14.95), for those who have devoured the original and are "hungry for more."

Here, Ben Schott has arranged, in no obvious order, entries, diagrams and lists that impart information about edibles and potables, and related matters.

Offered are various ways to say grace, how olive oil is classified (from extra-virgin to lampante), how to ask for the bill in several languages (including Arabic, Swahili and Morse code), the history of Melba toast, and the names of movies about cannibalism.

If you feel like you're in a foreign land when the staff at the local diner speaks "dinerese," this book will put you into the loop as it translates "life-preserver" (doughnut), "two cows, make them cry" (two hamburgers with onions) and "hemorrhage," which might change your mind about putting ketchup on that "cow."

Want to eat like your favorite singer? Among those with specific food requirements in their performance contracts have been The Beach Boys (pistachio nuts); Tina Turner (a pint of chocolate milk); Frank Sinatra (24 chilled jumbo shrimp); and Guns N' Roses (only one order of fettuccine Alfredo among them).

According to Schott's research, not every exotic meat tastes like chicken. A list tells us that hippopotamus tastes like beef and Nephila spider like potatoes -- and if you want a "salad" with that, try termites, which, it says here, taste like lettuce.

Tucked in among the trivia is some useful information. A chart shows the maximum recommended storage times for certain foods in the fridge and in the freezer, and illustrations help readers identify pasta shapes and poisonous mushrooms, and show how to fold a napkin.

Finally, there are last-meal requests from some condemned Texas prisoners, ranging from one man's desire for a steak-and-potatoes dinner topped off with Boston cream pie, to another's for nothing more than a bag of assorted hard candy.