Sam2-
Uh-oh, looks like I’m busted.
Yes, absolutely, Uncle John’s. The above story is written in far more detail in (IIRC) either “Uncle John Plunges Into History” or “Uncle John Plunges Into History Again”.
In the early 90’s there was another popular series of books by David Feldman, which included “Do Penguins Have Knees?”, “When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth?” and several other titles.
I’ll also read other trivia books, but nothing matches the breezy light and humorous style of the “Uncle John’s” series, and most other books have many more mistakes.
(The UJ series also has some mistakes, and rumors presented as facts, but overall they’re very accurate.)
Additional data sources are:
– Reading “Today in history” sites on the web.
– Interests in sports, history, science, politics and how things work.
– Print and web-based news, sports and business sites.
– Lots of time spent reading, especially as a kid.
All of the above are fun to read and good for trivia games, but not useful for much else.