Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Where is the driest place on Earth?

THE BOOK OF GENERAL IGNORANCE: from QI, the TV show

(The answer is at the end)

I loved it. It's suitable for all ages - a great present for a bookish 12 year old or a 30-something fact-aholic like me. Entertaining and informative, hooray!

I love the TV show QI and this book doesn't disappoint. QI stands for Quite Interesting, and the premise of the book is that everything you know is wrong.

The book is set out as a series of questions, for example, How many legs does a centipede have? The answer and a quirky discussion follows: and that's it really. I can't really do this book justice, but trust me - it's packed with lots of great stories and juicy details.

The answer to the question "Where is the driest place on Earth?" is Antarctica. Parts of Antarctica have not seen rain for two million years. 2% of Antarctica, known as the Dry Valleys, is free of ice and snow and it never rains there at all.

So now you know!

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