The 60-Second Encyclopedia & Minute Glass

By Michael J. Rosen

Did you know? In just one minute the Earth travels 1,100 miles around the sun. Cartwheel champ Brianna Schroeder turns 48 cartwheels. 28,824 photographs are taken (822 of them at Disney World). Over $60,000 is spent on eBay. You lose 8 brain cells, 40,000 skin cells, and one taste bud. (How weird.) A ladybug flaps its wings 60,000 times. 6,805,555 e-mails are sent (35% of them Spam). Jean-Yves Mulot breaks 42 flaming concrete blocks with his bare hand. Whew Filled with hundreds of incredible and true facts and statistics, "The 60-Second Encyclopedia" puts a whole new spin on math, science, nature, the human body, and popular culture, too. And, with a one-minute sandglass packaged with the book and dozens of interactive activities, readers can test what they (or their hamster) can accomplish in the same amount of time it takes "the wave" to move through 1,200 stadium seats. Or the amount of time advertisers paid $4.6 million for during Super Bowl XXXVIII.In just one minute . . .- The Franklin Mint produces 36,458 coins.- Racehorses are halfway around the Kentucky Derby racetrack.- Giant machines make over 6,000 feet of toilet paper.- 9 million telephones ring, and over 580,000 messages are recorded on answering machines.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761129022
• ISBN13: 9780761129028
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 0.9" x 6.0"
• Age Range: 7 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 12

Customer Reviews

Great fun

I have this little book and the "minute glass" on the coffee table in my family room My grandchildren....5th through 7th graders and teenagers....love to look through it as do adult guests. This would make a great gift for anyone.

Oddball Facts to Intrigue Children & Adults

My first thought was "who really wants to know all this stuff?" The book comes with an hourglass (actually a minute-glass)and is filled with umpteen activities that can take place in a sixty seconds. This kind of trivia fascinates kids, especially boys. I must admit that as an adult, I found it pretty intriguing too. Did you know that a woodpecker raps its beak against a tree 100 times a minute? How about 6,000 lightning bolts flicker across the sky each minute (living in Florida, I can believe that one)? This has nature, history, and sociology all reduced to 60 second segments. Sounds like a good way to get kids curious. To enhance the learning experience, it includes some games and activities that take 60 seconds (like timing the wags of your dog's tail). Might encourage an interest in math too. Cute illustrations too.

Now is the right time to have this book.

We bought this book for all our relatives and friends. Every child found fascinating pages and excitedly shared surprising discoveries. Great gift book for any, every, or no occasion. GREAT! A unique mix of information and humor. Practical, and a laugh on practically every page.

Dizzying Data! Truthful Trivia! Fascinating Fun!

This is a zippy, zany, and utterly fact-packed compendium that's equally appealing to a ten year old, a teenager, or a reader of Harper's Index or Scientific American. Rosen has used a minute as a net to capture hundreds of the most peculiar and startling and goofy and asounding things that can happen in 60 seconds. From the number of gallons of sea water oysters in the Chesapeake filter in a minute to the number of spins a championship skater can execute in a minute, from the number of squirts in a minute of cow-milking to the speed of the fastest tennis serves on the court--this encyclopedia is a 'round-the-clock survey. How many inches down can a razor clam dig in a minute? (10). (Plus there's a little bonus math fun so you can calculate exactly how long it will take you to dig to China.) How many times do Ian Thorpe's freestyling arms swing around in a minute of swimming? (69) How many drops of sweat drip from your body when you're working hard? (96) What's the speed of fans "doing the wave" at a stadium? (1,200 seats per minute) WIth the minute glass that's included with the book--along with dozens of kid-appealing tests to try at home--this book is perfect for speed readers (100 words per minute), the speediest reader of all (3,850 words), or us average readers (250 words). Every page is packed with a fact, a laugh, and a great illustration. This book makes every minute count.