Reddit reviews Encyclopedia Brown's record book of weird and wonderful facts

I grew up on Encyclopedia Brown. Some of his mysteries became a bit dated over time, but still sound.

My biggest issue - and it actually isn't with the Encyclopedia Brown character himself - was the lending of his name to:

Encyclopedia Brown's Record Book of Weird and Wonderful Facts

This was one of those "Weird Fact" books that all nerds loved back in the day. Filled with trivia and mundane "facts" about all sorts of things.

And so many of them were utter poppycock.

I cringe to think of how many of these "factoids" I regurgitated. How much erroneous information did I squirrel away in my brain that was wrong. Must I second guess everything I ever knew?

Donald Sobol wasn't the only perpetrator of mis-information. But I trusted Encyclopedia Brown and by extension, I trusted Mr. Sobol. And it is this book that burns in my memory as a pillar of fabrication and fancy.


Edit - I went ahead and bought a copy for the singular purpose of determining how much of it is crap.