An Underground Education is written by Richard Zacks and is a treasury of information that you might not have seen anywhere else.
The book has an outrageously long subtitle: "the unauthorised and outrageous supplement to Everything you Thought you Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge."
Is that sub-title I any way accurate? Yes. It is. The book is an interesting collection of disparate yet fascinating facts about many different fields of knowledge.
The introduction reveals Zacks to be a very interesting person. Certainly he is as interesting as you would suspect the author of such a wonderful book to be. He decided to flunk college. And then proceeded to find professors in Italy who would teach him what he wanted to know. His plan to learn Italian at Perugia University in Italy was sort of abandoned in favour of "learning the language of Dante from a drunken, out-of-work Japanese tailor."
The book covers the real grim folk stories behind the fairytales, points out (with a sort of innocent glee) all of the many sexual puns in the plays of Shakespeare, the secret lives of the artists. Did you know that Goya's change in style was as a result of being poisoned? By his own paints?
Did you know that the arch-villain Professor Moriarty was based on a real Victorian master criminal? He was based on an American, Adam Worth, who had come from a very good family, yet who could not resist the lure of a life of crime. A superintendent at Scotland Yard described Worth (also known as Henry J. Raymond) as "a Napoleon of crime." Sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it?
And what about the world's first flush toilet? Built on Crete, 4,000 years ago. And that urinating whilst wearing a ring (or holding a coin) with the image of the emperor Tiberius on it was a capital offence? I didn't, until I read this book.
There are tales of wife sales in 19th century Bristol, the industry that was set up to provide nude photographs to soldiers in the American Civil War, the cruel practice of Chinese foot binding, the photographs of the murderer Muybridge who shot his wife's lover, through the heart.
There are the facts about cannibalism, illegal beards, the truth about Bonnie and Clyde (according to a gang member, "Bonnie and Clyde? They loved to kill people, see blood run. That's how they got there kicks. They were dirty people. Her breath was awful and Clyde never took a bath.")
On every page there are one, two or more facts that can make you say: "REALLY? Well, I never knew THAT!"
The book is available through Amazon at up to £15.00 or so.
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