Australia declared war on birds and lost. A stray dog outranked his own owner. A giant wave of molasses flooded Boston. A bear was officially enlisted as a soldier.

All eighty-eight of these actually happened.

Inside this book:

Rulers Behaving Ridiculously Caligula's horse, the king who thought he was made of glass, and the emperor killed by his own immortality medicine

Wars That Went Very Wrong the war over a bucket, the war that lasted under an hour, and Napoleon routed by rabbits

Accidents That Changed the World penicillin, Play-Doh, Velcro, Slinky and Bubble Wrap, all invented by mistake

Animals Who Made History Laika, a medal-winning cat, a pigeon who saved two hundred men, and a dog who waited nine years

Hoaxes, Heists and Great Escapes the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice, the spaghetti harvest, and the man who posted himself to freedom

Everyday Life Was Very Strange rented pineapples, poisonous wallpaper, insulting valentines, and sleeping twice a night

Disasters and Very Bad Luck the London beer flood, the summer everyone danced, and the year without a summer

Mysteries Nobody Has Solved a book nobody can read, a tomb nobody dares open, and a colony that simply vanished

Plus Seven Famous Stories That Are Not True, a strangeness quiz, a full timeline, and notes for grown-ups

Open it anywhere, find a story you haven't heard, and go tell somebody. Get your copy today.