Rick Beyer is executive producer of the Smash Entertainment Group that produced numerous documentary projects for The History Channel. This, his second book, has over 200 illustrations. Both books are based on the Timelab 2000 History Minutes hosted by Sam Waterston on The History Channel.

History is filled with unpredictable people and unbelievable stories. It isn’t always made by great armies colliding or great civilizations rising or falling. Sometimes it’s made when a chauffer makes a wrong turn, a scientist forgets to clean up his lab, or a drunken soldier gets a bit rowdy. Rick Beyer said this book had its genesis when The History Channel asked him to create a series of “history minutes” marking the millennium. “When Timelab 2000 hit the air, the response was overwhelming. . . People couldn’t get enough of the special brand of history those minutes contained.” Stories buried deep in the pages of a heavy history tome take on a new life when considered on their own. But ascertaining the truth of these stories involved quite a bit of detective work. Sometimes a wonderful tale seemed too good to be true. A good example is the story of how Silly Putty traveled to the moon on Apollo 8 – that story can be found on at least fifty websites and a dozen books, but calls to two of the Apollo 8 astronauts as well as to Binney & Smith, makers of Silly Putty, confirmed that it was just another urban legend. To screen out oft-repeated fallacies and legends – urban or otherwise – every story has been painstakingly researched, then reviewed by an historian.

This is “history candy” – the good stuff – 100 tales to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy. It’s a historical delight and a visual feast with hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that bring each one-page story to life. Rick Beyer has a new story for you every time you turn a page. Here are a few tidbits: the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer, some Roman officials stole time itself, three cigars hanged the course of the Civil War, the Scottish kilt was invented by an Englishman, coffee needed a papal blessing to be approved, Annie Oakley almost shot Kaiser Wilhelm before World War I, and many more. My son, who bought this book, told us some of these stories during dinner one weekend. It got me hooked. These tidbits are an adventure – this book is delightful and very, very hard to put down!