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Notable: Smarty pants
By Colette Bancroft, Times Book Editor
Published December 9, 2007
Two new books help you look smarter, while a third offers the stories of really bad role models. The Darwin Awards (Plume) by Wendy Northcutt go to individuals who do us all a favor by dramatically taking themselves out of the gene pool; the guy who put a lit firecracker between his buttocks is a piker compared to the Russian soldiers who took a smoke break in an ammunition warehouse - the explosions went on for a week. How to Be a Genius (Chicago Review Press) by Andre de Guillaume offers tips on figuring out whether you have genius potential (quick, can you prove you exist?), profiles of geniuses and a guide to writing your Nobel acceptance speech. The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge (St. Martin's Press) succinctly covers the basics of everything from architecture and world history to sudoku, and, at 1,320 pages, can double as a nightstand.
[Last modified December 7, 2007, 16:58:38]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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