The Order of Things: Hierarchies, Structures, and Pecking Orders

For someone who supposedly has multiple Ph.D.s, the author makes some surprising mistakes with basic information. For example, in her Music section, she gives the notes of the treble clef, "(from high to low)", as G A B C D E F G A. First of all, the notes of the treble clef (or any other clef) are NEVER taught this way; they are always taught from low to high, in separate lists for lines and spaces. This results in the very familiar E G B D F for lines, and F A C E for spaces. But even given Barbara's bizarre method for teaching these notes, she's STILL wrong: notice that her notes go UP the musical alphabet even though they are supposedly going DOWN in pitch! Even assuming that the text "(high to low)" is a typo and it should say "(low to high)", she would STILL BE WRONG: in that case, the correct letters would be E F G A B C D E F. She also gives the letters for the bass clef, which are exactly the same as those she gives for the treble clef: G A B C D E F G A. This is ALSO wrong! I wonder if it ever occurred to her that the whole point of a clef is to establish a UNIQUE set of letter-notes on the lines and spaces of the staff; if the bass clef had the same notes as the treble clef, then it would be useless. The correct, normal way of teaching the notes of both staffs is VERY well known and universally taught. Does the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine" ring a bell? If Barbara didn't know this basic information, she could have asked any six-year-old piano student, who would have been able to tell her. In summary, this is an incredibly stupid, unforgivable mistake, and it casts doubt on the value of ALL of the other information in this book. If anyone is interested in this type of information, they should just go to Wikipedia, where it is VERY accurate, much better explained, as well as FREE.

The Order of Things: Hierarchies, Structures, and Pecking Orders  - this book is organized by topic (The Earth, The Natural World, The Arts, Sports and Recreation, to name a few) and an Index is provided.This book provides a serendipitous reference for browsing. There is a LOT of material covered in this book, but it is NOT an encyclopedia. The author has provided an admirable compilation of lists on a huge variety of topics as organized in the Table of Contents, and as such makes this book a welcome reference source for thousands of hard-to-find facts.Use this book as a reference while enjoying its contents. I do.

Small facts, many lists. Fun to read. There are many errors though: some blatant omissions (lists head-of-states of many nations/empires but some obvious countries absent), lists that appear just in this book (try googling some of the more obscure ones), lists that are superficial and could be more complete in the same space allotted. Would benefit by citing sources. Waiting for a revision.

This is a delightful book. I have given it as a Christmas present for a couple of persons who would do well on Jeopardy. This book lists everything, is a fascinating read and might substitute for a Google search in a pinch. I keep one on my library shelf in my office and have used it quickly more than once to answer a question.

While the title is close to the truth, some parts of these lists are incomplete. E.G. When one is getting a weight or measure there are no metric listings and for those of us who use metric primarily the concept of an ounce is a bit confusing as there is more than one form and all have no underlying principle of a standard. For what the book does cover it is a very good reference material.

Great reference book. Some very interesting information can be found.

This book is so cool!!! So many things seem very inconsequential, but this book gives you a great starting point to look into things on a grander scale, and understand the shapes, forms and algorythmic patterns of whatever it is that we may seek the order of.

An interesting little book. Wide range of topics. I learn new things all the time. But nothing earth shaking.

This is an infinitely interesting little book, full of arcane facts. Great value for the probing mind.

There are some accuracies I question but these are very minor.I love this book especially when I'm bored. It's a fantastic way to educate yourself when you want to unwind.

A small but, impressive list of things. It is cute book to build your knowledge on.