12 Things You'll Learn from Our Newest Book

Is budgeting your holiday spending a tricky proposition? Look no further. We've collected more than 2,000 questions from the early mental_floss archives to bring you mental_floss Trivia: Brisk, Refreshing Facts Without the Ice Cream Headache. The reader-friendly layout gives you the answers on the spread immediately following the questions - no annoying flipping-to-the-back-of-the-book to get your score. At more than 850 pages, you'll enjoy hours of reading and sharing pleasure!

To celebrate 12/12/12, here are a dozen of our favorite facts culled from questions in the book:

• A baseball pitch that has been hit for a home run is called a "gopher pitch."
• Dave Barry was in a high-school rock band called Federal Duck.
• The word "jaguar" is Guarani for "dog."
• Of all the spirits in Pandora's Box, only "hope" remained.
• There are 16 Chance and 16 Community Chest cards in a standard Monopoly game.
• Per his own wishes, the corneas of executed murderer Gary Gilmore were transplanted to 2 recipients.
• Lady Macbeth's first name was Gruoch.
• Rick Derringer was only 16 years old when he co-wrote and played guitar on the McCoys' #1 hit "Hang On Sloopy."
• The navicular bone in the wrist is the most commonly-fractured bone in the human body.
• James Earl Carter is the only U.S. president who took the oath of office using a nickname - "Jimmy."
• The pecan tree is the only major nut-bearing tree native to North America.
• The first consumer products made from celluloid plastic were hair combs.

Try one of our best book values: mental_floss Trivia, by Sandy Wood & Kara Kovalchik, direct from the mental_floss store. And have a great 12th!