Our very first hardback, The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization’s Best Bits goes on sale on the web today! And if you can’t tell from all the extra exclamation points, we’re pretty darn excited. In fact, we can’t stop talking about all the great stories that are crammed into the thing: from why getting slapped across the face and then crying in public was the most important thing a Babylonian king could do to keep his job, to why Queen Elizabeth cursed Walter Raleigh for introducing her to potatoes, and then banned them from England for the next 100 years!

We’re so giddy about the book that we’ve even begged Amazon.com to help us run a special offer for mental_floss fans. If you PREORDER THE BOOK TODAY, we’ll throw in a 6 month subscription to the magazine for free! You’ll get a half-year’s worth of mental_floss on top of this incredibly juicy book.

If you already subscribe to the magazine, Amazon will just add it to your current subscription. Or you can even give the 6 month subscription to a friend. Amazon makes it all really simple.

Our friends have been asking us: Is this the best deal in the history of history books? According to our research, yes. But remember, this exclusive offer from Amazon is only good with preorders, and the sale ends October 27th (the day before the book officially releases in bookstores). So, click here to preorder your copy and get your free subscription today.