Mental Floss

BOOKS

















Getty Images (Angelou) // Amazon (Book cover)

The first of Maya Angelou’s seven autobiographies, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,' deals with weighty issues like rape, identity, and racism. When it came out in 1969, it was one of the first books to honestly depict the experiences of a black woman gr

Joy Lanzendorfer








Robin Zebrowski, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Set on a magical, disc-shaped world supported by four elephants who in turn ride atop a gigantic turtle, these masterworks of comic fantasy have collectively sold more than 80 million copies worldwide.

Mark Mancini