Sinopsis

From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and the creators of QI, The Book of the Dead unearths the stories of the lives of the internationally and immortally famous and the undeservedly and (until now) permanently obscure. Hans Christian Andersen Terrified of naked women Florence Nightingale Spent her last fifty years in bed Sigmund Freud Smoked twenty cigars a day Catherine de Medici Applied a daily face mask made of pigeon dung Rembrandt van Rijn Died penniless Madame Mao Banned cicadas, rustling noises and pianos Collected into themed chapters with thought-provoking titles such as There's Nothing like a Bad Start in Life, Man Cannot Live by Bread Alone and Is That All There Is? here is a chance to share the secrets of the Dead, to celebrate their wisdom, to learn from their mistakes, and to marvel at their bad taste in clothes.