The Great Book of Texas: The Crazy History of Texas with Amazing Random Facts & Trivia (A Trivia Nerds Guide to the History of the United States)

Author Bill O’Neill loves to explore all manner of subjects from reiku to trivia. His previous Book 1 of War Books covered World War II, and that was followed by his controversial Trivia Book on the Vietnam War. Bill O’Neill has authored many books on trivia and random facts and stands as somewhat of an expert in this field! His topics include movies, football, baseball, rock music, simply random trivia facts, and now - the history of Texas (and the fun behind the facts).Bill's sense of humor is evident in his Introduction – ‘How much do you really know about Texas? Sure, you know that Texas is a state that’s chock full of state pride. You know that it’s an oil state and is home to the Dallas Cowboys. But what else do you really know about it? By now, you’ve most likely heard about the Texas Revolution and the Battle of the Alamo. You probably know of Davy Crockett and you may have even heard that he died during the Battle of the Alamo, but do you know what really happened to him? Have you ever wondered how Texas came to be known as the Lone Star State? Do you know who first discovered Texas? Do you know how many different flags have flown over Texas? You’ve heard of Bush family legacy, but do you know which United States presidents were actually born in Texas? Do you know about some of the paranormal folklore and unsolved mysteries of the state? Are you aware of odd sci-fi phenomenon that is believed to have occurred here? If you have ever wondered about any of these things or more, then this book is for you! It’s full of stories about Texas’s history. This isn’t your typical book about Texas. It will guide you through some of the historical events and facts that have formed Texas into the incredible state it is today. You’ll learn facts about the state that you may have never even wondered about. Once you’ve finished this book, you are going to know all there is to know about Texas. Texas is a state that’s rich in its history and culture. We will go all the way back to when the state was first founded and when it gained its independence from Mexico. We’ll also jump forward to 2018 and take a closer look at some of the more recent historical icons whose roots were planted in Texas. While this book will mostly follow a timeline of historical events, we will jump around some as we talk about Texas’s history and other interesting facts about the state and the people who live in it. This book is broken up into three easy-to-follow chapters to help you gain a better understanding of the Lone Star State. You’ll learn some interesting facts about Texas that you’ll be able to discuss with your friends or that may even make you want to visit this state! Some of the facts you’re about to learn are sad and some of them are shocking, but all of them are fascinating. So, get ready to learn the following… How did Texas get its name? Why is it nicknamed the Lone Star State? Who were the key players in the Battle of the Alamo? Which Disney childhood stars came from Texas? What sporting events got their start in Texas? What animal did farmers and ranchers intentionally try to kill off?"The book is divided into fascinating sections – Texas History and Random Facts, Texas Pop Culture, Texas Inventions, Ideas and More, Texas Sports – Football, Rodeo and More, Texas’s Unsolved Mysteries, supernatural and other Weird Facts, and Texas’s Wildlife, Science, and Other Cool FactsNot only is the book entertaining – it is also very instructive for every reader. Have fun, learn, and be ready for the next gathering of very smart friends! You’ll be on top. Grady Harp, February 18

NOTE: The author informed me that this book was available for free on Amazon at the time and asked me to write a review.Americans have a fascination with trivia, and author Bill O’Neill has catered to that fascination over the last few years with a series of books chock full of hundreds of bits of arcane knowledge that have little practical use but often manage to amuse, surprise, and inform readers. Recently, instead of merely providing long lists of unrelated facts in each volume, he has been structuring books around a single topic, such as his sometimes entertaining but error-prone “The Great Book of Texas,” which is, not surprisingly, all about the Lone Star State.O’Neill organizes “The Great Book of Texas” into separate chapters, each about a different aspect of Texas: its history, pop culture, business and industry, sports, crime and the supernatural, and wildlife/science. Each chapter contains about 15-20 short articles about a single topic, such as the life of Sam Houston or the Galveston Hurricane. These articles are not intended as comprehensive examinations of the topics (you’d be hard pressed to write a thorough biography of Sam Houston in 300 pages, let alone the three that O’Neill devotes to the man). Instead, the author goes through his trivia database and organizes a handful of bits of information about the subject into an easy-reading article. For example, he notes that the 67-foot-tall statue of Sam Houston in Huntsville, TX, is the tallest statue in the United States modeled after a living person. That’s something you’d be hard pressed to find in most Houston biographies.Since O’Neill’s method of organizing the chapters into individual topics doesn’t allow him to include one-of-a-kind bits of trivia, he concludes each chapter with about 20 numbered individual trivial facts. Some of these are more fascinating than the ones contained in the various articles. For example, because Texas joined the United States as an independent republic and not a former territory (the only state to do so), the terms for its joining the union were spelled out in a treaty that, among other things, gave Texas the right to divide itself into up to five separate states.At its best, “The Great Book of Texas” has page after page of interesting tidbits like these. But, as with any book of this nature, this Texas trivia book has a couple of problems. First, and this may only be a personal preference on my part, some of the information in this book bears only a tangential relationship at best to Texas. Celebrities who were born in Texas are listed, even though some of them (like Carol Burnett) had little connection with the state later in their lives. Frankly, it’s not surprising that in the second biggest state in the country in terms of populations, a lot of famous people were born or spent time there.Similarly, O’Neill talks about companies founded in Texas, even though that fact is only of minor interest in some cases. Discussing the history of the long-time favorite Texas beverage Dr. Pepper in a book of Texas trivia is one thing; talking about Liquid Paper (also invented by a woman in Texas) is another. Further, you would think that if a book mentions Bette Nesmith Graham, the inventor of liquid paper, it would also note that she was the mother of Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, a far more interesting detail than that of her place of birth.But a more serious concern, and the reason why I’m giving a lower rating to this book, is the problem O’Neill has with accuracy in the book. I certainly made no attempt to verify every fact in the book (although I did verify those I referenced in this review). But even someone with a cursory knowledge of sports would know that there are more than two bowl games played in Texas each year (currently seven, second only to Florida, a fact that would have made an excellent addition to this book). Similarly, there were 11 states in the Confederacy, not ten as O’Neill claims. Allowing such basic mistakes into a book of this nature makes me wonder how many of the other claims in the book similarly fail to hold up to scrutiny. I realize that this is a book of trivial entertainment, not a reference work, and anyone who relies on this volume as a serious research source does so at his or her own considerable peril. But I get the feeling that the author has merely assembled a database of trivial facts from which he pulls out those he needs for each of his various works. “The Great Book of Texas” also could use better editing to clean up grammatical errors and typos. I expect something a bit better from a book that is supposedly a compendium of facts.I am going to recommend “The Great Book of Texas” with the considerable caveats I noted. O’Neill has an entertaining style, and many of his facts are quite interesting as well as unusual (those that I mentioned I learned from this book). However, he should really pay more attention to editing and fact-checking than he does. As a result, this isn’t really a great book about Texas, but, rather a “just OK” book.

This is the second book in the series I have read. I enjoy learning new facts. I have read the two from states, I have lived in the longest

Dear Mr. O'Neill I recently purchased a copy of your "The Great Book Of Texas. I enjoyed it with one exception, that being the statement on page 6 crediting President Andrew Jackson with imposing the Union blockade of the South on June 1865. It was Andrew Johnson who had just been elevated to the presidency by Lincoln's assignation. Andrew Jackson was dead by this time. I authored a short article on the Palmito Hills Battle in May 1995 issue of "Texas Highways Magazine. Colonel Rip Ford the Confederate commander was quite a character. Keep your good works coming. Art Surovic, Colonel USAF (ret)/

Guess I’ll read about the other 49 states.

Good gift.

Great read with lots of trivia about Texas. This book has very interesting stories about the Lone Star State. Highly recommended.

In Texas, Texas history was and I think still is a required subject in school. I feel very proud to have had that history at a younger age. This book gives so much of the little known facts of more past times and recent times and events and the" why how and who did that" Little things people do not know or have misconceptions about. I enjoyed this book, occasional typos but, I didn't care the book was interesting and at times I could not put it down. Very easy reading and you will not be bored. I don't care to read books but I had no issue at all reading this one! Thanks!