Now You Know Disasters: The Little Book of Answers.

Janet Collins is a freelance writer in Sechelt, British Columbia.

A word to the wise: don’t challenge Doug Lennox to a game of Trivial Pursuit. You’re bound to lose. The Now You Know series is proof that Lennox knows a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff.

Pirates of the Caribbean fans or those more fond of old Errol Flynn films will enjoy thumbing through Now You Know Pirates. The book provides a wide range of information including the history of the sea-going rogues, tips for dressing the part, bios of some of the famous, some insight into the pirate life, and a smattering of the vernacular lingo.

The disaster book contains a series of chapters, each devoted to a specific type of catastrophe—natural (events that occurred at sea, on/in the earth, in the sky, and even in the cosmos), medical, terrorism-related incidents, and situations involving man-made structures. After describing each type of disaster, Lennox provides examples of well-documented incidents related to the subject category.

Given all the recent talk about global warming, the book about extreme weather offers some interesting insight into just how extreme climate changes and weather patterns can be. Wind, rain, snow, heat all make an appearance, as do some bits about the beauty of some weather systems (think rainbows with or without that pot of gold).

The volume about crime scenes rounds out the less pleasant, but no less intriguing, subjects in the series. From a potential list of signs that a crime was committed to descriptions of crime scene investigation techniques (CSI fans take note) to insightful bits about all things forensic, Lennox has the topic well covered.

As if to prove that he does have some happy information to share, Lennox rounds out the series with a book about Christmas that includes everything from the roots of the celebrations (Biblical and mythological) to cultural traditions and the more commercial aspects of the once holy holiday.

In addition to providing a wealth of background and trivia on each subject, all the books are punctuated by lists of quick facts and interesting tidbits. While the table of contents is a good rundown of what to expect in each chapter, inclusion of a subject index would have greatly expanded the user-friendliness of the books.