The Great Canadian Trivia Book

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

A Canadian named Professor Dick launched the world’s first radio quiz
show in 1935; Canadians invented the immensely popular board game
Trivial Pursuit; Canadian Alex Trebek is the host of Jeopardy, the most
successful television quiz show in history. No doubt about it, Canadians
love trivia, and this book is another entry into that apparently
insatiable market.

Although most of the items are fun to read, the text suffers from a
lack of focus. It is hard to understand why some subjects were included
in a trivia book specifically devoted to things “Canadian.” For
example, the question “How much blood is in the human body, and how
much would someone have to lose to die?” could belong to any trivia
book or first-aid exam. In many instances, the answers to questions are
frustratingly vague. The question “Does Canada have a patron saint?”
is answered with “According to one source....”; but the authors fail
to identify that source. In another category called “offbeat gadgets
[for which] Canadian inventors can take credit,” the authors respond
with “the paint roller, the mini-skirt, the geiger counter, Pablum,
automatic mail handling equipment, the zipper, the snowmobile, kerosene
and acetylene gas,” but fail to explain why they think items like
paint rollers, Pablum, and acetylene gas might be considered offbeat.
Nor do they provide dates, places, or even the names of the inventors.
Given the substantial amount of blank space padding the book to over 200
pages, more information could have been provided.