What’s the capital of Djibouti? “Google it.“
How long did Henry Vlll live? “Alexa…”
When was the first car invented? “No Siri, car not bra.”
Nowadays, we’re all guilty of using our electronic devices to find out these answers in a split second.
It doesn’t even cross our minds how easy it is. But we think there’s something very important about staying curious, about being interested in the weird and wonderful and finding things out through personal experiences.
Sitting in front of a screen using the web shouldn’t be the only way to share these experiences. The Book of Everyone has already brought smiles to more than 400,000 people with our books, and we want to keep spreading this joy – non-digitally.
And this is where our latest idea comes in, but we need your help.
Have you ever wondered what’s behind that towering red door you’ve passed every day? Or pondered the life story of the old lady you’ve seen on the same bus every single morning for the last 4 years? If you have a thirst for the answers to questions like these, we’re searching for you.
Let’s make the world a more curious place.
What’s the scoop?
In the next couple of months across the United Kingdom, we’re going to be sending 2,000 Curious Postcards with randomly chosen orders as a little gift from us.
But it comes with a little challenge. We’d love you to use them to write one of your favourite curiosities for a stranger to read, get into contact with an old friend you haven’t spoken to in yonks or leave one in a public place, like a library, a train or a bus to make someone smile.
But don’t take that as a given. There are no rules. It’s a challenge for you to share anything curious, to use your imagination and get creative, while making personal connections non-digitally rather than using Facebook, Twitter or social media in general.
Where can curiosity can take you?
Curiosity can take you to different planets, to paramount moments in history and even to beautiful and mystical cultures. You can bet that we practice what we preach, so we’ve opened up our very own treasure trove of curiosities for all to see on our blog.
Wow people with some facts about the postal service. Like the fact that since 2001, German posties have been given training in dog psychology to put an end to the everlasting feud between the two.
If you’re a geography buff, you might be inclined to talk about the world’s smallest countries and the fact that if all 10 were squeezed together, they would still be smaller than Houston, Texas. The total area they cover would be just 1491.4 km2.
And if you like your curiosities to be a bit more practical, how about top tips on Chinese dining etiquette. Like the fact that you DO NOT leave your chopsticks sticking out of your bowl of rice. Or a little closer to home, why does Grandma say it’s rude to have our elbows on the table while eating?
Curiosity has taken us a long way and if we didn’t look for answers to questions we didn’t know, who knows where we’d be now.
Start Your Curious Adventure
In the spirit of Random Acts of Curiosity, we challenge you to find something out about a family member that perhaps you didn’t know before.
What’re Grandma or Grandad’s greatest achievements?
What were your aunt’s hobbies growing up?
Were there any irrational fears dad had when he was a nipper?
It’s a start, but imagine what you might find out about yourself if you start exploring the history of your loved ones…
4 Comments
I love this,I,m on it,going to be firing questions left right and centre at family members!.Love your books and ideas
Hi Mandy,
This is Joe from The Book of Everyone.
I’m very happy that you liked the blog post! Never stop asking questions, the more you ask the more you learn – especially if it’s about your heritage 😉
Take care,
Joe
Is it possible to do themed books as gifts? For example my son is 40 on 1st September and is an avid, life-long Star Wars fan. It would be great to be able to combine this as a special gift.
Hi Hazel,
My names Joe and I manage the blog here at The Book of Everyone.
I really like this idea but at this moment in time this is something we’re not able to do. The books can be edited by you to gear them towards a certain theme (by adding messages and photos) but in general the generated content cannot be edited in such a way yet 🙁
My apologies for that. But please do let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you and I’ll be happy to help.
Kind regards,
Joe