Who said, "If I sleep with someone, I at least have the right to wear her clothes"?
Why did adventurer Freya Stark almost always wear a hat? What misfortunes beset Madame Godin when she set out to rejoin her husband after 20 years apart? Why did Ronnie Biggs have to shave behind his ears?
There's no better time to discover the answers to these kinds of questions than while you're sitting in the bathroom doing nothing much. Gem's Completely Fascinating Bathroom Reader helps you pass your loo time enjoyably and productively with more than 100 intriguing tales to engage your mind and/or tickle your funnybone, and with another 350 jokes and smart sayings sprinkled throughout the book.
Where does the Gem's crew find this great content? We explore and we burrow and we bring back gems. So many fascinating anecdotes lie buried in books that have been around a while. Newer books take their place in the public consciousness, and the stories in the older ones can sink into oblivion.
But you can be sure that Frank Zappa telling you about his high school band is entertaining no matter when it happened. When Nikola Tesla shares details of one of his nervous breakdowns, it is a mind-opening slice of life, in any day and age. Carl Jung's near-death experience doesn't stop being fascinating just because it didn't happen this week.
At Gem's, it is our pleasure to find these short, entertaining vignettes and share them with you. Most are true stories; a few are exceptional scenes from works of fiction. They're all gems that deserve to be seen and enjoyed.
Many of the books where these anecdotes first appeared are available to borrow free from the library at archive.org (and we include links in our Kindle edition so you can go straight to the library and read the whole book if the excerpt strikes your fancy).
A few of the things you'll discover while reading Gem's Completely Fascinating Bathroom Reader: Dylan Thomas wrote beguiling love letters. Georgia O'Keeffe was a bit on the rude side. Brian Wilson kept his piano in a sandbox - and then freaked out when it got sand in it.
If you're like most our readers, you'll happily wonder wtf as the phantom rickshaw approaches, you'll briefly consider joining an intentional community, you'll be glad you don't own a rooster, and you'll thank your lucky stars you're not beginning to play the French horn again after a PTSD-worthy failure 22 years ago.
And if you're like our editor, you'll empathize with the squirrel and fall in love with Alec Guinness.
With over 300 pages of fascinating content, Gem's takes your bathroom reader needs seriously. We find the curious, the intriguing, the notable, and bring it to your throne. If that's not the pinnacle of civilization, it's pretty close.
What a great time to be alive and spending time in the bathroom with Gem's Completely Fascinating Bathroom Reader! Soon you'll know why Doc Shastid was infuriated by a tumble-bug dung-ball and - who knew? - why Gracie Allen used two roast beefs.