Miscellany

Along with etymology (see post "Definitions"), I love miscellany.  Random facts. Its the same thing, really.  Small bundles of truth that reveal or explain an aspect of the world around us.

Miscellany— a miscellaneous [shock] collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items. Sym- anthology.

Wikipedia is being unhelpful and redirecting to "Anthology".  Early miscellanies, like Tottel's Miscellany (published under the title Songes and Sonettes), would be called anthologies or collections today.

Schott's Original Miscellany is an example of miscellanies found in bookstores today.  There is no table of contents, only a lengthy index, and no organization to the information presented.  So, nouns of assemblage are found directly beneath a list of cricket dismissals.  Collections can also be themed like Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany, Schott's Sporting, Gaming, & Idling Miscellany, or Little known Facts about Well Known Places: Italy. 

Sometimes, however, the most interesting facts come from more unusual places.  Satiric novels, particularly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre tend to be founts of obscure knowledge.  Bellwether by Connie Willis begins each chapter with a brief history of some cultural trend.  Douglas Adams, in an article in The Salmon of Doubt, relates his favorite fact: young sloths are so inept they often mistake their own limbs for branches and fall out of trees.

Terry Pratchett has coined the term 'white knowledge' "to describe stuff that you know, and can't remember a time when you didn't know, but were never formally taught." Facts filtered in like white noise.  But some facts need to be sought out.  Here are a few of my personal favorites.

Lying can produce histamine to cause your nose to itch.

Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead wrote a mathematical volume that contains a 362 page proof that one plus one equals two.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War of August 27, 1896 was 38 minutes long, the shortest war in history.

The family that first cultivated broccoli also financed the James Bond films.

19 roads led to ancient Rome.

Charles Dickens invented the word 'boredom' in Bleak House.