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10,000 Answers is organized a bit differently
from other reference books and trivia books. So, to help you find
what you're looking for quickly, we offer these brief suggestions:
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Most of the time, the index, located at
the back of the book, is where you should go first. Under each
index item, you will find all the entries in the book that contain
that item. In other words, the index is where you'll find a
listing of all the "real" people, places and things that make
up the topics in the book. For example:
- People: Authors, actors, comedians, composers, singers, sports stars,
world leaders, etc.
- Places: Countries, cities, states, rivers, airports, etc.
- Things: Comic strips, companies, films, novels, plays, poems, products,
songs, TV shows, universities, etc.
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Literary works (plays, novels, poems, etc.)
are always listed under the authors' names, and most are listed
under their own names as well.
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"Fictional" people, places, and things
(like novel characters and sitcom hangouts) should be looked
up in the index under their respective sources (books, TV shows,
etc.). Fictional characters that have a significant number of
entries (like James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter)
are listed under their own names as well as the names of their
creators.
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The main body of the book is where you should go first:
- If what you're looking for is more of a trivia fact (or trivia
answer) than a topic.
- For random browsing.
- To get to know the sorts of things that the book contains.
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For easiest look-up, the numerical entries
are listed together sequentially at the front of the book, rather
than being alphabetized with the rest of the entries. The articles
a, an, and the, and their equivalents in other languages, are
ignored for alphabetization purposes.
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Many entries give the original names of
people whose names have changed for one reason or another. For
simplicity's sake, we generally describe this as the "real name"
of a person, even if that person's name has been legally changed.
We use "birth name" or "original name" if the person's name
changed via adoption, first marriage, etc. before he or she
took on his or her best-known name. Because we use "birth name"
for this purpose, we use "maiden name" for a woman's original
last name. If a "real first name" is given, we put parentheses
around that name to show the full real name in a definition,
for example: Carson: Real first name of entertainer (Carson)
Wayne Newton.
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A title is called an "alternate title" if it appears after
the word "or" in the title (as happens in many Gilbert and Sullivan
works). Otherwise, such a title is called a "subtitle." |
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