Most of you will have at heard of Schott's Miscellanies, if not actually received one or two for Christmas at some point. If you haven't, it's quite a cool story; albeit one of those ones that makes you slap your head and wish you'd thought of it first.
Ben Schott is a photographer who made little booklets containing photos and quirky facts to give to his friends and clients at the end of each year. They grew in popularity, one thing led to another, and Schott's Original Miscellany, a random collection of odd trivia, was born.
Within a very short space of time it had spawned a couple of themed follow-ups (Schott's Food and Drink Miscellany; Schott's Sporting, Gaming and Idling Miscellany), had collectively sold about two million copies and been translated into 13 languages.
This all happened about five years ago, and not surprisingly, an assortment of similar titles have appeared since. There are at least two relating specifically to F1 that I am aware of - one that I haven't actually seen (but it got roasted by Amazon customers), and Alan Henry's Grand Prix Companion, which is sitting next to me as I write.