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Influential Non-Fiction Books Quiz

Some books actually change or at least influence the way of thinking of people about themselves, society, life, the universe, etc. Check these.

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
113,641

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
6739

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 107 (5/10), flopsymopsy (9/10), mandy2 (5/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. What was the original 1946 title of Dr.Benjamin Spock's epoch-making book on "child care"? Hint

The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child-Care.

The No-Nonsense Book of Baby-Care

How to Be a Happy Mother .

Sensible Baby-Care.

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Which of these books was authored by Helen Gurley Brown? Hint

"Sex"

"Sexual Politics"

"Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male"

"Sex and the Single Girl"

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Question 3 of 10

3. What two cultures did C.P. Snow have in mind when in 1959 he published
his "The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution"? Hint

European and American way of life

Western and Eastern values and ways of life

the Sciences and the Humanities

Capitalism and Communism

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Question 4 of 10

4. Who wrote the "Second Sex" in 1949? Hint

Jean-Paul Sartre

Kate Millett

Germaine Greer

Simone de Beauvoir

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Question 5 of 10

5. Which of these was the title of a book expressing critical views of capitalist society that in the 1960s greatly resonated with the concerns of the leftist student movement ? Hint

On Power and Ideology

On Liberty

One-Dimensional Man

The Rights of Man

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Question 6 of 10

6. Which of these books came first in the 20th century history of the U.S.A.? Hint

Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock"

Ralph Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed"

Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring"

Eldridge Cleaver's "Soul On Ice"

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which of these Latin titles is actually by a 20th century philosopher, mathematician, and pacifist - but echoes a longer title by Isaac Newton? Hint

"Principia Mathematica" "Mathematical Principles"

"De Duobus Maximis Systematibus Mundi" "Dialogues on the Two Chief Systems of the Universe"

"Novum Organon" "New Tool for Scientific Thought"

"De Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium" -" Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies"

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Question 8 of 10

8. Who was the economist that strongly influenced 20th century thought by his "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" (1936)? Hint

Milton Friedman

John Maynard Keynes

Kenneth Galbraith

Joseph Alois Schumpeter

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Question 9 of 10

9. What added to the impact of Jacob Riis' publication in 1890 of a book on the plight of the poor, the title of which was "How the other half lives"? Hint

inclusion of interviews with the illiterate poor

inclusion of plenty of photographs

inclusion of statistics

inclusion of a foreword by the President of the U.S.A.

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Question 10 of 10

10. What does Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's epochmaking but controversial book " The Bell Curve" deal with ? Hint

the problem of climatic change

the economic prospects of capitalism

the distribution of intelligence in society

the distribution of riches in the U.S.A.

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was the original 1946 title of Dr.Benjamin Spock's epoch-making book on "child care"?

Answer: The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child-Care.

Spock was born on 2 May 1903. Died 15 March 1998. He should not be confused with Mr. Spock from Television.

2. Which of these books was authored by Helen Gurley Brown?

Answer: "Sex and the Single Girl"

Helen Gurley Brown was born on Feb.18, 1922 at Green Forest, Arkansas. She published "Sex and the Single Girl" in 1962. In 1964 she published "Sex and the Office". In 1965 she was named editor-in-chief of "Cosmopolitan". She resigned in 1996.
"Sexual Behaviour..." was the research-book published by Alfred Kinsey. (1894-1956). Kate Millett's "Sexual Politics" dates back to 1970. Madonna's "Sex" book was published in 1992.

3. What two cultures did C.P. Snow have in mind when in 1959 he published his "The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution"?

Answer: the Sciences and the Humanities

C.P.Snow was an English scientist and novelist who lived from 1905 till 1980. His book "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" dates back to 1959.

4. Who wrote the "Second Sex" in 1949?

Answer: Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir lived from 1908 till 1986. She was the partner of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). Kate Millett (born 1934) and Germaine Greer(born 1939) both published their feminist works in 1970. Germaine Greer is Australian-born, was educated at the universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Cambridge. Her name is usually linked with "The Female Eunuch".

5. Which of these was the title of a book expressing critical views of capitalist society that in the 1960s greatly resonated with the concerns of the leftist student movement ?

Answer: One-Dimensional Man

More information on the Berlin-born U.S. philiosopher Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) at www.marcuse.org/herbert.
"On Liberty" is by John Stuart Mill(1806-1873). "The Rights of Man" is of course by Tom Paine (born in Norfolk 1737- died in New York in 1809.
Power and Ideology was published by Noam Chomsky in 1987.
Yet, there is another very influential book for the leftist student movement: "The Power Elite" by C.Wright-Mills.Charles Wright-Mills was born at Waco, Texas in 1916. He died in New York in 1962. He was a student of Max Weber and became a hero of the New Left in the U.S.A.

6. Which of these books came first in the 20th century history of the U.S.A.?

Answer: Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring"

"Silent Spring" dates back to 1962. Carson lived from 1907 till 1964.
Ralph Nader's book was published in 1965. Nader was born in 1934.
Cleaver's book dates from 1968.He was born in 1935 in Arkansas, became a Black Panther leader in the sixties, and died on First of May 1998.
Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock" is the most recent of these books. It was published in 1970.Toffler was born on 28th of October 1928 in New York City.

7. Which of these Latin titles is actually by a 20th century philosopher, mathematician, and pacifist - but echoes a longer title by Isaac Newton?

Answer: "Principia Mathematica" "Mathematical Principles"

Bertrand Russell, author of the "Mathematical Principles", lived from 1872 till 1970.His co-author was A.N. Whitehead.
Newton's work was: "Naturalis Philosophiae Principia Mathematica".
Bacon,author of the "Novum Organon",(1561-1626) not only played a role in science and politics, but according to the Baconians he even may have found time to secretly write the works of William Shakespeare in between.
Copernic, author of "De Revolutionibus..", was born in Torun, Poland, on 19 Feb. 1473 and died in Poland, at Frombork, on 24 May 1543. In between he was in Italy.
Galileo Galilei, born in Pisa on Feb. 15, 1564, died in 1642. He invented the telescope, studied the pendulum clock, and revolutionised our view of ourselves in the universe.(De Duobus Maximis...) Bad luck for him that he ran into trouble with the Inquisition who kept him under strict detention for the remainder of his life, after his book had been found to be "heretical".

8. Who was the economist that strongly influenced 20th century thought by his "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" (1936)?

Answer: John Maynard Keynes

Keynes lived from 1883 till 1946. Schumpeter,the author of "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy"(1942) lived from 1883 till 1950. Galbraith( born in 1908) had his hour of glory with " The Affluent Society" (1958).
Milton Friedman( born in 1912) is still influential with his "Theory of the Consumption Function"(1957).

9. What added to the impact of Jacob Riis' publication in 1890 of a book on the plight of the poor, the title of which was "How the other half lives"?

Answer: inclusion of plenty of photographs

Jacob Riis, born at Ribe, Denmark, on 3d of May 1849, came to the States as an immigrant, saw that not all of the U.S. was a "land of milk and honey" and started his campaign as a reformer. Being a photographer, he was able to add "pictures" to the eloquence of his "words".

10. What does Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's epochmaking but controversial book " The Bell Curve" deal with ?

Answer: the distribution of intelligence in society

Murray is a Bradley fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who co-wrote the "Bell Curve" with the late Richard Herrnstein in 1994.
As his thesis is that intelligence is unequally distributed between races, his -so-called objective? -study is very controversial. In its simplified form it may lead to views that one race is good for "real thinking", another race just for "dance, music and sport". How intelligent their concept of intelligence actually is, remains a matter of debate.

Source: Author flem-ish

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