Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Weird or Funny Things I’ve Googled Thanks to a Book.
Isn’t there a meme out there about how authors’ search history would make people think they’re all serial killers or seriously disturbed? I’m guessing the same is true for plenty of readers. What can we say? We readers are curious people!
Here are random questions and phrases that you’d find in my book-related search history — and the books that inspired them:
1. What do Satanists believe? (while reading Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison)
2. Would the Titanic have sunk if it hit the iceberg head-on rather than along its side? (So many Titanic books, but most recently, A Night to Remember by Walter Lord). And in case you’re wondering, the answer is mixed: I’ve seen very strong arguments saying it absolutely would have sunk, and very strong arguments saying absolutely not!
3. What does someone with face blindness see when they look at a person? (while reading Hello Stranger by Katherine Center)
4. Has anyone ever been swallowed by a sperm whale? (while reading Whalefall by Daniel Krauss). And since I’m sure you’re dying to know too, here’s what Ocean Conservancy has to say:
Can sperm whales swallow humans?
While there have been cases where humans end up in a whale’s mouth, generally these human prey get spit out and not swallowed. It’s an extremely rare and unpleasant day for all involved. Technically sperm whales are the only creatures in the ocean with throats large enough to swallow a human. There was one case of a man named James Bartley, labeled as a “modern day Jonah,” who was allegedly swallowed by a sperm whale off the Falkland Islands in the early 1900s. The story claims that he was rescued from the stomach after whalers took down the animal that ate him. This story doesn’t hold up to close inspection, however, and the science suggests that anyone who had the misfortune of being eaten by a whale would probably not live long.
5. Very small owls (while reading The Parliament by Aimee Potwatka)
6. Britney’s denim outfit (while reading The Woman in Me by Britney Spears)… and for those who might want to know, this is the image I was looking for:
7. Oz’s family – Buffy (while reading One Girl in All the World by Kendare Blake, because I couldn’t remember how Oz became a werewolf)
8. What does a tree surgeon do? (while reading The No-Show by Beth O’Leary)
9. Treacher Collins syndrome (while reading Wonder by R. J. Palacio
10. Examples of surf movies from the 1960s (while reading California Golden by Melanie Benjamin)
There you have it. Definitely not a serial killer… just a reader with eclectic interests!
I’d love to see what everyone else has been googling, so…
If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
I like that Titanic question. I never would have thought to look it up, but now I’m wondering, too!
Here is my <a href=”https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-weird-or-funny-things-ive-googled-thanks-to-a-book/“>Top Ten Tuesday.</a>
The Titanic question was an interesting one to look into. At first, I read what I thought was a very definite answer, with lots of science to back it up… until I read an opposing viewpoint that seems equally plausible.
I love that you Googled the denim outfit thing. I have always wanted to do that outfit as a Halloween couples costume.
That would be an awesome couples costume! I ended up googling quite a bit while reading Britney’s book, especially whenever she mentioned a certain red carpet look or a moment that got tons of media attention.
Number four is super interesting. And I did the same thing with Black Sheep. I needed context lol.
The book that made me curious about whales was so weird and so good! The Satanism thing was interesting — I had no idea about what the religion actually is.
Great list! Now I have to Google very small owls too!
They’re cute! But in the book I read, they’re also murderous 🙂
I’m always Googling things from books. Like when I checked if the word Paparazzi was used in 1958 (when the book I was reading was set), and found out… NO. It wasn’t even coined until 1960 and didn’t become popular until the Princess Diana era.
Interesting! That feels like one of those words that have been around forever, but of course, it makes sense that it’s much more of the modern media age.
These are all such fun topics. I google a lot too but I never thought about checking my Google history (is that a thing?)
For cybersecurity, we’re all supposed to clear our history regularly… but it is fun to have a record of what we’ve looked for!