What teenager has not uttered the words “you just don’t know” or “you just don’t get it”? Ever had the word whatever, uttered to you by a teen? Well, you’ve just been blown off because you clearly have no idea what you're talking about and it's not even worth continuing this conversation with you. Many (or, I might even go so far as to say, most) teens have false confidence and some can even come off as arrogant or know-it-alls. The funny thing is that half the time, they have no idea what they're talking about. They haven't experienced the real world yet and they're often too busy with their high school drama to be up on current events. There's nothing wrong with this—they're kids. But I have to admit, I actually sometimes feel a little embarrassed for teens when I overhear some of their conversations. Being an adult know-it-all myself, I often find it difficult to not jump in and correct them. 

But there is hope for the uninformed teen. And there are certain books (ones I pretty much guarantee they'll like!) that will at least get them spouting correct information at you. (Sorry, the arrogance comes with the age—books can’t solve everything!) You’ll stop any teen in their tracks with the phrase, “show me," while thrusting any mental_floss book in their hands. Trust me.

The phrase and the books came into my life at very different times, but once I recognized how perfectly they went together, it was as though I heard music from the heavens. (Music, by the way, can be found on pages 174-194 in Condensed Knowledge, but I digress.) Mental_floss came into my world while I was working in New York City in my early 20s. My specialty in publishing was children’s books, or more specifically young adult books. This knowledge, although fairly vast, didn’t really get me very far with my publishing peers in the adult world. I found myself having trouble holding lengthy conversations without bringing it right back to J.K. Rowling, Anne of Green Gables, and the fictional trends among 16-year-old girls. I felt inferior, unintelligent, and well, just yucky. I wanted to be more worldly. But anytime I tried to increase my knowledge, it would be as though I came down with a case of Adult ADD.  Seriously. That’s when a dear friend of mine introduced me to mental_floss. 

What or who is mental_floss you ask? I'll answer that with a quote straight from their web site:

For the record: mental_floss magazine is an intelligent read, but not too intelligent. We're the sort of intelligent that you hang out with for a while, enjoy our company, laugh a little, smile a lot, and then we part ways. Great times. And you only realize how much you learned from us after a little while. Like a couple days later when you're impressing your friends with all these intriguing facts and things you picked up from us, and they ask you how you know so much, and you think back on that great afternoon you spent with us and you smile. And then you lie and say you read a lot.

To be honest, I was introduced to their book (now books) before I got into their magazine. But, they do have a magazine (six issues a year), 11 books (and counting), and a kick-butt web site that I visit almost daily. But it was their Condensed Knowledge book that changed my life. The Condensed Knowledge book is exactly that: knowledge in easy-to-handle snippets that allow you to grasp the information and actually retain what you're reading. There were a lot of “hmm…that’s interesting” and “Really?!” moments as I digested the book. And it covers a plethora of subjects, from Music (as mentioned above) to Art History, to General Science to History. This is the most well-rounded book they came out with. All the others are more specific, but in really cool ways. For example, my second favorite book is entitled, Forbidden Knowledge: A Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits. How can you not be intrigued with a title like that? All the chapters are laid out by the Seven Deadly Sins with real history jam-packed into each one. 

The magazine’s just as cool, and, dare I say it before Thanksgiving has even gotten here, a perfect stocking stuffer. And like any good technology-based publication, their book leads you right to their web site for all sorts of goodies they just couldn’t fit into the issue. I actually used to stop into B&N every week hoping to see the latest issue on the shelves. When I had it in my hands, it was a great commute home to New Jersey.

Now, the “show me” part of my suggestion: I’ve always been the type of person to research anything I didn’t feel was correct or true. My personal phrase has always been “that’s interesting; I’ll have to research that." That's my way of politely saying, "I don’t think you’re correct, so I’m going to check it out for myself." Perhaps it’s because I do read a lot and retain a lot of random information so I’d like to make sure I know the real deal before I share it with others—but ok, sometimes I just want to prove I'm right.  

So, the next time your teen tries to prove a point with false information, equip them with a resource that they'll not only enjoy flipping through, but also provide them with solid—correct!—information. It might be frustrating when they win a debate or two with you, but hey, it’ll take them places as they become adults.  Happy Reading.