‘PC Guy’ full of useless, entertaining information

John Hodgman is a man of many talents. You might know him as the hapless PC in those ubiquitous Mac versus PC commercials, or as the “resident expert” on “The Daily Show.” But as it turns out, Hodgman is also a font of incredible, amazing and utterly useless trivia. Why is it useless? Because he admits right there on the cover that all of it is completely made up. But boy, is it funny.

Like his previous compendium, “The Areas of My Expertise,” “More Information Than You Require” is an opportunity for Hodgman to educate the public about a few of his favorite obsessions, including hoboes, presidents, strange animals and people with hooks for hands.

Within chapters that cover such varied subjects as computer security, fortune-telling, hermit-crab racing and the advanced civilization of the subterranean mole-men, Hodgman’s hilariously bone-dry voice and list-driven, textbooky style form the perfect vehicle for a veritable onslaught of non sequiturs and absurdities that will entertain readers in bathrooms across the land for hours.

For instance, did you know that:

•Napoleon secretly visited the moon in 1802?

•Jefferson plagiarized the opening passage of the Declaration of Independence directly from an earlier mole-man document?

•A baby only cries when another baby somewhere in the world is silent?

As Hodgman points out, you may not think these things are true, but can you prove they are not?

If you like books with linear narratives and that fancy literary concept called “a point,” this is not the book for you. If you’re the sort of person who loves to know stuff but isn’t too picky about all that accuracy business, then “More Information” is all you require.