The Don’t Know Much About Story

He’s been dubbed the “King of Knowing” by Amazon.com. People magazine called reading him like, “returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had.” When Kenneth C. Davis wrote Don’t Know Much About History 15 years ago, few would have predicted that a little book promising to teach you, “everything you need to know but never learned” would create such a stir –earning widespread praise, spending 35 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, racking up more than 1.4-million copies sold and becoming the cornerstone in a multimillion-copy, multi-book and audio tape franchise that adults, children and educators would embrace.

After all, Davis didn’t own space in the Ivory Tower. Having coasted through high school and never finished college, Davis was like a lot of kids who found school tedious. But like so many kids who are bored by school, he possessed an appetite for learning, a curious mind and a love to read. Often on car trips and at his family’s kitchen table in Mount Vernon, N.Y., he asked, “Why?” Later, when he left college, got married and had children of his own who began asking questions, he decided to write the books he wanted to read. Books that brought learning alive. Books that were fun and entertaining. “Anti-textbooks,” as he called them.

The formula caught on. Hungry minds hearing him on radio and television liked his fun-loving way and ready sense of humor. Turned off by standardized tests centered on useless minutia, the public readily identified with a boy who didn’t get straight A’s but was a “Curious George,” like themselves. With a knack for making esoteric ideas fun, Davis banished the school-bookish
emphasis on memorizing dates, speeches and battles. Focusing on people, he tried to bring to life the hidden but earthy side of such characters as George Washington, the rugged, plainspoken frontiersman who never chopped down a cherry tree but who did say to his hefty comrade while crossing the Delaware, “Shift that fat ass, Harry, or you’ll swamp the damn boat.” Nor did Davis treat his readers like “dummies” or “idiots” because they were ill-taught. “Being curious doesn’t make you a dummy,” he says. “Questions are the matches, the spark, that light the fire of learning. “

Today, with more than 20 titles for adults and children in print, the ”Don’t Know Much About” series has gone on from American History to cover a wide range of topics in the same user-friendly style that combines information and fun. Exploring geography, science and religion, among other topics, the series offers a refresher course to anybody who snored through science lab, hated memorizing meaningless dates, or just wants to learn without the academic jargon. Busting the misconceptions that sanitize the far more interesting truth, Davis has earned a reputation as a writer whose “warts-and-all” version of history sets the record straight while highlighting little known but fascinating information. Academics have become so appreciative of his approach that in 2000 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Concordia College in Bronxville, New York. So the Ivory Tower has decided to send down a rope!

And book sales have skyrocketed. To date, through media appearances and word-of-mouth endorsements from satisfied readers, more than 3-million books and audios for adults have been sold in the series which has more titles on the way. Like a human encyclopedia who deserves to be called the “Answer Man,” Davis released a revised, expanded and updated version of Don’t Know Much About History that has already sold nearly 200,000 copies. That book was followed in November, 2005 by Don’t Know Much About Mythology.

But perhaps most exciting of all, Davis recently began taking his winning formula to the children, offering illustrated picture books for the age 4 to 8 set, and middle school readers for kids from 9-12. Among the first titles to hit the bookstore shelves in the past 12 months are Don’t Know Much About the Presidents, Don’t Know Much About the 50 States, Don’t Know Much About Space. Relying on the same approach used to captivate the adult market –make learning fun, take advantage of natural curiosity, ask interesting questions and answer them, make connections between the past and the present, find what is relevant in the lives of today’s readers– Davis has begun making inroads with children and teachers through school and bookstore visits. Adopting the motto that “education isn’t the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire,” Davis often takes a little “buzzer box” along on his classroom visits and, simulating a game show format, invites the kids to push the buzzer when they know the answer. Faces light up and nobody goes away disappointed. Because it’s all about fun when you participate in the ”Don’t Know Much About” Game Show!  Davis has taken his game show to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Recently, Disney packaged Don’t Know Much about American History (for young readers) with its release of the DVD of the hit movie, National Treasure (through Wal-Mart stores).

In addition to his many books, Davis is a Contributing Editor to US Weekend magazine where his popular ”Don’t Know Much About” columns are read regularly by millions around the country. He has also contributed to national newspapers, including the Op-ed page and Week in Review section of The New York Times. He has also been a Commentator of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Davis appears frequently in the national media and has been on Today, Fox & Friends and CNN as well as many other television and radio broadcasts.