http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/172232/Why-You-Need-A-Passport-When-You-re-Going-To-Puke-Mitchell-Symons

Actually, two new books - though one of them is merely a paperback version of a book you might very well already own - WHY DO FARTS SMELL LIKE ROTTEN EGGS.

Anyway, the new book is...fanfare, fanfare...WHY YOU NEED A PASSPORT WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO PUKE

It's a great title that a guy called Barry O'Donovan, who works for the publishers, came up with and it's based on the fact that there's a town (and district) in Albania named Puke...

Basically, it's a geography book with all the boring bits taken out written by a man who failed every geography exam he ever took (yes, even the multiple choice ones where you can usually guess your way to twenty percent) because he was so bored by it all. You can read it from cover to cover (and I’m grateful to anyone who does just that) or else, like most people, you can dip into it for a few minutes at a time. Hopefully, most times you’ll find something to justify the investment of your time.

In that sense, it’s no different from How To Avoid A Wombat’s Bum, How Much Poo Does An Elephant Do? and Why Does Earwax Taste So Gross: loads of fascinating facts and lists – with the difference that they’re all geographically themed.

If only I’d known what fun geography could be, perhaps I’d have become a geographer or even an explorer (albeit the sort who stays in nice hotels).

People often ask me how I get my titles. Well, the truth is that they're usually chosen for me by my publishers....as I explain in the introduction to my new book WHY DOES EARWAX TASTE SO GROSS?

Welcome to the fifth in a series of books that started with How To Avoid A Wombat’s Bum and then continued through Why Eating Bogeys Is Good For You, How Much Poo Does An Elephant Do and Why Do Farts Smell Like Rotten Eggs to this one, Why Does Earwax Taste So Gross.

The more perceptive reader will have noticed a trend developing. That’s right, every title relates to bodily parts/functions. But not the ‘clean’ ones – like arms or breathing: no, it’s naughty things like bums and poo and farting and all that sort of thing.

The trouble is – and I’m letting you into a trade secret here – we’re running out of (ahem ‘acceptable’) naughty things to put in the titles of the books.

Hence the title of this book.

Personally, I don’t think Earwax tastes so gross – well mine doesn’t anyway. But my wonderful editor (who came up with the title) tells me that the sales boys love the title and...well, like most authors, I’ll do (almost) anything to keep in with the sales boys.

Besides, my editor did give me the opportunity to come up with a better title.

Here are some of the ones I suggested:

WHY OCTOPUSES EAT THEMSELVES

THE BOY WHO PEED BEETLES

WHAT YOU WOULD WEIGH ON OTHER PLANETS

THE KING WHO HAD A SWEAR BOX

WHY YOU CAN’T SNEEZE IN YOUR SLEEP

THE MAN WHO ATE 128 BICYCLES

HOW TO ESCAPE A CROCODILE

WHY IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO SNAP DRY SPAGHETTI INTO TWO PIECES

As you’ll discover, all of these titles – none of them as snappy as the one we went with – refer to facts in the book which itself is a feast of trivia along the lines of How To Avoid A Wombat’s Bum and How Much Poo Does An Elephant Do?.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed compiling it.