<DIV><b></b><BR><BR> Everything—from the mundane (the pencil) to the catastrophic (the atom bomb)—has an origin, but often it's not what we expect. A few things you may not have known:<BR> • Gandhi was married at age thirteen!<BR> • Chinese fortune cookies are an American invention and were not eaten in China until the 1990s when they were advertised as “Genuine American Fortune Cookies.”<BR> • Bayer lost the trademark for aspirin (which they had held since 1897) as part of the reparations Germany was forced to pay after World War I.<BR> • The original idea for the electric chair came from an American dentist.<br><BR> For aspiring mindblowers and wanna-be know-it-alls, <I>The Book of Origins</I> is a treasure trove of trivia and fascinating facts guaranteed to entertain and enlighten.<BR><BR></DIV>