Birthdays Are Best

Birthdays Are Best is a funny and fact-packed tour of the birthday calendar, one chapter per month. Flip to your birth month for the birthstone, some real science, and the perks and pitfalls of being born when you were. Then keep going and find out: Why so many people in Bhutan share a January 1 birthday How to slice a cake so it stays fresh (hint: not in wedges) Who owned "Happy Birthday to You" for 80 years, and how everyone got it back Which Roman emperor marked his sister's birthday with 300 bears How to say 'Happy birthday' in Klingon (and what not to sing to a Klingon). Why the author of Treasure Island gave his birthday away to a 12-year-old girl How a baby came to be born twice (and got two cakes too!) Each chapter ends with one small way to spread the birthday love, because celebrating other people is half the fun. Jenn Q. Goddu is a journalist and content marketer turned executive ghostwriter who usually writes in other people's voices. This time it's her own. She ran a birthday blog for seven years, takes her birthday off every year, and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a strong opinion about frosting. Every fact in this book is sourced. Every joke is her fault.