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Certainly it paints a picture of what was considered common knowledge and what was learned in schools at that time. Another thought is that there are a couple
by jpwagner 12y ago
Certainly it paints a picture of what was considered common knowledge and what was learned in schools at that time.
Another thought is that there are a couple of different types of memorization going on here. For example no one memorizes a list of bordering states/countries; answers to those questions would indicate the strength of photographic memory.
- TheOtherHobbes 12y agoI doubt most of these facts were taught in schools - which is probably the point. Finding answers to questions like these was difficult pre-Internet. You'd only have a chance of getting them right if you read very widely all the time, and remembered most of what you read. If I was competing with Edison and I genuinely thought his employees were able to ace that test, I'd be seriously worried, trivia or no. In reality they probably couldn't. Only a very tiny percentage of the population is going to have the wide interests and the eidetic recall needed to ace this list.