Looking for an antidote to those awkward silences that can arise at dinner parties?

Battle boredom with Schott's Original Miscellany, a new book filled with such conversation starters as past Tony Award winners, famous last words and American dinner slang. (Did you know that "hounds on an island" is code for sausages on beans?)

The mini-encyclopedia, how-to-guide and bible for offbeat trivia is the brainchild of a British photographer who claims to be the most unlikely author of a tome filled with silly factoids.

"I hate trivia," confesses Ben Schott (say it: "shot"), whose quirky book has been a best-seller in Britain for nearly a year. "I'm terrible at quizzes and I'm appallingly bad at board games."

But Schott is equipped with a bizarre sense of humor, which fueled his quest to uncover reams of inconsequential information. It started two years ago as a joke, when he decided to compile booklets containing "all the information that tends to elude the mind" as Christmas gifts for his clients.

"I did 16 pages and people seemed too enthusiastic about it," Schott says. "So, instead of sending it, I carried on working on it and what was 16 pages is now a 160-page monster."

Crafted over the course of a year in The British Library, Schott's Miscellany includes such tidbits as how to wrap a sari, the lyrics to Ivy League fight songs and the provisions carried on the Titanic (they had 8,000 cigars on board, but only 20 lifeboats).

"It's not just nonsense," Schott insists about the book's content. "But it's not necessarily life-or-death either."

In fact, the book could prove useful in a pinch: Schott has included a list of commonly misspelled words, the ingredients in a Bloody Mary, even chat room acronyms (be cautious if you see IAAL - I am a lawyer).

That kind of information, contends Schott, is what makes his pint-sized guide more than just a throw-away collection of trivia.

"Trivia is based on competition and one-upmanship," argues Schott in a sharp, London accent. "But miscellany is insight into other worlds of knowledge."

Still, Schott doesn't take himself too seriously. Instead of credits, he cites a group of people who, "deserve their share of the blame." Under a section titled "To Forgive, Divine," Schott acknowledges that many of the facts included in the book are the subject of debate and dispute. And yet, he claims the volume is "essential reading."

"It is, perhaps, possible to live one's life without Schott's Original Miscellany, but it seems a curious and brave thing to attempt," he writes.

British readers seem to agree, snapping up the book in droves since it hit shelves last November. The American version of the compendium, which includes such novel "Western" nuggets as an explanation of cattle branding and the Statue of Liberty's measurements, was released earlier this month. (The book ranked 42nd on Amazon.com's Top 100 list this week).

Schott is now working on a food-and-drink rendition, with morsels on the shelf life of canned goods, the calorie content of alcoholic drinks and the examination Japanese chefs must pass to serve the poisonous fish, fugu.

A Schott's Sports Miscellany is also in the works, says Schott, who no longer has time for photography.

"This is not what I expected to be doing. It continues to amaze me on an almost hourly basis."

gonzaleze@RockyMountain News.com or 303-892-5350