TOONWAEIB book cover - curious meets facts!
TOONWAEIB book cover – curious meets facts!

By nature, most of us humans are curious about life, death, animals, science, and love. You name it; we’re curious about it! So I am thrilled to have read Patrick Foote’s book, ‘The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between.’

I am blown away by the amount of information that is in this book! The topics cover animals, places, planets, and so many more things! Patrick got his start being curious as a child – he and his family were on a road trip, got a bit lost, then got found, and when he got home, he wanted to know WHY the place where they stayed had its name!

Isn’t it funny what happens to us in our lives that can be momentous, and you have no idea at the time?

This book is great for setting out on an end table, or leaving on your kitchen table to peruse through when you have a moment! Each section is in easy-to-digest chunks for maximum enjoyment!

Are you curious about why New York is also known as the Big Apple? Or what a Pangolin is? Yea, I’d never heard of that one either. It’s an ANIMAL! MIND-BLOWN!

Curious?  This is a pangolin!
Curious? This is a pangolin!

I had a great time reading this book. A good portion of it was read aloud to Tyler, too, to hear the interesting factoids and etymology information! He was intrigued by a lot of it just like I was! I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book! It’ll be saved on my bookshelf for sure!

Thank you to Morena Guerrero with Mango Publishing for getting in touch with me on this one!! I can’t wait to work more with her/them in the future! 🙂

Patrick was kind enough to answer a few questions that I had after I finished! Here’s our quick Q&A (done via email, to allow for my sanity, so I don’t have to scream at Declan and Tristan while conducting interviews LOL! Anyone else knows how that goes?!)

Our interview:

Me: With the upkeep of your popular YouTube channel, ‘Name Explain,’ how in the world did you find time to write this book?!


Patrick: Long days! I tried to keep something of a good structure. I’d get all my work for the day for the YouTube channel done, and then I’d get to work on the book. I think I was doing about 2000 words a day for the book. Though there were some late nights and weekends involved too!

Me: You mentioned in the beginning that these particular subjects were too long to include in your YouTube channel, as mentioned above. Why is that, exactly? Some of them seemed pretty short and sweet!

Patrick: YouTube and books are very different things. Not all subjects would be massively popular on the channel. Luckily that sort of stuff I could cover in the book.

Me: How do you do what you do? I mean, do you just go on your way, see something intriguing and go home and Google it instantly? Or do you make lists? Or surf the web for interesting content?

Patrick: I find ideas for videos from all sources, sometimes by reading books and sometimes just from things I see, I keep a list of video ideas on my phone. As I talk about at the end of the book, I think it’s not about being clever (I am by no means clever) it’s about being curious. We have the tools to find pretty much all the world’s information, just think about what you want to find out!

Notice how I put that in there about his YouTube channel? You should totally check that out here 🙂

Me: What is your favorite quote? Why? Also, what’s the background on it?

Patrick: “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.” It’s from Michael Scott in The Office. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite ever, but I just finished rewatching it, and this quote rings true for my writing process lol.

Me: Any particular websites where people can follow you (apart from YouTube)? Myself included! Perhaps Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook, or anything like that?

Patrick: My twitter is @NameExplainYT, and so is my Instagram, and on Facebook, just search Name Explain. Also, check out my history podcast A.D. History, were me and my co-host Paul are looking into history decade by decade from 1AD to now.

Me: What’s up next for you? What else are you looking to accomplish in say, the next five years? Any new books we can look forward to from you?!

Patrick: In all honesty, I’m not too sure. I guess just to continue what I am doing. In all honesty, I wouldn’t feel too sad if I was back to working in a supermarket in five years time. I am super fortunate to not even be 30 yet and have accomplished my two dreams. To be a full-time YouTuber and publish a book. If this were to all end tomorrow, I’d feel accomplished and at peace 🙂 and as for a new book, I would love to write another one! Everyone go pester my publisher 😉

I wish I could say I’d be happy to work in a supermarket, but I’d be lying! I would LOVE to be a full-time blogger or writer! I wrote a review on a book that walks you through writing your OWN book with what you already know!!

Me: What is your favorite book, aside from the one you wrote?

Patrick: I’m a huge Middle-Earth fan. So LotR and The Hobbit are probably my favorite fiction. Though I’m a sucker for the obvious classics too like Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, Mockingbird. As for non-fiction, pretty much anything by Bill Bryson.

Me: Lastly, with the millions upon millions of things found on our planet, will you write a volume II? Or possibly 1,000? 🙂

Patrick: As I said, I’d love to write another book. It was such a fun experience, and while it was only 2 or so years ago, I feel I have changed so much as a writer since then. I’d love to do a book solely focussed on animal names. I know we covered a lot in the book, but I’d love to look into more, even mythical animal names! I’d also love to do a more silly tongue in cheek “anti-baby name” book, which talks about some of the weirdest given names we have, what they mean, and why you shouldn’t name your kid them!

Me: PS – this is NOT a question. Simply, a thank you. For including Pluto as a planet! MADE. MY. DAY.

Patrick: PLUTO WILL ALWAYS BE A PLANET TO ME DAMMIT!

Pluto, the planet - though scientists now disagree
Pluto, the planet – though scientists now disagree
Anyone else agree!? PLUTO IS A PLANET!

I’d love to know if any of you go out and check this book out! It is a number one seller on Amazon; you can find it at a myriad of other booksellers!

Love ya,

Kelly Ann

Thanks for the share! Follow if you'd like!

2 Replies to “Curious about unique facts? Check this out!”

Come on, give me some feedback! :) :) :) THANK YOU!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.