Scenario 1: You spent more time smoking grass than going to class and suddenly find yourself interviewing for VP of Research and Development for Microsoft and need to understand the basics of the Binary Numeral Systems, which may be just a bunch of 0s and 1s, but is pretty heady stuff for those suffering from short-term memory loss.

mental_floss has an answer for that.

Scenario 2: You're Britney Spears and it occurred to you that if
you could just travel back in time, put on your underwear, apply some standards to your choice in babydaddies, then you might have a shot at a comeback. 'Cuz if y’all ever seen Back To The Future, then you’d know time travel is possible, yo.

mental_floss has an answer for that too, but it does require being semi-literate, so...

Scenario 3: You're a suburban housewife and are running for president of the PTA and want to intimidate and embarrass your competition with your vast and superior knowledge on things ranging from string theory to philosophy, but unfortunately you spend more time doing Pilates and tanning than reading and learning.

You are in luck, oh shallow slave to suburbia, because mental_floss has an answer for you as well.

In fact, with the MF Genius Instruction Manual, you have an answer to many of life's puzzling mysteries. Or in my case, the answer to huge gaps in knowledge that most 9th graders possess.

Known for condensing factoids into precise and interesting anecdotes, the geniuses behind mental_floss magazine carefully put together a brief, but surprisingly comprehensive outline of the world's most important concepts - like a Cliff Notes guide to the greatest inventors, scientists, philosophers and artists of modern history.

Not only does this manual explain the concepts behind the theory of relativity, time travel, global warming, modernism vs. post modernism and nuclear reactions; it also thoughtfully helps the reader distinguish the differences between a Shakespeare tragedy and a comedy (there's a difference?), and between an insane genius and regular genius.

This book also helped me discover what kind of genius I am: an idiot savant, minus the savant.