Book excerpt: If you spent your school days in a haze and you feel like you’re missing some essential bits of knowledge, here’s the perfect pocket guide to bring you up to speed. Within these pages are easy to read refreshers on basic knowledge in English, math, science, history, geography, the classics, and music, including: Algebra, geometry, numbers, angles, and ratios Literary terms, Shakespeare, great poets and novelists, and the rudiments of spelling and grammar The human body, the theory of evolution, the laws of physics, and the meaning of puzzling equations like E=MC2. Major world battles, U.S. Presidents, and historical inventions and discoveries. Covering 50 basic curriculum points in seven areas fundamental to cultural literacy, Stuff You Should Have Learned at School will help make you the center of cocktail conversation, a whiz in the boardroom, and an impressive figure to your peers.