Jack Mingo


Jack Mingo is an American author, journalist and beekeeper. He has written Bees Make the Best Pets, The Juicy Parts, and The Couch Potato Handbook. He and a small group of media hoaxers trademarked and popularized the term couch potato. He has written for The [New York Times], The [Washington Post], and Reader's Digest. He and Erin Barrett were co-founders and co-writers of the Ask Jeeves series of trivia books, which published selected "questions as they flowed, unedited, into the well-known Web site".

Personal life

Mingo was born to Vera and Glen Mingo in Wausau, Wisconsin. He lives in Alameda, California. He has a daughter from a former marriage and three grandsons, Acton, Oak, and Elm.

Works and publications

  • Bees Make the Best Pets
  • Ben Franklin's Guide to Wealth
  • The Juicy Parts
  • ''How the Cadillac Got Its Fins''

    With Erin Barrett

  • Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us
  • Random Kinds Of Factness: 1001 Absolutely True Tidbits About Everything
  • Just Curious about Science, Jeeves
  • It Takes a Certain Type to be a Writer: Facts from the World of Writing and Publishing
  • Just Curious About History, Jeeves
  • Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves
  • Doctors Killed George Washington: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Medicine
  • Not Another Apple for the Teacher: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Education
  • ''Just Curious, Jeeves: What Are the 1001 Most Intriguing Questions Asked on the Internet?''

    With Warren Dotz

  • Firecrackers!: An Eye-Popping Collection of Chinese Firework Art
  • ''Firecrackers: The Art and History''