Literature / Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

The cover of the first book.

"Go with the flow!"

A series of books first published in 1988, composed of trivia, humor and reference all rolled into one. As the name implies, it is ostensibly something to read while sitting on the toilet, and comes with a laminated cover (presumably for waterproofing), and articles are rated by length, so that you can decide what to read based on your, ahem, needs. The books include articles on various historical topics, pop culture trivia, dumb criminal stories, quotes from famous (and not-so-famous) people, assorted lists, and much more. The content is presented somewhat tongue-in-cheek, not at all shying away from wordplay and the occasional Toilet Humor, but still manages to be highly entertaining. As if the stories and lists weren't enough, each page also has "running feet" — a little fact printed at the bottom margin.

The number of volumes has been constant since the beginning, not counting a multitude of Spin Offs (e.g., special versions for kids and even for mothers; the "Plunges into" series, where each story centralizes on a certain topic; various puzzle and Sudoku books). Other volumes have been amassed into "Best Of"s.

The Bathroom Reader series covers topics both interesting and obscure; witness the story of Emperor Norton — of San Francisco, as well as the history of the GI Joe action figure and historical dissertations ranging from the evolution of money to the French Revolution.

Classic Edition Series

• Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader (1988)
• Uncle John’s Second Bathroom Reader (1989)
• Uncle John’s Third Bathroom Reader (1990)
• Uncle John’s Fourth Bathroom Reader (1991)
• Uncle John’s Fifth Bathroom Reader (1992)
• Uncle John’s Sixth Bathroom Reader (1993)
• Uncle John’s Seventh Bathroom Reader (1994)
• The Best Of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (1995)
• Uncle John’s Ultimate Bathroom Reader (1996)
• Uncle John’s Giant 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (1997)
• Uncle John’s Great Big Bathroom Reader (1998)
• Uncle John's 4-Ply Bathroom Reader (1998) (a compilation of material from the first four books)
• Uncle John’s Absolutely Absorbing Bathroom Reader (1999)
• Uncle John’s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader (1999) (a compilation of material from books five through seven)
• Uncle John’s All-Purpose Extra-Strength Bathroom Reader (2000)
• Uncle John’s Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader (2001)
• Uncle John’s Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader (2002)
• Uncle John’s Unstoppable Bathroom Reader (2003)
• Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader (2004)
• Uncle John’s Fast-Acting Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader (2005)
• Uncle John’s Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader (2006)
• Uncle John’s Gigantic Bathroom Reader (2006) (a compilation of the Giant 10th Anniversary and Absolutely Absorbing Bathroom Readers)
• Uncle John’s Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (2007)
• Uncle John’s Monumental Bathroom Reader (2007) (a compilation of the Supremely Satisfying and All-Purpose Extra-Strength Bathroom Readers)
• Uncle John’s Unsinkable Bathroom Reader (2008)
• The Best Of The Best Of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (2008)
• Uncle John’s Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader (2009)
• Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader (2010)
• Uncle John's 24-Karat Gold Bathroom Reader (2011)
• Uncle John's Fully Loaded 25th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (2012)
• Uncle John's Perpetually Pleasing Bathroom Reader (2013)
• Uncle John's Canoramic Bathroom Reader (2014)
• Uncle John’s Factastic 28th Bathroom Reader (2015)
• Uncle John's Uncanny Bathroom Reader (2016)
• Uncle John’s Old Faithful 30th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (2017)
• Uncle John’s Actual and Factual Bathroom Reader (2018)
• Uncle John's Truth, Trivia and the Pursuit of Factiness Bathroom Reader (2019)
• Uncle John’s Greatest Know on Earth (2020)
• Uncle John’s Hindsight 20/20 (2021)
• Uncle John’s Awesome 35th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (2022)
• Uncle John's Weird, Wonderful World Bathroom Reader (2023)

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This book series contains examples of:

• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: Invoked in at least one volume, which contains a page of errata from previous editions. One note in particular pointed out that an earlier book had contradicting facts: one page said that ants don't sleep, and another said that ants stretch after they wake up. They basically Handwaved this one by saying that it's not really known whether ants sleep or not.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first couple of books were smaller and had shorter articles that often started with a brief history of the subject followed by several tidbits about it. It wasn't until the fifth book that the articles got larger and more in-depth.
• Fun with Acronyms: UJPORAD (Uncle John's Page of Random Acronym Definitions) and APOUJRAD (Another Page of Uncle John's Random Acronym Definitions), both of which describe the meanings behind acronyms and initialisms.
• The Ghost: Just who is Uncle John anyway? Nobody seems to know until 2012, when it was revealed that "Uncle John" is Gordon Javna, the brother of writer John Javna. They have mentioned in a few books that Uncle John is definitely not the guy on the back of every book, as often assumed. That guy's name isn't John, but Larry Kelp and he's only a technician for the Bathroom Readers Institute.
• Gone Horribly Right: In a segment called "It Worked... Too Well".
• Hurricane of Puns: The writers love puns, especially if they relate to the bathroom in any way; the lamer, the better.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Starting with Ultimate, the books all took some form of Uncle John's [adjective phrase] Bathroom Reader.
  • They stopped the Uncle John's Nth Bathroom Reader business because they didn't want new readers to think that they had to read them in order.
• Long-Running Book Series: As of 2018, it's been running for 30 years.
• Moon Logic Puzzle: Many of the brainteasers. Example: "Julia is riding a horse. Directly to her left is a hippo traveling at the same speed. In front of her is an elephant, also traveling at the same speed. Following behind her - at the same speed - is a lion. And to her right is a ledge. How will Julia make it to safety?" (Answer: By getting off the carousel.)
• Running Gag: From about All-Purpose Extra Strength onward, every book has a running foot reading "Hi Mom!"
• Shout-Out: Plenty on the index pages, mostly to friends of the writers.
• Stopped Numbering Sequels: As seen above, they gradually broke free of the "Uncle John's Nth Bathroom Reader" series, though they would return for the 28th installment in 2015.
• Toilet Humor: Every book manages to get in a couple bathroom jokes, although there are some more scientific articles about bodily functions too.

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In 1964, the BBC reported that Ringo Starr had his toenails removed. It was actually his tonsils.