Jack Mingo
{{Short description|American author and journalist}}
Jack Mingo (born 1952) is an American author, journalist and beekeeper.{{cite web | title=Bees Make the Best Pets: All the Buzz about Being Resilient, Collaborative, Industrious, Generous, and Sweet-Straight from the Hive Mingo, Jack | website=OpenTrolley Bookstore Singapore | date=2018-12-31 | url=https://opentrolley.com.sg/Book_Detail.aspx?EAN=9781573246255 | access-date=2019-01-11}} 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.{{cite web | title=What Ever Happened to the Couch Potato? | website=The New Yorker | url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/what-ever-happened-to-the-couch-potato | access-date=2019-01-11}}{{cite web | author= reluctantgourmet | title=What Does Couch Potato Really Mean and Where Did It Come From | website=The Reluctant Gourmet | date=2017-10-04 | url=https://www.reluctantgourmet.com/couch-potato-explained/ | access-date=2019-01-11}} He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Reader's Digest.{{cite web | title=Jack Mingo | website=Simon & Schuster | url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jack-Mingo/16190541 | access-date=2019-01-11}} 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".{{cite web | title=Waiting For the Check From Fiji | website=SFGate | date=2000-06-23 | url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Waiting-For-the-Check-From-Fiji-2752359.php | access-date=2019-01-11}}{{cite web | title=It Takes a Certain Type to Be a Writer | website=OverDrive | url=https://www.overdrive.com/media/857530/it-takes-a-certain-type-to-be-a-writer | access-date=2019-01-11}}
Personal life
Mingo was born to Vera and Glen Mingo in Wausau, Wisconsin.{{cite web | title=View Vera Mingo's Obituary on hometownlife.com and share memories | website=The Detroit News | date=2017-05-21 | url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/detroitnews/obituary.aspx?n=vera-mingo&pid=185619903&fhid=13101 | access-date=2019-01-11}} He lives in Alameda, California. He has a daughter (Elana) from a former marriage and three grandsons, Acton, Oak, and Elm.{{cite web | last=Baedeker| first=Rob|title=The intentional renters: An Alameda couple reflects on the hidden costs of home ownership | website=SFGate | date=2010-01-18 | url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-intentional-renters-An-Alameda-couple-2483472.php | access-date=2019-01-11}}
Works and publications
- Bees Make the Best Pets (2013) {{ISBN|1573246255}}
- Ben Franklin's Guide to Wealth (2004) {{ISBN|157324953X}}
- The Juicy Parts (1996) {{ISBN|0399522182}}
- How the Cadillac Got Its Fins (1995) {{ISBN|0887307531}}
=With Erin Barrett=
- Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us (2009) {{ISBN|1416554793}}
- Random Kinds Of Factness: 1001 (or So) Absolutely True Tidbits About (Mostly) Everything (2005) {{ISBN|1573242128}}
- Just Curious about Science, Jeeves (2003) {{ISBN|0743427114}}
- It Takes a Certain Type to be a Writer: Facts from the World of Writing and Publishing (2003) {{ISBN|1573247227}}
- Just Curious About History, Jeeves (2002) {{ISBN|0743427092}}
- Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves (2002) {{ISBN|0743427106}}
- Doctors Killed George Washington: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Medicine (2002) {{ISBN|1573247197}}
- Not Another Apple for the Teacher: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Education (2002) {{ISBN|1573247235}}
- Just Curious, Jeeves: What Are the 1001 Most Intriguing Questions Asked on the Internet? (2000) {{ISBN|193010801X}}
=With Warren Dotz=
- Firecrackers!: An Eye-Popping Collection of Chinese Firework Art (2008) {{ISBN|1580089038}}
- Firecrackers: The Art and History (2000) {{ISBN|1580081517}}