ETC., ETC.: Ben Schott at the Brattle tonight

At 31, Londoner BEN SCHOTT has already published three ridiculously detailed collections of notions and oddities that have sold two million copies worldwide. Now he’s moved on to the formerly antiquarian almanac; rather than predicting the year ahead, his Schott’s Almanac 2007 records the year past. He dotes on arcane topics like how to survive a bear attack, offers a mini-dictionary of “Hacker, Cracker & Geek Speak,” and rounds up the 10 top cities in the world that have been Googling for porn. (Birmingham in England has the collectively dirtiest mind.) Why this guy rejected GQ’s Man of the Year award is beyond us, but you can delight in his fanatical love for ephemera when he reads tonight at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge | 6 pm | $3 | 800.542.READ.