Have you ever wondered what messages have been sent to aliens? Or how many times ‘ramen burgers’ was Googled in 2013?

We suspect you haven’t, but the answers to these quirky questions and more have been answered by a Farnham man and his colleagues in a fascinating new book.

Farnham author and journalist Rob Orchard will launch Misc alongside fellow compilers Christian Tate and Marcus Webb in the Lion & Lamb branch of Waterstones at 7pm on Thursday, October 17.

The book - published by Bloomsbury and released next Thursday - is billed as a “compendium of delightfully random facts” which have featured in the trio’s Delayed Gratification magazine over the last 14 years.

The magazine is the first dedicated to slow journalism.

The style has won admirers with its depth, accuracy, context analysis and expert opinion and its use of data and infographics to help tell the story, offering a contrast to fast-paced breaking news.