Presidents' favorite books
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Presidents' Favorite Books — Daily trivia Tuesday, August 4, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Which American president wrote to an actor that 'nothing equals Macbeth'?
- AJohn Adams
- BUlysses S. Grant
- CTheodore Roosevelt
- DAbraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln. His private letter to James Hackett reached the newspapers, and Lincoln wrote back that he had 'endured a great deal of ridicule' through life.
Q 02Who wrote the spy thriller whose sales soared after a Life article listed it among JFK's ten favourite books?
- AJohn le Carre
- BIan Fleming
- CGraham Greene
- DLen Deighton
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Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming. The book was From Russia, with Love, and the presidential nod made Fleming the biggest-selling crime writer in the US.
Q 03Which US president gave Harper Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
- ABill Clinton
- BGeorge W. Bush
- CBarack Obama
- DJimmy Carter
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George W. Bush
George W. Bush. In his tribute he told the audience that Lee, before To Kill a Mockingbird, had worked as an airline reservation clerk.
Q 04Which novel, given to him at 11 by his mother, did Reagan say led him to be baptised?
- ABen-Hur
- BThe Pilgrim's Progress
- CThat Printer of Udell's
- DLittle Lord Fauntleroy
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That Printer of Udell's
That Printer of Udell's. Harold Bell Wright, a minister turned novelist, wrote it about a penniless young man whose new faith leads him to help the poor.
Q 05Which 85 essays appeared in New York newspapers under the pen name 'Publius'?
- AThe Federalist Papers
- BThe Rights of Man
- CDemocracy in America
- DCommon Sense
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The Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers. Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote them to win New York's vote for the Constitution, and Madison later became president.
Q 06Which Roman emperor's private reflections have been admired by many leaders, including Bill Clinton?
- ANero
- BAugustus
- CMarcus Aurelius
- DHadrian
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Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius. His Meditations were notes to himself, yet China's premier Wen Jiabao said he had read them a hundred times.
Q 07Which English philosopher did Thomas Jefferson rank among 'the three greatest men that have ever lived'?
- AThomas Hobbes
- BJohn Locke
- CDavid Hume
- DJeremy Bentham
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John Locke
John Locke. Jefferson paired him with Bacon and Newton, and Locke's phrase 'a long train of abuses' reappears in the Declaration of Independence.
Q 08What were the books Theodore Roosevelt took on his African safari bound in?
- APigskin
- BSailcloth
- CZebra hide
- DTin
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Pigskin
Pigskin. Roosevelt called it his 'pigskin library', and a single porter carried the books in one light aluminium-and-oilcloth case.
Q 09The publishers who gave US troops 122 million free paperbacks in WWII called books what?
- AThe soldier's second rifle
- BWeapons in the war of ideas
- CA furlough between covers
- DThe quiet front line
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Weapons in the war of ideas
Weapons in the war of ideas. Printed on idle magazine presses for about six cents a copy, the books came out wider than they were tall.
Q 10Which future president and his wife produced the first English translation of Agricola's mining text De re metallica?
- AWoodrow Wilson
- BHerbert Hoover
- CCalvin Coolidge
- DJimmy Carter
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Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover. He was a mining engineer and Lou Henry Hoover a geologist and Latinist, and their footnotes wrestle with the several hundred Latin terms Agricola invented.
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