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Title: Ever Wonder Why? by Douglas B. Smith ISBN: 0-449-14746-0 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: January, 1992 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 2 (2 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: A Real Letdown
Comment: When I was first given this book as a gift, I was quite excited. I am a trivia buff and the questions being answered in the book were really fun subjects. As I read, however, I quickly became suspicious. Why didn't the author allow virtually any room for multiple explanations of the origins of phrases and customs? How could he possibly have done the research required to answer all these questions thoroughly? Why did he seem to answer almost all questions with such certainty, even those with a brief explanation?
Doing some research of my own on a few questions (why is sidespin in pool called English, for example) and found that the author is often just passing on apocrophyl stories and urban legends. It seems as though mostly he researched perhaps one or two sources to answer each question.
Since getting to the bottom of urban legends and myths are what caused me to get so interested in trivia in the first place, I found this book a real letdown.
Rating: 3
Summary: One or two gems here and usually interesting
Comment: Smith answers a lot of questions that we forget to ask, like why is horse meat considered inedible (it is associated with pagan sacrifice, he says). There are some gems like why do we shake hands -- yes, its a gesture that we do not bear arms, but did you know the shaking was to shake out any concealed knives up the sleeve?
However, I dont know if he is very good on science. He says the sky is blue because the atmosphere scatters the blue light more than any other part of the spectrum, but then he says that sunsets are red because they scatter red light less than other colors. Not consistent, obviously.
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Title: Why You Say It : The Fascinating Stories Behind Over 600 Everyday Words and Phrases by Webb Garrison ISBN: 1558531289 Publisher: Rutledge Hill Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: 2,201 Fascinating Facts: 2 Vols. in One by David Louis ISBN: 0517395746 Publisher: Gramercy Pub. Date: 12 December, 1988 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Know It All!: The Fun Stuff You Never Learned in School by Ed Zotti ISBN: 0345362322 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: 1,001 Facts Somebody Screwed Up by Deane Jordan ISBN: 1563520648 Publisher: Longstreet Press Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0517065037 Publisher: Gramercy Pub. Date: 23 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $10.99 |
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