Customer Reviews

The Browser's Book of Beginnings: Origins of Everything Under, and Including, the Sun

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This is the first of Panati's series of six origins book and the most encyclopedic in scope. Newsday called it "The last word on the first of everything," and The New Yorker said "Panati is fearless, far-reaching, formidable, and, when it pleases him, frivolous." The Boston Globe states "The thing is fun...a weapon for stumping supercilious experts." These six origins books will soon be the basis for a TV series, "In The Beginning..." Panati will write the series and may serve as on-camera host.

That croissant you ate this morning--quick now--where did it come from? If you said France, then you are wrong. The meaning, "crescent," is, indeed, French; however, the roll itself is Viennese, made in honor of Austria's victorious stand against Turkey, whose flag holds a crescent. The point is that, when Austrians ate a croissant, they were "eating" their enemy.

Thus begins Charles Panati, writer and collector of information. In fact, his introduction is as informative and illuminating as the official chapters, arranged according to topic. He and a lady friend spent one whole day and evening challenging each other: Where did this come from? What's the story behind this? That day and those questions--many included here--set up the book's premise: a book of beginnings, origins.

The various topics include Creation, Sea Life, Land Life, Language, Writing, Beverages, Spices, Books, Civilization and Education, Man's Best Friends, Communications, Music, Art, Instruments, Medicine, Science, Sports and Games. In choosing his beginning, he chose, basically speaking, nothing: space with primordial matter that exploded.

The origin of sex is truly fascinating: single-celled bodies sought sex with its complementarity: bigger, stronger, nutrient richer. He explains which theory of language development holds most sway: the bow-wow theory, the pooh-pooh, the Yo-He-Ho, or the Sing-Song. Fascinating stuff! In case we forget, French, during the reign of Louis XIV, was "the world language" in literary, intellectual, and diplomatic uses. Voltaire, that erudite scamp, told the Prussian king that "eveyone at court spoke French and that German was used only to address soldiers and horses" (56). Unlike French, German has a still unknown intermediary between it and the parent language, Indo-European. (French derived from Latin.)

Ball-point pens were invented by the American inventor John H. Loud in 1888. The one who modernized it was Lazlo Biro, a Hungarian living in Argentina during World War II. Like humans, cats have a common ancestor, Cynodictis, from which they bifurcated into domestics and wildcats. Cats did not become man's pet until 5000 BC in Egypt, where they assumed legendary stature. "Whereas dogs quickly became man's best friend, cats almost immediately were worshiped as deities" (193). Hmmmmm...

Kabuki, a three-character word meaning Song, Dance, Skill, is a type of theatre distinctly Japanese. It was originated by a Buddhist priestess, Okuni, who wanted to spread Buddhist doctrine through theatrics. She combined pantomime, dancing, song, dialogue, and audience participation. Seem familiar? American playwrights tried these techniques in the 1960's, thinking they had created something new. Nope, Okuni, that early feminist began Kabuki in 16th century Japan (261-262).

My goodness, time to close and I have just begun. The Browser's Book of Beginnings: Origins of Everything Under, and Including, the Sun is really interesting. Read it and be the master of Trivial Pursuit, if you consider the content trivia. If you are a master reader, nothing is trivia and everything is added to the brain's storehouse. This book provides the fodder!

A fairly light read, which suits this sort of book. Somewhat similar to the Guinness Book of Records in that you can dive in at any point and you're sure to find something to interest and fascinate. Well suited to the sort of person that revels in trivia.

This book is perfect for those who are interested in finding out the origins of many things we take for granted. It is usefully organised into chapters about specific topics. The index allows you to look for topics that you want to find out more about. I am a Montessori Elementary teacher and this book will allow me to create stories about many topics that will spark an interest in the students. I can thoroughly recommend this book to other teachers and those who like to have the answers to questions that most haven't even thought about.