Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Ask [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

New Scientist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2006

• How fat do you have to be to become bulletproof?

• Why do people have eyebrows?

• Why do pineapples have spines?

• How much does a head weigh?

• What affects the color of earwax?

• How quickly could I turn into a fossil?

Have you ever thought up a question so completely off-the-wall, so seemingly ridiculous, that you couldn't even find the courage to ask it? Maybe at the sports bar you were transported by the beauty of your beer to wonder, "How long could I live on beer alone?" Or, cycling through the park, you mused, "Did nature invent any wheels?" Or looking up at the night sky, you had a moment of angst, "What would happen if the moon suddenly disappeared -- if it were vaporized or stolen by aliens?"

Full of fun factlets, Does Anything Eat Wasps? is a runaway bestseller around the world. It celebrates the weird and wacky questions -- some trivial, some baffling, all unique -- and their multiple answers culled from "The Last Word," a long-running column in the internationally popular science magazine, New Scientist. Tackling the imponderables of everyday life, sparkling with humor, and bursting with delightful erudition, Does Anything Eat Wasps? is irresistibly entertaining and utterly engrossing.

So, go on. Put away your lab coat and your pencil -- science is fun again.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

New Scientist is a science magazine for everyone, young and old, amateur and professional. With a circulation approaching 160,000 and a worldwide readership of more than half a million, it is among the most popular of all popular science magazines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; Original edition (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743297261
• ASIN: B0013L4DSK
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #712,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NewScientist Readers Give Answers to Questions You May or May Not Have Thought of Before, May 4, 2007

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Ask (Paperback)

There are many informative interesting fact books out there, what makes this one different from the rest is that they haven't actually gone and found experts to find out what the actual answers are, instead readers of popular magazine NewScientist (and granted some of these are scientists, lecturers and others who would know what they are talking about, but a lot are just every day people as well) have answered questions pondered by other readers. This book is a collection of a column that appears in each addition of the magazine. So it is comparable to logging onto a forum on Yahoo or somewhere else where questions are posted by one users for anyone else to answer, the answerer may be 100 per cent right then again the again they may be a hundred percent wrong. You could also compare this book to when researching a fact going online to Wikipedia where anything can be posted as fact, instead of looking up an actual encyclopaedia or specific topic research book.

If you like visiting these types of websites, and can take every answer with a grain of salt as they say, then this may well be the book for you. If you actually want answers you know are true to interesting questions or books of facts then there are far better alternatives out there such as Do Blue Bedsheets Bring Babies?: The Truth Behind Old Wives' Tales, Great Mythconceptions: The Science Behind the Myths, Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S. and Shocking Science to name just four examples.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for kids and adults, March 30, 2006

By 

Ted Dunning - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Ask (Paperback)

Why has nobody reviewed this book yet? It's wonderful. Regular subscribers to New Scientist magazine may recognize some memorable questions and answers from the "Last Word" section that closes each issue. These are great books for parents who don't want to cop out and give a BS answer when their child asks them "Why is the sky blue?" (hint: it's due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, whereby blue wavelengths of visible light are scattered in all directions by high-altitude atmospheric particles. It's the same phenomenon, though in a slightly different aspect, that causes reddish sunrises and sunsets.) Highly recommended.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read for anyone that ever wondered why, April 5, 2006

By 

Digbeth D'Marriotti - See all my reviews

This review is from: Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Ask (Paperback)

A friend sent me the European version of this book for Xmas and I was blown away. How much does your head weigh? Why is snot green? This book not only provides factual, scientificaly proven answers to these questions but also is a fun and page-turning read. New Scientist is a great Brit publication so you know that the answers have real authority.

A perfect gift for friends and also a fun way to introduce kids to science.