Customer Reviews

Ever Wonder Why?

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

This book really is great! I have never before had a book that every single member of my family actually fights over!! My little brother, my big sister, my mom, and my dad:every single one of us loves this book! It has taught me so many great facts! I even was awarded a free bottle of champagne on an airplane recently thanks to this book: a woman had a nose bleed the whole flight and this book explained how nose bleeds can be reduced or stopped by putting an ice pack on the back of your neck, and guess what it worked!! On top of that, once we reached our destination, all the people in our tour group would beg me to read excerpts of this book to them and the people in our tour group came from all over the world, from England to Gautemala- almost every single one of them wanted to purchase this book by the end of our trip! If you are considering purchasing this book..do it! I promise you will not regret it-this book is way too great to pass up!

I found this little book full of information. I now give this book out as gifts to friends and they love it too!!! I hope a new one will come out for me to wonder even less.

Very interesting book but it was surprisingly small. I've bought other fact books and this one was filled with new outlooks and interesting answers such as "Why do we toast before drinking?" and "Why are tennis balls fuzzy?"
If you're looking for something like this try Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini and the book's sequel Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?: More Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Whiskey Sour. Another good one is 2201 Fascinating Facts: 2 Vols. in One.

The question "Why?" is the most difficult question to answer. Douglas B. Smith put together a compilation of more than 200 questions about everyday sayings and trends so people may not take them for granted. The word "piggybank", for example, did not originate with the pig, the farm animal that says "oink, oink", but the orange clay of old European dishes and cookware, called "pygg". Wedding and marital traditions are covered extensively, and so are nautical expressions. One example of the latter is the "devil", as in "there'll be the devil to pay" and "between the devil and the deep blue sea"; that is the hard-to-reach seam, below the waterline most of the time, on a ship built with wood. It is so good a read it even addresses the simple question that many children wonder, like "Why is the sky blue?"
This book even explains -- in the preface -- the origin of the preface, and contains an eight-page index. A "must read" for those who are curious about everyday phenomena. I also recommend the "Imponderables" series and "More Ever Wonder Why".

This is a great book! If you are a teacher, these are great items that you can tie into your lessons or present randomly to the kids to keep them from snoozin! I thought the topics were diverse and I couldn't put it down. Small, manageable, interesting, and thorough enough for my entertainment needs. Great selection of "why" topics.

A very handy book to keep in the bathroom and slim enough to keep in your bag or back pocket and whip out when you have a few moments or want to start a conversation with someone starting on an interesting fact. I recommend it and read it very quickly because i just couldn't put it down. Read it.

The book description sounded interesting, as did the small snippet I was able to read, however, once I received the book, I was very disappointed. I found at least 5 examples that I know FOR A FACT are incorrect. And that makes me wonder how many other of the examples are incorrect.
It's a very short book and a very quick read, but not a very reliable source.

If you like lists of random knowledge, or if you enjoy learning the reasons behind the everyday things we say or do, then you will enjoy this book. I got this book for my friend for his birthday. It was soon being passed around from person to person, each sharing their newly acquired trivial knowledge.