Customer Reviews

Father Knows Less Or: "Can I Cook My Sister?": One Dad's Quest to Answer His Son's Most Baffling Questions

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a really clever book. Wendell Jamieson wrote this book because his son Dean asked him questions all the time that he couldn't answer. Was was stumped all the time. Out of his own curiosity, he started researching these questions and here are the results.
Now these questions aren't all your typical questions we adults might ask each other; - it's definately the stuff of a childs mind. For example, one question is Why is the road always wet in car commercials (I never would have thought of that myself)? Wendell went to the experts for this and found out that because the car is the star of the commercial, you have to make it look as good as possible and on a dry road (which is a flat grey color) the car won't appear as good as a wet road which appears black. All the colors of the cars pop. Wendell makes sure that the answers are simple enough for kids to understand and learn from.
Working in pharmacy, I really love the question about why doctors have messy handwritting. That's hillarious. (answer; because doctors are impatient, and would rather spend their time with the patient helping them, then writting scripts).
This is such an enjoyable book for almost anyone (although it's definately geared for kids). There are so many things you would never have thought to ask in here, but after reading this, I found that I don't think I could have answered even half of these questions correctly at all. A very fun read.

This is an enjoyable book, especially for parents of young children. Some parts are funny, some educational and some show tender moments of discovery by a father and son learning from each other.

The book has an unusual format with author Wendell Jamieson mixing stories about his son, Dean, with attempts to answer the odd and offbeat questions of children. Jamieson collected questions from kids -- such as "When you have brain freeze, does you brain actually freeze?" or "Why is there war?" -- and got experts to answer them.

There's a bit of a hit and miss quality to the questions -- some are interesting and enlightening, some less so.

Jamieson's descriptions of raising his son will resonate with many parents. The anxiety that the author and his wife feel over Dean's early speech problems -- and their joy when he worked through the difficulties --- is the kind of thing that moms and dads will understand.

I also give the author points for honesty for describing how he lost his cool in an argument with his wife and broke the lock off their door.

"Why is the sky blue?" "Were Tyrannasaurus Rexes mean?" Kids ask a lot of questions. This book sets out to answer them. Divided into chapters by roughly by subject matter, this book covers questions about linguistics, sex, biology, physics, and more. While most questions are drawn from the author's own children and friends' children, some are posed by children whose parents found their way to his website.

A book like this runs the risk of preciousness (awwww, look at those cute things kids ask) and I can't say that the author avoided it. I do appreciate, however, that he didn't talk down to the kids, and went straight to the Experts. The author didn't shirk on experts, either, but lined up an impressive array of academics and policymakers who, in turn, didn't talk down either.

The main weakness of the book was the personal essays used to link each chapter to one another. While I appreciated the author trying to create a narrative link, I found them rather dull and self indulgent. The exception was the epilogue, which provided some necessary thoughtfulness and gravity.

All in all, this was a somewhat weightier "bathroom book". Easy, accessible snippets to be picked up and put down and not thought about in between reads.

While the questions in Jamieson's book are definitely fun, enlightining, and clever, it's the personal essays preceding each set of questions that really make this book enjoyable to read. Jamieson crafts a beautifully written, funny, smart, memoir of his own journey of re-discovering - and explaining - his childhood self through his journey as a father. In his search to find the answers to his son's questions, he also goes on a quest back into his own childhood, and the wonderment of that world. When you read the essays through like a memoir, you find gently recurring themes such as his relationship with his father, September 11, growing up in New York, and of course, parenthood shared with his wife. Each theme becomes its own character in the book - growing and changing alongside Jamieson.

I read the essays first, and now I am going back to all the questions and answers, which take on a different meaning now that I know more about Jamieson's life and why finding these answers were so important.
The book is less for kids, and more for those who like a well-written, entertaining, engaging, memoir that seeks to find answers on so many different levels.

Very funny book; very true to life; I can remember asking and answering many of the same & similar questions as a son 7 father. I think any Dad would get a kick out of receiving this book.

This is a great book with a lot of wonderful information written by experts. It is written in a way that we who are not scientists/techies can actually understand. My only complaint is that there is no index or major categories. Therefore you must read the whole book and remember the questions answered and where they are in the book. When the young child asks a question, you won't have the time to go thumbing through the whole thing to find the answer. I have written the author re this issue, but got no response.

Bright father's equally bright son peppers him with questions from the age of three. Father, passing on the opportunity to make up goofy answers, gets serious, real answers from experts in each field for his son and friend's and neighbors' and others' children as well. There are a lot of bright, inquisitive kids out there, a lot of facinating answers and very amusing stories in between. As charming as "Marley and Me" but funnier, and ultimately more interesting because it's about humans.

About: Answers to questions kids ask, such as "Why do you have girl hair?" (asked to a ponytailed uncle), "Why do doctors have bad hand writing?" and "Why did the Beatles break up?" (asked to Yoko Ono).

Pros: Well written. The kids' questions can be hilarious and the answers can be very interesting.

Cons: Jamieson has interludes between chapters where he either describes memories of his childhood or tell tales of making memories with his son. These sections are not as entertaining as the kids' questions and their answers. Although the questions are asked by kids, the answers are usually not written at their level, so those wanting something to read to children when they ask one of the questions, will likely be met by more puzzled looks.

Grade: B

This book is a lot of fun and interesting information presented in a very clever fashion. The expert replies are well written, clear and concise. But the most incredible part of the book are the questions. I am amazed at the insight from these little kids. Overall, a great read.

The beauty of this book is that all the questions come from children who have yet to take things for granted. As adults, I believe that most of us simply come to understand the world with a cool acceptance and think no more upon the matter. The questions are ingenius thoughts from inquisitive minds and it is fascinating to read the answers. One of my particular favorites are "Why are people ticklish, and why sometimes are they not ticklish?" The answer was a total surprise and a delightful insight in our human bodies.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading interesting but commonly unknown facts. This is a light read and can be read casually.