Do Fish Drink Water?: Puzzling And Improbable Questions And Answers [Hardcover]

Bill McLain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 1999

Spanning a spectrum from useful to bizarre to downright comical, this amusing, amazing Internet Q & A ranges form a language to geography to medicine to simply off the wall.As the official Webmaster for Xerox, Bill McLain is responsible for handling all mail from Xerox's external Web site. However, he was quickly surprised by the kinds of questions he was receiving, questions like whether people born blind can see in their dreams, where the lowest point on Earth is, and why rabbits are associated with Easter.

In a move that brought national attention from MSNBC, CNN, and People magazine, McLain began to answer each and every question he received. The result -- collected in Do Fish Drink Water? --is a surprising, funny, and informative collection of facts. McLain even explains the origin of the Christmas tree, what caused the Great Depression of 1929, and how to properly eat an Oreo cookie. He can even tell you why cats purr!

McLain's answers -- often as wild as the questions -- prompt entertaining anecdotes about where he found them, and how he's played a role in inventions, long-delayed reunions, and even a marriage or two. He also provides an extensive list of Web sites where he conducts research, offering an informative guide to making the most of the Internet.

Although fish do drink water, their primary method of obtaining fresh water is through osmosis. The water seeps into their body through tiny holes in their skin. Spanning a spectrum from useful to bizarre to downright comical, this amusing, amazing Internet Q & A ranges form a language to geography to medicine to simply off the wall.As the official Webmaster for Xerox, Bill McLain is responsible for handling all mail from Xerox's external Web site. However, he was quickly surprised by the kinds of questions he was receiving, questions like whether people born blind can see in their dreams, where the lowest point on Earth is, and why rabbits are associated with Easter.

In a move that brought national attention from MSNBC, CNN, and People magazine, McLain began to answer each and every question he received. The result -- collected in Do Fish Drink Water? --is a surprising, funny, and informative collection of facts. McLain even explains the origin of the Christmas tree, what caused the Great Depression of 1929, and how to properly eat an Oreo cookie. He can even tell you why cats purr!

McLain's answers -- often as wild as the questions -- prompt entertaining anecdotes about where he found them, and how he's played a role in inventions, long-delayed reunions, and even a marriage or two. He also provides an extensive list of Web sites where he conducts research, offering an informative guide to making the most of the Internet.

Although fish do drink water, their primary method of obtaining fresh water is through osmosis. The water seeps into their body through tiny holes in their skin.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Xerox web master McLain has compiled a fascinating, often hilarious list of questions submitted by the public to the Xerox web site and their supposed answers. The questions are divided into 20 categories, ranging from "Animal Kingdom" ("On a turkey, what is the name of that red thing that hangs down over the beak?") to "World" ("What are the seven wonders of the natural world?") to "Off the Wall" ("How long would it take to vacuum the state of Ohio?"). In addition to responding to these queries, McLain provides, at the end of each section, a list of between three and ten web sites that he recommends for further research. The "United States" section, for example, lists web sites for zip codes, the CIA, and the FBI as well as an online phone directory; the "Sports" section supplies URLs for the National Football League, major league baseball, and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In the last few pages, McLain also lists major web search engines and offers a few general tips. With the exception of the suggested web sites, this title is similar to David Feldman's "Imponderables" series. Unfortunately, like the books in Feldman's series, this volume also suffers from a reliability problem: although McLain's answers sound authoritative, he only infrequently provides their original source. (And a surprisingly large number of answers in each section cannot be found using the web sites McLain recommends.) While this book is entertaining and makes for enjoyable browsing, it is not an appropriate choice for most reference collections. Recommended only for larger public libraries with a demand for humorous trivia books.ALeah J. Sparks, Bowie P.L., MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A fun, fact-filled snack for the terminally informed. Who would ask or answer a question like, ``Do people who were born blind ever dream?'' The answer is, a Webmaster at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. And yes, blind people hear and feel in their dreams. In 20 chapters like Food, Music, Finance, Words, and including Odds and Ends and Off the Wall, McLain provides intriguing questions and answers along with subsections like Did You Know?, Factoids, and references to Web sites and Internet resources for further information (including Santas e-mail address). The many diverse facts are enlivened by the authors wit, so that the Sports question ``What is the difference between billiards, snooker, and pool?'' is followed by the parenthetic ``Are you waiting for a cue?'' Many of the Ripleys-type facts intend to astound more than stump, such as the printing of a $100,000 bill and the existence of a 12,000- year-old shrub. Other information challenges us to know why ``Geronimo'' is yelled before leaping (the chief escaped the cavalry with a daring jump) or why our keyboards are designed as they are (the T and H keys require different fingers to keep typewriters from jamming). Most of the challenges challenge, but we knew that green mailboxes arent for mailing. At least half of the book, however, is stuff we didnt want to know, such as that a Johnny Carson joke began a toilet-paper shortage, that theres a name on the US map 49 letters long, and that the nations favorite pizza topping is pepperoni. If going to the beach this August and being out of touch with our information overload makes you feel like a fish out water, then this is the book to take along. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (July 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688165125
• ISBN-13: 978-0688165123
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,683,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining and enjoyable excursion..., September 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Do Fish Drink Water?: Puzzling And Improbable Questions And Answers (Hardcover)

"Do Fish Drink Water?" is an entertaining journey through the world of questions, answers, and popular beliefs. Bill McLain, webmaster at Xerox PARC, provides some of the most unusual questions he has received about every topic imaginable, from the Wizard of OZ to the Coriolis effect and the green flash. He presents questions on history, science, folklore, and general trivia, with complete answers and entertaining facts. As an added benefit, the author also demonstrates how to find answers to those improbable questions. The reader can read a little, or a lot, although reading a little is like eating one potato chip. It's hard to stop at just one.

An ideal book for the inquisitive, McLain acts as a guide through a labryinth of seemingly unanswerable queries. The result is an entertaining and enjoyable excursion through fact and fiction. This is an ideal gift, especially for yourself.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light, interesting; decent compilation of fun facts/trivia, August 27, 2000

By 

J. Lizzi (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do Fish Drink Water?: Puzzling And Improbable Questions And Answers (Hardcover)

I can't imagine why so many people would contact Xerox for answers to strange questions, but author Bill McLain is the company's webmaster, and he sure does get lots of e-mail. This book, named after one of the questions received on the website, is a good, mildly entertaining compilation of "gee whiz" trivia and interesting historical facts.

The book's twenty chapters (History, Food, Language, Science, etc.) contain answers to 127 questions selected by Mr. McLain from website inquiries. While this number may seem small, each question has a response of several paragraphs, followed by related "Factoids," then several more paragraphs of "Did You Know?" trivia, which may or may not be worthwhile information depending on your interest level. Eloquent prose does not abound, but I found almost all of the topics in this book to be interesting enough for me to hope that the author tries it again with a second volume. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I wasn't as turned off by the goofy asides that follow the questions. The inclusion of dozens of websites pertaining to specialty topics was a BIG plus, in my opinion.

If you're a trivia buff, or just love to spend time reading about how everything got to be the way it is, I would recommend adding this book to your collection. However, there are others of its type that are more comprehensive, and perhaps more interesting. Be careful when cross-checking the answers with those found in other references: I found it a little disconcerting that they contained either different or more wide-ranging answers to similar questions (e.g., "mind your p's and q's"). Still, I'm glad Mr. McLain took the time to translate the fun aspects of his job into this enjoyable book.

[If I was the parent of a junior high or high school student, I'd buy this book as a gift. Worthwhile websites . . . hint, hint!]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun, educational and informative book., January 31, 2002

By 

Vinit Carpenter "j2eegeek.com/blog" (Brookfield, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do Fish Drink Water?: Puzzling and Improbable Questions and Answers (Paperback)

Do Fish Drink Water? The answer is yes, but it's mostly due to Osmosis. Did I just give away the ending of the book? No, rest assured. This book is a really funny and informative collection of facts that will answer all those questions that you always had. This book is written by Bill McLain who is the webmaster and Xerox and the book is a collection of questions he received. Now I am not sure why people were emailing the webmaster at Xerox to ask him about some of these things, but I am glad Bill collected all of those questions and put them in his book.

This is a really fun, educational book and a must-have.