Ig Nobel Prizes: V. 2 [Hardcover]

Marc Abrahams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

The Ig Nobel Prizes make people laugh, and then make them think. Included in this new edition are: the Dutch scientist who investigated homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks, the Swedish team that looked into chickens' preferences in humans, and the man who made it possible for someone to rent the entire country of Liechtenstein for corporate events. Sometimes, as in the latter case, Ig Nobel Prizes could not be awarded without the entire nation getting behind the researchers. As before, there is an irresistible blend of serious science and complete incredulity at the way the human quest for knowledge takes us into ever more obscure areas of research.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Each year, the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research awards 10 Ig Nobel prizes to assorted scientists, professors and ordinary folk for their projects and accomplishments, some of which are "commendable-if perhaps goofy," and others simply baffling. Written by AIR editor Abrahams, this book entertainingly immortalizes dubious, but real, endeavors, such as the study of electric shock treatment's effects on rattlesnake bites; the proposition (from a Maharishi Univeristy faculty member) that meditation would reduce violent crime in Washington, DC; and the British Royal Navy's budget-driven directive to have its sailors shout "Bang!" instead of using live cannon shells. A list of past winners reveals that in 1991, Dan Quayle was honored with an Education Ig Nobel "for demonstrating, better than anyone else, the need for science education," and that in 1992, former L.A. police chief Daryl Gates (who was forced to resign in the wake of the Rodney King beating) was awarded a Peace Ig Nobel "for his uniquely compelling methods of bringing people together." Abrahams also describes the annual ceremony to honor these awardees-where Nobel Laureates are invited to bestow the prizes, paper airplanes are tossed from audience to stage and back, and 30-second limits on lectures are enforced by baseball umps ("Anyone who exceeded the time limit was thrown off the stage. This proved popular with the audience")-which has become a surprise hit. This is a delightfully weird little volume for those with an irreverent attitude toward accomplishment.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

So funny you couldn’t make it up. (The Washington Post) A brainy bacchanalian. (USA Today) The world’s most (un)coveted award. (Journal of the American Medical Association) Marc Abrahams offers amusing anecdotes to make readers cackle and chortle, and perhaps even scratch their heads and think. (BookPage) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752868462
• ISBN-13: 978-0752868462
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,065,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science can be funny, September 26, 2003

By 

Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ig Nobel Prizes: The Annals of Improbable Research (Hardcover)

This book brings together two areas of human endeavor that don't normally go together: science and humor. The Ig Nobel Awards (actually held every year at Harvard University) honor those achievements which "cannot or should not be reproduced."

Did you know that elevator music may help prevent the common cold? Companies like Enron, Global Crossing, Tyco, Waste Management and WorldCom shared an award for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world. A man from Lithuania created an amusement park called Stalin World. To save money, the British Royal Navy has barred trainees at its top gunnery school from firing live shells and ordered them to shout "bang." It has been determined that, biochemically, romantic love may be indistinguishable from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. A college professor from Pennsylvania fed prozac to clams (at the cellular level, clams and humans show remarkable nervous system similarities), resulting in a whole lot of reproducing going on. A man from France is the only winner of two Ig Nobels, for demonstrating that water has a memory, and that the information can be transmitted over the phone and the Internet.

Then there are the "classics," like the scientific investigation of why toast often falls on the buttered side; an Australian man who patented the wheel, and the Australian Patent Office who granted it; a man from Arizona who invented software that detcts when a cat is walking across your keyboard; the Southern Baptist Church of Alabama for their county-by-county estimate of how many Alabama citizens will go to hell if they don't repent; the sociology of Canadian donut shops, and the optimal way to dunk a biscuit. Last but not least, a solution has been found to the age-old problem of how to quickly start a barbecue. It can be done in less than four seconds with charcoal - and liquid oxygen.

This book is hilarious. It's humor of a slightly more highbrow variety, designed to make people laugh, then think. It's highly recommended for everyone, even those who think that they hate science.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silly Science (& Some Serious Stuff), April 27, 2005

By 

Kent Ponder (Albuquerque., NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ig Nobel Prizes: The Annals of Improbable Research (Hardcover)

Virtually all of the topics treated are a hoot to read, though this sometimes owes more to the comedic skill of the writers than the to the nature of each subject itself.
Case in point: Because of the tall coconut tree in our backyard in Kahuku, Hawaii, the first topic I read was the study of the physics of falling coconuts, finding it humorously presented while still of serious importance. Most people, not living near coconut trees, and even some natives in the tropics, seem not to take falling coconuts seriously, but one fell from our tree, rolled down one of the long leaves, carrying it far enough from the tree to leave an 8" diameter hole in the roof of a sturdy gazebo, which could just as easily have been our neighbor's shed (or head).
To me, one of the more interesting accounts was of Dr. Cecil Jacobsen, a noted fertility researcher with whom I attended church for years in northern Virginia, who had decided to use his own sperm to impregnate many dozens of women, while telling them the semen was from other anonymous donors. The IgNobel Prize given to Dr. Jacobsen may not have seemed humorous to Cecil or his unwitting sperm recipients.
You'll find a treasure trove of wacky and fascinating matters wittily presented in this collection, and you'll probably find yourself reading it aloud to your friends and watching them crack up (or maybe just watching their jaws drop). Some of the material is appropriate for all ages. (My 10-year-old grandson loved the study of Nosepicking Among Adolescents.)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great idea, executed with mediocrity, September 9, 2007

By 

Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ig Nobel Prizes: V. 2 (Hardcover)

This book is full of really great, really funny (mostly) scientific studies--but not all the way through. At times, it's quirky and hilarious; at others, it's just kind of there.

Most of the stories are interesting, but the writing's not that great and gets in the way of it all sometimes. It's loaded with clumsy epimone, erratic spacing, and a rampant glazing over of facts.

Then there's the appendix that lists all of the winners of past Ig Nobel Prize ceremonies, most of which were funnier-sounding than many of the ones that the book explored more fully.

I'm glad I read this, but I don't think it's a five-star book--or even a four-star one.