The Last Word: Questions and Answers from the Popular Column on Everyday Science (New Scientist) (Vol 1) [Paperback]

Mick O'Hare (Editor), Spike Gerrell (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 1999

Why is the sky blue? Does it really get warmer when it snows? Why doesn't superglue stick to the inside of the tube? How is it possible to uncork a bottle by hitting the bottom? Can you drive through a rainbow? Why does soap make bubblebath collapse?

The leading English language science weekly, The New Scientist, runs a popular column, "The Last Word," that invites readers to write in with inquiries about everyday scientific phenomena. Providing a selection of the most interesting questions and answers from the column, this book covers a wide range of subjects, from plants and animals to the human body and gadgets and inventions. Fun and informative, it is fascinating reading for anyone who has ever found themselves asking these kinds of questions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The New Scientist is the leading English language science weekly, selling over 120,000 copies through its UK and Australian editions. It now publishes on the Internet through its website Planet Science. "The Last Word" is one of the most popular columns in the magazine, receiving about 200 letters a week.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (February 18, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192861999
• ISBN-13: 978-0192861993
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,836,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Answers to life's little (scientific) mysteries, February 15, 2001

By 

Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Word: Questions and Answers from the Popular Column on Everyday Science (New Scientist) (Vol 1) (Paperback)

New Scientist is one of the best science magazines available, and "The Last Word" is its most popular section.

As it says in the introduction, there are big mysteries and little mysteries. This book is devoted to the little mysteries, as celebrated in New Scientist magazine's "The Last Word" column, where readers send in their questions and other readers answer. So here you can find out things from why the sky is blue to why ice cubes have little bubbles toward the middle to why fingertips wrinkle when they've been in water too long. I was particularly interested to learn that hot water really does freeze faster than cold water (and why), something I had regarded as an urban legend. Interesting reading and probably a great bathroom book.

4.0 out of 5 stars great for browsing, November 16, 2011

By 

sally tarbox (aylesbury bucks uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Word: Questions and Answers from the Popular Column on Everyday Science (New Scientist) (Vol 1) (Paperback)

A random selection of readers' questions to New Scientist magazine together with other readers' responses. I found a number of everyday queries to which I had long lacked an answer: why do onions make your eyes water? If heat rises how come it's cold on top of a mountain? Plus others which had never occurred to me before: why is a mirror image back to front but not upside down? If the moon's just a bit of rock how come it's perfectly round?