History buffs, science students, lovers of popular culture, and natural-born detectives will plunge right into this ultimate guide for curious minds. It’s absolutely fascinating, with background on the origins of more than 300 modern phenomena, objects, sayings, stories, and superstitions that most people take for granted. Complete with humorous illustrations and easy-to-navigate chapters, the eye-opening explanations and amazing anecdotes reveal the truth behind the birth and brilliance of the brown paper bag; the 4,000-year history of toothpaste and its torrid past; and the reasons for the staying power of popular puzzles from Rubik’s Cube to sudoku. Find out why we have Nature to thank for Velcro, Valium, and the Guggenheim; why we get the blues and not the reds; and why Heinz has the Romans to thank for its saucy success. Guaranteed to absorb, amuse and delight, it’s also a great way to impress friends with your arcane knowledge!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste money on this cobbled together trivia.,
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This review is from: Origin of Everyday Things (Hardcover)
I bought the "Origin of Everyday Things", by Acton, Adams and Packer to read on a long international flight. I should have saved my money, as this cobbled together, badly-written trivia simply irritated me with its glib superficiality and made the flight even more uncomfortable than it need have been.
The 400+ everyday things covered in the book are arranged alphabetically, from Aerosol Can to Zipper. There is no list of contents, nor any index - hardly surprising in such an amateurish book. There are numerous black and white diagrams and pictures, but they are rarely informative and seem to serve little purpose other than to bulk the book out to 318 pages. There are numerous typographical errors. My first reaction after reading the book was that it had been complied from Google searches to make a quick buck, but if so, the three authors did a poor job. As an example, the entry on "Parachute" occupies little more than one page, and has a photo of an umbrella. A Google search on `invention of the parachute' throws up 851,000 references, and a quick scan of the first few gives far more interesting information and illustrations than what this shallow book contains. Another irritant in the book is that the authors often gloss over critical facets of a particular item. For example, the entry on Kool-Aid correctly describes the origin of this product as a mail order liquid drink concentrate, then goes on to say that its popularity soared after the maker had solved the problem of turning it into a lightweight powder. This is the crucial development and the most interesting part of the story, but the authors are completely silent about it. The writers adopt a lighthearted journalistic style. Describing the invention of tin cans, they say " when Nicholas Appert and Peter Durand developed the world's first tin can . . . they made a startling omission. They forgot to provide a way for people to open them." Yuk! yuk! Geddit?? The book might possibly interest a child or a credulous teenager for whom many of the items would be novel, but other readers would be better served by doing a Google search on any of the topics covered in this disappointing and irritating book. If you are determined to spend money, buy any one of the good DVD encyclopaedias instead.
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