Do Penguins Have Knees? [Paperback]

David Feldman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Imponderables | Publication Date: August 3, 1992

The fifth book in the Imponderables series that answers questions about everyday life for which encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have the answers.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- Highly readable questions and answers explaining the unusual and heretofore unanswered questions of life. Researchers can use the index to locate specific information and browsers can just enjoy. Creative illustrations further entice, interest, and tickle the funnybone. Readers are invited to submit new imponderables or to assist in solving ``frustables.''
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is the sixth in a series of "Imponderables" books by Feldman. Most questions in this volume have been posed by readers of the previous volumes, and the author asks his reading public to submit questions for future books. Experts in the various fields are either quoted or paraphrased in the answer along with commentary from the author. The final section of the book is devoted to "Frustables" (unanswerable "imponderables")--new, updated, and those that "will not die." The index is thorough and useful; however, reference librarians would find a cumulative index extremely helpful. Buy if you have the other titles or for browsing and YA collections.
- Paula M. Zieselman, Fulbright & Jaworski, New York
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (August 3, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006092327X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060923273
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even someone who hasn't read a book in years will like this one., December 3, 2006

By 

J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do Penguins Have Knees? An Imponderables Book (Paperback)

Feldman keeps producing these books of imponderables;and they just keep
getting better all the time. His books just go on asking questions and producing answers about those unlimited number of things we've all wondered about,and even many that we have come to accept as "that's just the way it is". Feldman encourages his readers to send in their own imponderables to answer ;much in the same way that Allan Funt did with Practical Jokes on "Candid Camera " and Robert Ripley did with his Oddities with his "Believe It or Not". I have been a fan of this sort of thing and their "stuff" has intrigued the curious,entertained the joker in us all and amazed all who are surprised to see the rare or unbelievable.
This is the type of book that can be left hanging around, and anybody who picks it up will become engrossed in it in no time at all.Many of the imponderables you'll read about are not earth shattering,won't make much difference in your life,but nevertheless grab your interest and provide enjoyable pastime entertainment.Maybe the time spent waiting at the Dentist's,Doctor's ,Barbers or any other waiting room would be a little less painful if books like this were available rather than those awful magazines.
Who wouldn't be interested in questions like these?

"Why do straws in drinks sometimes sink and sometimes rise to the
surface?"

"Why is Rhode Island called an island when it obviuosly isn't an
island."

"How did they keep beer cold in the saloons of the Old West?"

"Why are 25-watt light bulbs more expensive than 60-,75-,and 100-watt
bulbs?"

"Why do hospital gowns tie in the back?"

"What causes the green-tinged potato chips we sometimes find? Are they
safe to eat?"

And how about thisimponderable that never seems to die?

"Why are so many restaurants,especially diners and coffee
shops,obsessed with mating Ketchup bottles at the end of the day?
Believe It or Not,it prevents Explosions! Thats right!;you'll find out why,right here in this book!

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For thsoe that have a thrist for odd bits of strange triva, January 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Do Penguins Have Knees? (Paperback)

With this book anyone should be able to stop those silly questions that run around the world wild. I greatly enjoy it and pop it open again and again whenever I run into a person that asks questions like "Why do coupons have 1/100 of a cent value"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feldman does it again!, July 23, 2006

By 

Dinakar Sarma "Dino" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Do Penguins Have Knees? An Imponderables Book (Paperback)

As a kid, asking inumerable "stupid" questions was sure to get a weary "Go look it up" from a parent. Unfortunately, as a kid, I didn't have the innumerable resources at the fingertips of the Imponderables crew. As always, David Feldman and his team of information hunters have compiled questions from all over, some of which kept me going until I read the answer!

If you want to have an interesting afternoon while it's raining outside, get together some friends. Open up the book to a random page. Read out the question on that page, and have everyone come up with what they think the answer is. Then, read out the answer, and see who came close (or even spot on!). You'll be surprised (sometimes) to see some of the answers that your friends came up with be popular urban legends, which Feldman goes on to discredit.

Imponderables books are a riot for pleasure reading, or in large groups of people!