Customer Reviews

Scientific American's Ask the Experts: Answers to The Most Puzzling and Mind-Blowing Science Questions

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I usually like books like this, with questions that many people ask themselves and simple, to-the-point answers. Unfortunately, this book isn't all that great. First of all, many of the people who supply answers tend to present theories as facts. Secondly, the answers aren't always quite as concise and to-the-point as one would like. For example, should it really take two pages to say that we just don't know if dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded? Questions for which we have no answer probably would have been better off edited out of this book. Then there are the occasional answers that wander around all over the place without really answering the question. Overall, a pretty disappointing reading experience.

...It lacks good interpretation. Don't get me wrong, they did great coming out with this book. Nice quesions that even myself had a thought about here and there. Even old wives tales are explained in this book. But, Some questions can confuse the average person, especially if his career doesn't involve any science backround. But from the little hard-to-understand statements in some questions/answers, it's a great book to have for those questions you never thought about.

It you are not interested in science and only looking for brain candy then do not bother. This is a fine introduction to some of the important subjects in the wild world of science.

I first got this book from the library because I'm a curious lad. I took it out and just randomly opened it. The questions inside are great, and really make you wonder about the world and what science holds. I was immediately immersed in the book, and its great explanations.

Furthermore, if you want to know A LOT about any one question, you're better off starting in this book, and then looking somewhere else. Its a short book and can only provide 1-2 pages of explanations for puzzling questions that you actually want to know about. What I mean, when you look at the questions you'll think "Woah...what is that..." and read on.

Great book, if you can get it for 5 bucks, go for it and learn something.

The first thing I learned from the book was that the Appendix does have a use, its pretty serious too. Buy the book to see how!

Why isn't Pluto a planet? What causes a meteor shower? Why are planets round? Why is the night sky dark? Why do computers crash?

>>> If these are interesting to you, this book has the answers. Mostly boring though. There were a few gems: Why do men have nipples? (No disadvantage, so no selection pressure against them). What is the origin of zero? How does a flame behave in zero gravity? (It goes out from lack of oxygen, from lack of convection.)

As I write this, this book is available for $0.43 from the used resellers, with 9 copies available for under $1. That's more that this book is worth to me.