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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting little book, March 17, 2009
This review is from: Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day (Hardcover)
About: Bentley goes through a hypothetical very bad day in which the science behind 34 mishaps is explained. Oversleeping, shaving cuts, bad milk, bird poop, skipping CDs, skin burns and hard drive crashes are examples of what's covered (good thing this bad day is hypothetical!)
Some Interesting Things I Learned:
* To remove chewing gum, try peanut butter or mayonnaise (the oils in them help the molecules in the gum slide off whatever they are stuck too). You can also try icing the gum to freeze it, and then break the frozen mass.
* NASA didn't spend millions of dollars to develop a "Space Pen," They bought them from Fisher. Most normal ballpoint pens will work in zero gravity anyway.
* If you eat something very spicy and want to cool down your mouth, drink milk. It's thought that the mix of casein and fat will wash away the capsaicin molecules that give chilies their spice. Milk chocolate and several types of beans and nuts are thought to have a similar effect.
* Cut yourself shaving? Don't dab the cut with a tissue, you'll just keep disrupting your platelets that are trying to heal the area. Instead, apply steady pressure.
* Anti-lock brakes leave dotted skids that look like ======= . Non-anti-lock brakes leave solid line skids.
Pros: Well-written with very interesting and varied topics. Short chapters make for easy pick-up reading.
Cons: No cites, no full bibliography provided. No real sum up, book just sort of ends.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A horrible day becomes a wonderful teaching example, August 7, 2009
This review is from: Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day (Hardcover)
Dr Bentley has crafted a light hearted, easy to read book that takes you through one of the worst days imaginable and then teaches you exactly what the science behind the event is. He details 39 bad events with great humor, which quickly draws you into the idea, and then he follows with a 5 to 10 page discourse on the science behind the event.
Our protagonist, a business man who should have really never left the bed in the morning, Goes through a sequence of events; none of them particularly horrid, but all very annoying. Each event, whether its a bee sting or eating dirt and glass, is used as a launching point for a discussion on such topics as to why the bee stings, how the teeth work, how the digestive system protects you and so on.
There are 39 chapters in the book, each contains a mini lesson. In general, the lessons are:
1) sleeping through the alarm
2) slipping on soap
3) cutting yourself shaving
4) toast on fire
5) exploding liquids
6) milk gone bad
7) wet mp3 player
8) bird droppings
9) forgotten bag
10) skidding on the road
11) diesel instead of gas
12) tripping on the curb
13) chewing gum in hair
14) rain soaked clothing
15) being lost
16) bee sting
17) sticking yourself with superglue
18) electromagnetic interference from phone
19) puncture
20) leaking pens
21) mistaken identity
22) torn clothing
23) opening an e-mail virus
24) jammed finger
25) computer hard disk failure
26) broken finger
27) dropping keys down the drain
28) pulled muscle
29) sparking microwave
30) broken glass
31) stains
32) chile pepper in the eye
33) food on the floor
34) lighning kills the tv
35) burns and blisters
36) scratched cd
37) broken tooth
38) stubbed toe
39) overflowing bath
The chapters are fairly self contained, so reading out of order won't detract. A truly fun read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly science I already knew, July 21, 2009
This review is from: Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day (Hardcover)
This is a neat little book about a really sad dude who has the worst day ever. Each chapter starts with something awful happening to him and then goes into the science behind why or how that happened.
Much of the science is something a person with any analytic background will already know. There is some new stuff, and I really liked the way it was presented.
The overall tone of the book had me thinking of some kind of british special that John Cleese might narrate - like the science behind beauty thing he did with that Hurley woman.
Overall, a very approachable book that explains the logic behind all the stuff that happens, and lets you explain way bad luck.
(*)>
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