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Why Can't Elephants Jump And 113 Other Science Questions Answered (2010)

by New Scientist(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1846684897 (ISBN13: 9781846684890)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Profile Books

review 1: This is the third book in a series by the editors at New Scientist magazine. The magazine is divided into sections and is answered by a variety of people--some questions have many answers and it's almost like following blog posts on the computer.It is unclear who is answering some of the questions---researchers, scientists or general readers. It seems more like random readers of their blog so I'm not sure how much credibility I can give to their answers and many answers seem to even contradict one another.Anyone who reads trivia bokks (and this is just one trivia tidbit after another) know the pitfalls and pleasures of reading this genre. It is a book to read over time, not one to read at one sitting. Pick it up and put it down at your leisure. Overall, interesting sc... moreientific questions; questionable answers.
review 2: Being a trivia buff, I'm always drawn to books with questions like these. This one is unique in that it is a compilation of questions from real readers of New Scientist magazine and the answers are given by readers as well (hopefully, ones who know something about the topic). I love the range of inquiries over everything from bodily functions. But, the informality (and sometimes incongruity) of the answers makes me lack confidence in their validity, and more than once I found myself questioning the purpose of even reading it because of that. I think I would have rather the editors had taken it one step further and instead of publishing the exact letters received for the answers, to sum up the best answers as they see them. It began to become tedious to read 2 or 3 answers to each question. It would have been nice to include imperial versions of the metric units given in the answers for all the American readers who aren't as familiar with meters and Celsius - I'm a scientist and I still had to pause and try to put things into perspective. Overall, an informative and sometimes entertaining book, but I prefer the more succinct style of the similar books such as Why Do Men Have Nipples? and When Do Fish Sleep?. less

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