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Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, And Beyond (2012)

by Robert R. Provine(Favorite Author)

3.07 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0674048512 (ISBN13: 9780674048515)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Belknap Press

review 1: A potpourri of some of our automatic and overlooked quirks in human behavior. Yawning, laughing, crying, tearing, sneezing, hiccupping, expelling flatus, and a bit on behavior of fetuses. A lot of interesting factoids in this book for cocktail conversation and some insight into uniquely social and human aspects of ubiquitous behavior that is usually not noted. Most of this behavior that we dismiss as trivial does illustrate how deeply social our species is as a lot of it is used for signaling to others and some like yawns or laughter is actually contagious. A quirky book on human quirks.
review 2: **Nothing to sneeze at. (Including the explanation of why we sneeze.)**Now, how many other books out there have an entire chapter dedicated to farting and belching?Th... moreis book is truly one of a kind. In addition to farting and belching, other curious human behaviors such as yawning, laughing, hiccupping, coughing, tickling, itching, vomiting, crying, and tearing are explored like never before. A developmental neuroscientist, the author takes us on a tour of the evolutionary origins and communicative functions of our not-often-talked-about bodily functions. In his own words:“This book is full of sidewalk neuroscience, a scientific approach to everyday behavior based on simple observations and demonstrations that readers, even advanced grade-schoolers, can use to confirm, challenge, or extend the reported findings. Potential science fair projects as well as PhD dissertations are found in these pages...Piece by piece we collect parts of a scientific puzzle that, once assembled, will help us see the commonplace in new ways and reveal a perspective on human nature that was always hidden in plain sight.” (pp. 10-11)Besides providing you fascinating research-based explanations and insight into a collection of quirky human behaviors, this book will likely make you laugh along the way. The author’s dry, but engaging, sense of humor nicely complements the serious research. See for yourself:“My foray into fart science is a bit timid. The mere inclusion of the topic threatens to lower this book’s intellectual tone. A confluence of circumstances forced the subject on me…With tenure safely in hand, I forged ahead. What started as a playful acoustic analysis led to the quite serious consideration of why we speak through the mouth instead of the rectum. Along the way, I discovered a quirky and amusing literature that may elevate the status of the lowly fart as a topic is scientific discourse.” (p. 192)You might even amuse yourself while reading this book as you find yourself enacting the quirky behaviors as you read about them. (It’s hard not to yawn when reading vivid descriptions of people yawning and to refrain from scratching when reading about itch-producing stimuli and the scratches that so nicely soothe their skin-crawling effects.) If you’re curious about the uniquely human aspects of these quirky behaviors, you’ll likely be satisfied, entertained, and surprised by this book. And, equally likely, you’ll find that a sneeze/yawn/laugh/fart/belch will never again be just a sneeze/yawn/laugh/fart/belch. less

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