Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1497 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-05
• Binding: Paperback
• 236 pages

Daily Express
'a fascinating mix of the baffling, ridiculous and trivial...
answers the scientific questions you never got round to asking'

Independent on Sunday
'at last, the mysteries of the world are explained... the book
everyone is talking about'

BBC Radio 5 Live
'Extraordinary book... responsible for putting popular science
back on its feet'

Customer Reviews

Cop Out
The book is an assemblage of good answers to some good questions.

So why didn't I enjoy it?

I think because in keeping faith with the contributors of answers, several answers to one question are included and a lot of each answer is the same, though expressed slightly differently.

So it would have been better (to my way of thinking) to include each contributor's answer ONLY as far as it added to a previous answer.

Certainly make for a better read.

No, it's not because they wear a tuxedo
I wasn't sure about this book, but then I bought DO ANTS HAVE ARSEHOLES? And laughed myself silly. This book is on the same scale.

The book contains questions we've all wondered about, but were afraid to ask. And here they are. With the answers. The great thing about WHY DON'T PENGUINS' FEET FREEZE is that it can be read by adults and children. PG rating. The ideas range from history to physics, to chemistry and strophysics, so you won't be bored, but neither will you be overwhelmed. For other great books, I'd reommend DON'T STOP ME NOW and the book DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUORY by David Sedaris.

Good compilation of facts
This book is a collection of questions asked, and answered, by readers of 'New Scientist' magazine. If you've never read the magazine, the questions are fairly light-hearted and vary a lot in content. Paraphrasing, examples are 'Why are windows in ships round?', 'What is the diameter of a lightning bolt?', 'Do the living outnumber the dead?' and 'Would polar bears and penguins survived if they swapped poles?'.

The answers are often quite detailed in their replies, or require some level of scientific knowledge, but can be quite entertaining. I've got a reasonable scientific background and got the idea most of the time, but I certainly didn't understand everything as some of the answers contain a lot of jargon and specialised knowledge can help. Obviously the editor has picked some good examples, so the quality of the book is generally pretty good. My only real complaint has been raised by other reviewers - some of the replies aren't really answers, they're more like educated guesses, and sometimes they contradict one another. In a way that adds to the charm as the book doesn't take itself too seriously.

A good book if you want to learn something but don't want to think to hard while you're doing it.