Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Ask

I bought this as a present for a friend, he was delighted with it. A great present for a guy (or anyone)who likes interesting and curious facts.

I've always been a fan of trivia books -- you know, those books that are full of factoids and/or short bits of knowledge. They often have a problem though -- they tend to run a lot of items without fact checking. The question-and-answer type (as exemplified by David Feldman and Cecil Adams) tend to be better-researched, since they're more than just factoids. This is one of the latter kind, and then some. Many of the questions in this book (culled from the Last Word column in New Scientist Magazine) are distinctly weird -- questions about convection currents in liqueurs, decomposition of a guinea pig corpse, and the use of bromide as an anaphrodisiac all come up, along with a great many others. The interesting thing is the answers -- quite a lot of them are written by multiple contributors, allowing the reader to get different perspectives on an answer. So if you're into q & a trivia books, get this one. There's quite a lot to learn, and you'll even get some understanding about how scientists disagree.

This book is great if you're the type who doesn't accept the "status quo" answer to questions. If you don't accept something because everyone else does, but you investigate it and like to know more about the why's behind the what's, you'll love this book. I've read it twice. Once through wasn't enough because I can use these explanations analogistically in my keynotes and other speaking engagements. Great book! Tom Carpenter

A friend sent me the European version of this book for Xmas and I was blown away. How much does your head weigh? Why is snot green? This book not only provides factual, scientificaly proven answers to these questions but also is a fun and page-turning read. New Scientist is a great Brit publication so you know that the answers have real authority. A perfect gift for friends and also a fun way to introduce kids to science.

Why has nobody reviewed this book yet? It's wonderful. Regular subscribers to New Scientist magazine may recognize some memorable questions and answers from the "Last Word" section that closes each issue. These are great books for parents who don't want to cop out and give a BS answer when their child asks them "Why is the sky blue?" (hint: it's due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, whereby blue wavelengths of visible light are scattered in all directions by high-altitude atmospheric particles. It's the same phenomenon, though in a slightly different aspect, that causes reddish sunrises and sunsets.) Highly recommended.