Often, thinking seriously about outlandish problems is the only way to make progress in science. The rest of the time, it's hilarious. Marc Abrahams, the founder of the famous Ig Nobel prizes, offers an addictive, wryly funny expos of the oddest, most imaginative, and just plain improbable research from around the world. He looks into why books on ethics are more likely to get stolen and how randomly promoting people (rather than doing it based on...