Do Fish Drink Water?: Puzzling and Improbable Questions and Answers - Softcover

McLain, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0688179088 ISBN 13: 9780688179083

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2000

Synopsis

Is it true that elephants are afraid of mice?
How much gold does the United States store in Fort Knox?
Why do I get a headache when I eat ice cream too fast?
How did the "seventh inning stretch" originate?

As the official webmaster for Xerox, Bill McLain was surprised by the kinds of questions he was receiving, like whether people born blind can see in their dreams and why rabbits are associated with Easter. McLain began to answer each and every question--attracting national attention from MSNBC, CNN, and People--and the result, collected in Do Fish Drink Water?, is a surprising, funny, and informative collection of facts. McLain's answers can often be as wild as the questions and prompt entertaining anecdotes about where he found them. McLain explains how magnets are made, what caused the Great Depression of 1922, and even explains why cats purr. Also included is an extensive list of websites where he conducts research, offering an informative guide to making the most of the Internet.

About this title

Review

"The legions who have dropped him a line have dubbed McLain...Prophet, Answer Dude, Webmeister, Guru of Locating' Unusual Informtion."--"San Jose Mercury News"A veritable Internet legend known for having all the answers."--"San Francisco Chronicle"A fun, fact-filled snack for the terminally informed." -- "Kirkus Reviews"Fascinating...often hilarious." -- "Library Journal

From the Author

Why I chose these questions for my book
Of the thousands of questions I’ve received as Xerox webmaster, I tried to choose those that were questions people often had but didn’t know who to ask (How much gold is stored in Fort Knox?, Why do they drive on the left-hand side of the road in England?, Why are rabbits and eggs associated with Easter?).

I also wanted to include questions that I thought were fun such as "What is the worlds fastest roller coaster?", "How many colors of M&Ms are there?", and "Did Thomas Crapper really invent the toilet?"

I also threw in a few of the bizarre questions I’ve been asked such as "What is the proper way to eat an Oreo cookie?", "How long would it take to vacuum the state of Ohio?", and "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

I also used a different format than most question & answer books.

First of all, I answer the question completly.

I then include a number of factoids related to the topic of the question.

Finally, I have a "Did you know?" section that has further information related to that topic.

For example, after answering the question "What is the difference between partly cloudy and partly sunny?", I have six factoids about weather and in the "Did you know?" section I describe the most amazing tornado on record.

All in all, I wanted to make a book that was not only informative, but fun to read as well.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0688179088
• ISBN 13: 9780688179083
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320