Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions - Softcover

Scientist, New

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416541462 ISBN 13: 9781416541462

Publisher: Atria Books, 2007

Synopsis

- What time is it at the North Pole?

- What's the chemical formula for a human being?

- Why do boomerangs come back?

- Why do flying fish fly?

- Do the living really outnumber the dead?

- Why does lightning fork?

- Why does the end of a whip crack?

Everyone has at one time or another thought up odd questions like these, questions that are strange, intriguing, maybe even impossible to answer. Making your morning omelet, perhaps you've wondered why most eggs are egg shaped. Or maybe, the last time you walked on the beach, you felt compelled to ask why the sea is salty. Watching Polly sit on her perch, have you ever marveled at how she stays there -- even when she's asleep? Well, the readers of New Scientist's wildly popular, long-running column "The Last Word" thought of these questions, too, and weren't afraid to ask them.

Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? is a brilliant collection of questions and answers for everyone who enjoyed the international, runaway bestseller Does Anything Eat Wasps? Guaranteed to amaze, inform, and delight with topics such as the human body, plants and animals, weird weather, and our wacky world, it'll stump you, enlighten you, entertain and amuse you.

About this title

Product Description:

Following the success of 'Does anything eat wasps?', this is a new collection of readers' answers to the questions in the 'Last Word' column of 'New Scientist'.

Review:

An ideal Christmas gift for lovers of the strange and baffling. (Publishing News)

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

They are the things we've all wondered about, from why we cry when we slice onions, to what makes our hair turn grey (Daily Mirror)

The answers to life's most perplexing questions ... at last, the mysteries of the world are explained ... the book everyone is talking about (Independent on Sunday)

[An] extraordinary book ... responsible for putting popular science back on its feet. (Radio 5 Live)

If you have ever wondered why hair turns grey, fingers get crinkled in the bath or if the Great Wall of China really is visible from space, Mick O'Hare has the answers. (CNN)

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1416541462
• ISBN 13: 9781416541462
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224