Scientific American's Ask the Experts: Answers to the Most Puzzling and Mind-Blowing Science Questions, by the editors of Scientific American

Retrieved from: DKLY
0060523360, 2003
Suggested by: me, the woman who can't resist trivia books
My Ratings: 9 Merit, 6 Interest, 4 Fun

Looking at that rating, it looks like this book is lousy, but that's why I made the scale the way it is. This is a great book with lots of very factual, easy-to-understand answers to some good science questions. I just am not that interested in a lot of the issues. One I skipped before I finished reading the question was "If we cannot see electrons and protons, or smaller particles such as quarks, how can we be sure they exist?" A good question, with, I'm sure, a clear answer, which I also didn't read.

BUT, I did read the bits about what I consider practical science: the origin of zero, how long can people survive without water or sleep (two separate questions), what makes spicy foods "hot," and why do hangovers occur. Obviously, this encompasses the gamut of questions. The best thing is that the people answering each individual question are specifically identified, with their qualifications listed as well. So the question about how long it is possible to go without sleep is answered appropriately enough, by J. Christian Gillin, Professor of Psychiatry at the Univesity of California at San Diego. [Guinness says officially 264 hours, by the way, but there are instances of people going months without real sleep, just micronaps--and hallucinations for an hour or so each night.]