Leslie Gilbert Elman

This book might be retitled with the more equivocal "Weird or not so Weird But True or Maybe Just Probably or Even Possibly True Speculations." Some of the books "facts" are even stated as only "possible." For example, "facts" having to do with psychology such as why we hate fingernails clawing a chalkboard might have to do with primate evolution, but the book cannot and does not say that this is a fact. There is a phenomenon called "New Science" that interprets everything in terms of unproven evolutionary origins. This book falls prey to that kind of thinking. Believe me, we should beware of "New Science" because the Old Science is still the best. New Science seems to be trendy pop science that validates trendy pop prejudices.

This book is entertaining reading for bedtime or commode-time. One "fact" leads to the next by association. If one item incidentally introduces the topic of water, the next item might focus on some factoid having to do with water, and so on. Read one after another, the great danger is that your head will be filled with this tripe and yet you will not consciously remember any of the items.

While entertaining at the time I read it, I can't help feeling as if I have been reading the literary equivalent of empty calories.… (mer)