Ever Wonder Why?
by Douglas B. Smith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Douglas B. SmithEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-11-24
ISBN: 0449147460
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Fawcett
Book Reviews of Ever Wonder Why?
Book Review: A Real Letdown
Summary: 1 Stars
When I was first given this book as a gift, I was quite excited. I am a trivia buff and the questions being answered in the book were really fun subjects. As I read, however, I quickly became suspicious. Why didn't the author allow virtually any room for multiple explanations of the origins of phrases and customs? How could he possibly have done the research required to answer all these questions thoroughly? Why did he seem to answer almost all questions with such certainty, even those with a brief explanation?Doing some research of my own on a few questions (why is sidespin in pool called English, for example) and found that the author is often just passing on apocrophyl stories and urban legends. It seems as though mostly he researched perhaps one or two sources to answer each question.
Since getting to the bottom of urban legends and myths are what caused me to get so interested in trivia in the first place, I found this book a real letdown.
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