Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why toast lands butter-side down., 31 Jul 2006
Murphy's law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and specifically, that when it is knocked off the table, a piece of toast will always land butter side down. I for one have always taken this is one of the immutable facts of life, just like the inevitability of my football team returning to mediocrity, after brief sojourns into success. As far as the toast is concerned, there is a good explanation of this. It is all to do this the angle of rotation, and the height of the table.
Each chapter in this easy to read book tackles some item of everyday living, and either attempts to explain it, or to explore some of the points behind the topic. All chapters are self contained, with the odd cross-reference, and they are short - 24 chapters in just less than 200 pages. There is an eclectic mix of topics, with most covering items that I had not thought greatly about. The contents will make you think about how or why certain behaviour works. However, it is important to realise that it is not necessary to understand the whys and wherefores to use the item you cannot explain. Not many curling players can explain why the curling stone moves as it does. But they are still enjoying the game, and indeed can be very good at it.
The major criticism I have of the volume is that there could be some diagrams. These would certainly enhance the clear text, and make points with fewer words in more detail. The variety of topics chosen is wide-ranging, from toast and curling, to why honey flows from a spoon as it does, and why the majority of mothers hold babies on the left side of the body. Some items are more nearly "straight science", whilst others have elements of psychology as well as pure formulae.
How do fielders in baseball know where to go for a catch? Ask a baseball fielder (or cricketer if in the UK) and you will find that he does not know why: he just knows where he needs to be. Ingram writes with clarity and lucidity, explaining the science of his subject matter. There are some good pointers to research, including items that are post 2003. Historical analysis of the topics is also given - consider the work of Lazzaro Spallanzani with skimming stones over water in the eighteenth century. Some of his observations were only shown to be correct in 1968, with the use of high speed film.
The chapter on the flight of seeds from trees, the little `helicopters' that bear seeds in autumn, ends with a wonderful little line: "Nature is about making the best of an imperfect situation, yet somehow the results are never dull". Science is important to us all. We don't always know it. With the help of this slim volume, we do now.
Peter Morgan, Bath, UK
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