Question Everything: 132 science questions - and their unexpected answers

by New Scientist, Mick O'Hare (Editor)

The dazzling new collection of scientific questions and answers from New Scientist magazine

The latest in the bestselling New Scientist Last Word series

All science begins with questions... - Why is the night sky black, even though it's full of stars? - How do pebbles skim on water? - Why doesn't your own snoring wake you up? - And why is the Large Hadron Collider so ... er ... large?

And as these intriguing, imaginative and occasionally bonkers questions and answers drawn from New Scientist magazine's archives show: question everything and you might find your way to amazing, unexpected insights into our minds, bodies and the universe, and the science behind the scenes that keeps them ticking. As you would expect from New Scientist, this is top-flight science at its most accessible, unpredictable and entertaining. This latest mind-bending addition to the No. 1 bestselling series will fascinate 'Last Word' fans and new readers alike.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Trivia

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2014

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very fond of these New Scientist books that bring together question and answer sessions from the weekly magazine's Last Word column. The idea is simple - readers send in questions, other readers provide answers (which I assume are only used if they are reasonably correct (or funny)). The series has been very popular, but inevitably some books in the series stand out, and for me this wasn't one of the better ones.

It's not that there isn't good material. I enjoyed, for instance, entries on the spinning of cricket balls (and I hate sport), the long life of fruit cakes, skimming stones and the reason animals don't need toilet paper. But there were just too many questions and answers that didn't really give me anything new and exciting. Perhaps all the really mind boggling questions have already been dealt with.

The final question also illustrated the limitations of this approach. Someone asked how the UK TV audience figures are calculated. They clearly don't ask every viewer what they watched - so how do we know that 9 million people watched programme X? The answer about a sample of viewers whose viewing is recorded was fine, but the problem is that in a 'real' popular science book, the writer would be likely to think through what more would people want to discover? A writer would develop the question. But this 'crowd sourced' approach means there isn't that opportunity to dive in. So here, for instance, the really interesting question is how do they deal with the fact that many us now hardly watch any TV at the time of broadcast, but instead watch a mix of programmes time shifted with a PVR, catch-up TV and streamed shows? That's where the questioning should have gone, but the format doesn't allow for it unless someone happens to write in with the follow-up question.

So, overall, definitely still an interesting book to dip into and makes a great gift (the timing of the publication before Christmas is hardly coincidental) - but it wasn't one of my favourites in the series.

[Josceline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has made me realise the importance of diagrams, graphs and statistics. If you are trying to cut down on the esoteric jargon, please... pretty please... include a visual or two!

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little hard for me to get into at first because the questions were very physics-heavy but once it became less physics-focused, I got pretty into it.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was looking for new non-fiction books to read, I stumbled upon this one: Question Everything. It contains Q&A's from the various readers of New Scientist, the scientific magazine. I know the magazine, but have never read a copy. The questions and answers were taken from the printed magazine and online at www.newscientist.com/topic/lastword/, which is regularly updated.

Also, it seems that they (New Scientist) regularly publish such a book, compiled of Q&A's and ordered by theme. Selecting appropriate questions and answers that fit best to those questions.

In this new book, 132 questions and several more answers (as there were sometimes more answers per question, from various readers, including experts in those specific fields) offer a very informative and interesting way on many aspects of life. Themes range from Earth, Space, Physics, Health, Meteorology, Cognition, Biology, and more, to Biology, Evolution, Transport, and Various / The Rest.

The index at the back is a helpful means to find an answer to a specific item.

You don't have to read the book from start to finish. Just select a theme and question whenever you like. While the book is made to be accessible for a large audience, some technical jargon will be part of the answers as well, obviously. Sometimes a certain answer, depending on your preferences, will not provide enough information or reasoning.

Regardless of this small issue, I can recommend Question Everything, as you can pick it up any time you want to and read something from it now and then, and at the same time refresh or expand your knowledge on many things that happen / exist in life.

[Eloise Vanbrabant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really intrigued me and I really did find a lot of the answers very unexpected. A lot of them were like eureka moments where it asks a question, and when you’ve read the answer, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s actually really obvious!’ An example is, ‘How do freckles come?’ And that was because your body has more melanin and therefore also tans quicker!
Anyway, I also really liked this book because, firstly, there were some of these everyday questions that seem so simple that nobody ever really thinks about it, but actually, there’s loads of scorende behind it! Furthermore, when there were questions, there were always multiple people who answered it which helped me to see the answer from different viewpoints. However, I thought it was quite strange though when there was a question, three answers, and all three answers said something completely opposite!! That just shows how even scientist aren’t always certain of answers!

[Sarah Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

You all at this point I’m sure know that along with Meryl Streep, and toast, I very much love science. LOVE IT. Alas I did not love this book, which was extra disappointing as I thought it might be amazing. Really what isn't to love, 132 supposedly interesting questions alongside scientific answers for each. But the questions weren’t really all that interesting, for instance why do thunderstorms and fireworks set off car alarms?, why exactly would I care, also its a fairly obvious reason, but they jargon the life out of the answer so it stumbles right over that little hurdle too. The answers annoyed me quite a bit, they are given by readers of New Scientist, making for some very poor writing, some muddled explanations and tone that ranges from patronising to pandering. This book is why people don’t like science. Science has the capacity to explain marvels, to shock and awe, science (and the Queen of science, my beloved Mathematics) is literally the root of all that is good and all that is evil and all that is everywhere in between, meaning there is huge scope for the parts that are captivating, here this book shone a light on the parts that are just sort of boring. And by shone a light I mean a really dim light that rendered you with strained eyes trying to see what it supposedly illuminated.

[Lara Panfilov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall not a bad book. I wouldn't say it is something extraordinary. I liked the fact that the questions were organized in groups of different subjects. However I have to say that some questions missed the mark for me (either the answer was very obvious or the question itself was completely irrelevant). As for the answers, most of them were accurate and explained quite clearly. That said in some cases there were several answers with almost the exact same explanations just using different words - I found that completely unnecessary. The first three chapters contained the "hardest" scientific questions in my opinion - from there on the level quickly dropped and I was a bit disappointed with the nature of the questions as I think scientific branches as for example biology and evolution pose may more interesting mysteries. I think the writer had a nice idea, but I believe this book lacked depth and execution.

[Chris M.H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read roughly about 3/4 of the book as the information is presented to you in question and answer format with each question having 2,3 sometimes 4 answers. The later answers, after reading a few, didn't serve to enlighten or even interest the reader in many ways.

As I was going through them I noticed how frequently some of the questions related to personal thoughts I'd have about phenomena that goes on so it was cool to have some of those mysteries spoken about and elucidated. Part of the responses are pretty comical too so I think the New Scientist did a good job, if a little bit infrequently, in lightening the material and making it engaging.

No question was explained in any great detail and I didn't have any serious mind blowing moments. Just a pleasing exploration.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

132 lovely earthings of sky-high theory. Not much new, but good as refresher course and mind candy.

The tacit connections between the answers are the real thing – for instance, I guessed (wrongly) that synchrotron radiation and Cherenkov radiation were based on the same mechanism, and feel very happy that a quick and public disconfirmation was available. Here

[ReadingSloph · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really interesting and I learnt lots of new things. I found that it was really good to just pick up and read a small part of it at a time, just read one question and the answers.
It covers a wide range of topics, which I really enjoyed, and may pick up a book similar to this in the future.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questions and answers from the New Scientist.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my style of book but was on the shelf for years. Couldn’t motivate myself to read certain sections (eg chemistry & space) but certain parts were interesting and I definitely learned a lot!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good to dip in an out of for answers to all of those little weird and wonderful things you've considered about the world and beyond!

[Lauren Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some questions were interesting, most weren’t

[Ian Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early in my so-called career, I had a senior colleague who subscribed to New Scientist magazine, and, during rainy lunch breaks, I might borrow his mag, find a few articles interesting and attempt to engage him in some controversial discussion, at which he might brush me off by saying, "don't believe everything in print". I learnt something from his healthy scepticism: question everything.

However, the phrase here used for the title is turned about, inviting their readers to submit a question on anything they felt like, providing it could be answered scientifically, and other readers could then answer it, the best answers, hopefully the most correct ones, were subsequently published. Here is a collection of 132 questions and 132+ answers (there are more answers than questions in some cases).

It's taken a long time to get to the end of this book not because it's hard to understand but because it covers such a wide range of subjects duly separated into relevant chapters. In all, though I haven't counted them, there are 132 reader's questions. It's a book that can be savoured slowly, especially if too great a dose of scientific explanation is overwhelming.

The questions, and subjects, are broad in range, from intellectual to naive, complex to facile, obvious to why on earth didn't I think to ask that? I made some highlights, I found the chapter on Evolution the most fascinating. Other gems include; if the Earth was hollow below the crust, could a man literally run and jump off from it (and into orbit)?, what would you experience if you travelled to the centre of the Earth?, how much longer will the Earth keep turning for?, why do pebbles skim?, why does a hand have five fingers and a foot five toes?, is there a limit to the size of a brain?, what is fire really made of?, what makes all that black dust in the London tube?, does the other lane really move faster in slow traffic?, how can sailing boats actually move faster than the wind?

And it only cost me 99p on the Kindle store at the time. I would have paid more but I'm not complaining. An interesting miscellany of curious scientific enquiry.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The real reason that I have this book is because a good friend of mine, a hip-hop artist called Antix, has an album of the same name. That tenuous link was enough for me to buy it when I had a chance to, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting read, and one that Antix would enjoy, too.

There’s no complex idea behind it, but it can get complex at times – simply put, it’s a series of questions and answers that have appeared in New Scientist over the years, sorted by subject (Earth, Space, Physics, Meteorology, Chemistry, Evolution, Biology, Health, Cognition, Alcohol, Eating, Transport and The Rest).

Some of the questions are deep, like ‘why is the night sky black, even though it’s full of stars?’, and some are trivial, like ‘why doesn’t your own snoring wake you up?’, but all of them somehow seem to fit into the category of questions that you’ve wondered about absent-mindedly at least once in your life. It’s kind of cool to get answers to questions that you didn’t realise that you’d asked, if nothing else.

It can also be a little depressing at times – it turns out that the answer to a lot of the ‘what would happen if?’ questions is that we would all die. If the earth was hollow, for instance, we would be screwed – bet you’ve always wanted to know how long it would take to circumnavigate the globe if you jumped straight through a hole in the planet, though. Get ready to have that question, and plenty more, answered comprehensively.

[Milly · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book contains some very good and detailed answers to lots of questions, I found myself already knowing the answers to many of them, causing me to flick through it quite quickly. A very interesting read to learn a little more about the things around us, however I personally believe that some of the questions were far too simplistic. However, that's just my opinion, and I'm sure that many others will have enjoyed it!

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for people who want to read a little a bit of information on a lot of subjects. I like that for each question there are multiple answers, it meant that if you don't understand one answer or you want more detail you can get it from another source.

[Tegan Holley-Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice little non fiction book that even managed to get the attention of my bf, which is very rare for books 😂

I enjoyed the different variety of facts that are in this and I actually learned a few things so I definitely recommend!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fun book for facts and a goo little chat with mates about facts over a drink I enjoyed this book

[Henry Manampiring · Rating 2 out of 5]

Explanations can be very technical and not friendly, and many subjects are irrelevant to me. Still, a few gems of new knowledge here and there. Only for hardcore science enthusiasts.

[Katie K · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those books to pass the time. Had some great explanations to questions I've always pondered. Picked this one up from my local library :)

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the perfect selection of random sciencey question and answers that I love the way it's presented very good 11/10

[Ludovick Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think it's not irrelevant to me

[Adrian Chan]

Thought provoking and challenges widely conceived fallacies.

[Tauras · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average book. There were a few interesting questions, however, overall it did not seem too intriguing

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know how to cook mushrooms properly now.

[Satya Kalyanpur · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to read. Interesting questions and answers compilation. Quick and a light read.