Why Elephants Can't Jump product reviews

I enjoy reading the New Scientist and have to admit I am only an occasional reader, but I do enjoy the "Last Word" column whenever I do manage to grab a copy. One could say this book is a collection of all the questions you have always wanted to ask, but the truth is, it isn't.

What it really is, is a compendium of fascinating questions readers have posed only for other brainiacs to supply the answers to which the New Scientist team pick the best answer or answers. Some questions have occurred to me and I have never thought to enquire to find out the answer; but other questions are the sort of things that I would have never even considered or even be bothered to look up... such as the length of line one pencil lead can draw...

The answers can be illuminating, intriguing or humorous and answered by experts and enthusiasts in their fields.

This book is always interesting and always entertaining and well worth a read. I have one of the previous books and it is a well-thumbed copy. I know this will be a welcome addition to my bookshelf.

You have got to love it when people from around the world get a chance to collaborate and brainstorm theories to answer some pretty unusual questions. Some of which are about aspects of 'normal life' that are so unexpected we hardly ever stop to question them, but instead take them 'as is' and move along... this book is a collection of over a hundred questions posed by ordinary folk all around the world, and possible answers are offered by some very knowledgeable, some very strange, and some very 'out there' kinds of people.

Seriously though, this is not some 'fundamental answers to Life' collection... it's an accumulation of questions most people would never think to ask, let alone answer... and that is what makes it, in turns, fascinating, entertaining, and educational, reading. Expect to learn something new on nearly every page... if only that there are some really interesting people out there who are in desperate need of a social life.

Overall, this is the epitome of a 'coffee table book' - casual reading will give you exactly as much insight and entertainment as a hard-out marathon read. There is no plot, little structure, and no end in sight to the multitude of ways people can find to pass time. It really is something worth having lying around for those moments when you are stuck for something to do, and just want something to occupy you during a 2-minute break.