prem@eagle.UUCP (Swami Devanbu) (10/02/85)
<This line is probably now in a black hole>
"Science Made Stupid", written and illustrated by Tom Weller,
published by Houghton Mifflin company, 2 Park St, Bolton, MA.
A rollicking, mercilessly absurd tour of Science, all kinds
and shades, from long ago till now. Some samples:
"The Universe began many millions of years ago with a big
bang.... No one knows what exactly caused this, but kids
playing with matches are suspected"
"The Megabrontothaurus Maximus was so large, it's shadow alone weighed
500 pounds"
"The coriolis force is due to different centrifugal force at different
latitudes. This causes weather systems to spin and water to go down
the sink clockwise in the N. Hemisphere and anti- in the South. At
the equator the sinks are generally clogged."
The illustrations and tables are priceless, particularly the table
of planets (The Atmosphere in Saturn is "casual" and Life is "usually
once a month, these days"), the periodic table of elements, and assorted
illustrations of extinct animals, including the thesaurus, the
puppisaurus, and the giant irish bunny.
This is one of the funniest books I've read in a long time.
Highly recommended.
{ihnp4, ucbvax, vax135}!allegra!premlauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (10/03/85)
I have to second this. It's hilarious from cover to cover, including the typography/printing notice at the end. The more science you know, the funnier this book becomes. HIGHLY recommended. --Lauren--
beth@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Beth Christy) (10/04/85)
[Say what?] Lauren says: >I have to second this. It's hilarious from cover to cover, including >the typography/printing notice at the end. The more science you >know, the funnier this book becomes. HIGHLY recommended. I say: Are you people serious? The only positive thing about that book is that it complies with the truth-in-advertising principle. It said it was stupid, and it is. The home geiger counter is stupid enough to be funny, but most of the rest of it is just stupid. You say: May we have the joke please? I say: Well, gosh, I'm not very good at telling jokes. Well, ok, I'll try. Lessee, how's that go again? Oh, yeah: Seems the Hunchback of Notre Dame got a touch of the ol' wanderlust, and wanted to do some travelling. So he bought hisself a pickup truck and a trailer hitch, and he bolted one end of the hitch to his new pickup and the other end to his house. Know what he's got now? A Quasi-modor home. [_Science Made Stupid_ is even stupider than that. Save your money.] -- --JB (Beth Christy, U. of Chicago, ..!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!beth) "What if the after-effect of the terrible bomb is unusual beyond belief? Wouldn't you rather the whole population had listened to somebody like the old Indian chief?" (The Roches)
lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (10/05/85)
I'll bet that Beth is the sort of person who would try watch "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and turn it off after 10 minutes saying, "Gee, that's a dumb movie... why do people think it's so funny?" Trust me on this gang... check out "Science Made Stupid." I wouldn't steer you wrong. --Lauren--
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (10/07/85)
Another note praising this book -- I had run across it at a local B. Dalton's early this summer, and my first reaction was that it would be a magnificent source for "funny ending quotes" at the tail end of USENET postings. Will "A description of the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle may be found in the Appendix; then, again, it may not..."
briand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (10/15/85)
>Trust me on this gang... check out "Science Made Stupid." >I wouldn't steer you wrong. > >--Lauren-- Ditto and a half. Especially the inside back cover: "This book is typeset in Monotone Bimbo with chapter headings in Basketball Overextended. . ." Note the Houghton-Mifflin logo revision there too! -Brian Diehm Tektronix, Inc.
barb@oliven.UUCP (Barbara Jernigan) (10/17/85)
> > Lauren says: > >I have to second this. It's hilarious from cover to cover, including > >the typography/printing notice at the end. The more science you > >know, the funnier this book becomes. HIGHLY recommended. > > I say: > Are you people serious? The only positive thing about that book is > that it complies with the truth-in-advertising principle. It said > it was stupid, and it is. The home geiger counter is stupid enough > to be funny, but most of the rest of it is just stupid. > --JB (Beth Christy, U. of Chicago, ..!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!beth) Herein lies the rub. For some *Science Made Stupid* is the funniest thing (save a few Far Sides) that they have ever read -- well, *almost* that funny. For many, the response is: "Huh?" You either get the jokes or you don't. Thumb through the book before you buy. (But I have noticed non-science oriented people REALLY don't get the jokes.) Barb