Unfortunately, between the time I ordered the book a couple weeks ago and when I sat down to write this article, the price was changed from $0.00 to $7.96. At the former price, it rated as a definite “must buy” for me; whereas at $7.96, I would say sample it first and see what you think.
The book is a collection of fairly short articles about odd and/or interesting but generally not well known people, things, and incidents from history, usually with some element of scientific or technological interest. Mr. Silverman does not just retell stories from web sites or such, but actually does some research from more reliable sources (cited at the end of the book) to winnow out the unsubstantiated urban (or rural) legends. The author started collecting and researching these stories to use while teaching high school science classes as a way to get his students’ attention and to interest them in the science underlying these tales.
They mostly kept this student’s attention, even though I haven’t been in high school for more decades than I care to think. The writing is serviceable even if it is not going to win any Pulitzer Prize awards. My only real complaint is that each article ends with the same catch phrase, which gets pretty old after the second time you read it. Reading Einstein’s Refrigerator will, if nothing else, provide you with plenty of conversation starters.
