Does Anything Eat Wasps?

Title: Does Anything Eat Wasps and 101 Other Questions
Editor: Mick O’Hare
Publisher: Profile Books 2006 (First South Asian edition)
ISBN: 1-86197-973-8
Pages: 211

This book is a collection of 102 questions asked by readers of New Scientist magazine and answered by other readers through the ‘Last Word’ column of the magazine over many years. The column is driven entirely by the enthusiasm of readers, and we would be much impressed by the profound knowledge and wisdom behind some of the answers. As the editor notes, the Last Word is devoted to the small questions in life and queries like mystery behind the meaning of human existence are not entertained while answers will be ready for questions like why the tea changes colour when lemon juice is added to it.

The book is divided into several sections on Our bodies, plants and animals, domestic science, our Universe, our Planet, weird weather, troublesome transport and Best of the rest with the questions neatly categorised to match the title of the sub-section. Several interesting questions like how the dew forms on grass blades, why potatoes with a green colour should be avoided, why do people have eye brows, how much does a human head weigh etc, are answered, with clever and witty replies also interspersed along with the more serious ones, thereby providing humour while discussing scientific concepts. Since the correspondents are of widely different temperaments, some uninteresting and outright boring questions are also included, which is inevitable when the global nature of the readership of New Scientist is taken into account.

A good book overall, which is sure to benefit the reader of any class or category. It helps us to think about the things which are around, but we are still ignorant of. The magazine encourages the users to pose such questions through the link http://www.newscientist.com/lastword.ns. So, don’t lose time and shoot that question which always nagged your mind when you were a child! Only children ask questions. Adults are too preoccupied.

Rating: 4 Star