Review, "The Undercover Scientist: Investigating the Mishaps of Everyday Life" by Peter Bentley, Arrow Books Ltd, June 2009
Edward Tsang 2010.01.28

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You are waiting for a bus. Or you are sitting in your car waiting to pick up your children from school. You want to make good use of your time, but this is not the time for serious reading, because you could be interrupted at any time. You need a book that you can enjoy for anything from a few minutes to half an hour before you are interrupted. This is an ideal book for such occasions.

This book is packed with scientific knowledge. You may not actively seek knowledge in some of the topics introduced in this book, but once you've been told, you might find them interesting. For example, I never knew that chewing gum first appeared at least 9,000 years old (in the chapter "Coming Unstuck"). I also find the chapter "Ripping Yarn" interesting: I never paid much attention to the differences in weaving methods, but now I do. I look at them with my attention on the fiction that they create, which (I now know) was the main motivation behind weaving.

Each chapter is the result of hours, possibly days of research. It's a joy to be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of diligent research by the author. I find some of the research quite thorough. Not everyone will enjoy every chapter. The style of this book may not please everyone, but personally I find this an enjoyable book to read.