Prepare Yourself for
the Improbable Again
Are lip prints as individually distinct as finger prints?
If you add an extra henchman to your bank-robbing gang, how much more money will you ‘earn’?
What physics phenomenon explains why cows in a field ruminate simultaneously?
How effective are slimeballs as weapons?
What might explain that unexplained itch of yours?
Is the slothful reputation of the sloth unfair?
Why do old men have big ears?
How high can a dead cat bounce?*
Can pizza save your life?
* Metaphorically speaking
A Oneworld Book
First published in North America, Great Britain & Australia
by Oneworld Publications, 2014
Copyright © Marc Abrahams 2014
The moral right of Marc Abrahams to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78074-361-5
Ebook ISBN 978-1-78074-362-2
Typesetting and eBook design by Tetragon
Cover design copyright © Jim Tierney
Oneworld Publications
10 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3SR, England
Contents
- Prologue: Between the second and fourth digits
- 1 The Brain’s Behind
- 2 High, Brainy Mindedness
- 3 Ears, Tongues, Noses and All That
- 4 Bones, Foreskins, Armpits, Slime
- 5 Thinking, On Your Feet and Fingers
- 6 Navel Gazing, Curious Consuming
- 7 Some Things Stick Out
- 8 What Comes after the Colon?
- 9 Stuff in the Air (and Elsewhere)
- 10 Soft Is Hard
- Acknowledgements
- Extra Citations
- Illustration Credits