Ever Wonder Why?: Here Are the Answers! Mass Market Paperback – November 24, 1991

This book in two words "simply amazing". This books explains in detail the origins of some of our everyday terms and phrases. This book also explains the origins of some of our current customs and procedures. I was amazed to find out how terms like "Blackmail", "Scapegoat", "Making money hand over fist", were created, and how they were first used. Why we shouldn't put metal in the microwave, why the horse shoe is considered good luck, and why Judges wear black robes. I'm sure everyone at some point in time has wondered about these things we know and use, but never thought of where they came from and what they were originally intended to mean. This book gives information about our past, and how our ancestors and civilizations were thinking. This book also provides for those of us that are parents the ability to answer those many questions our children have. The answers are actually entertaining enough to remain in our memories and in our childrens memories as points of interest to pass along to future generations and friends. In all honesty this book was fun, and interesting at the same time. The amount of information you will receive in this book, whether you believe the information or not is far more than the cost of this book. If nothing else there should be at least one item in this book you will find interesting.

This is just a very interesting book. You need to buy it!

My husband and I are both educators and used this book as one resource for our daily "opening activities." We would always start class with something simple, funny/goofy, or entertaining as a way of helping our students lighten their "emotional load" and get comfortable in the classroom. This book served the purpose wonderfully. Students found the information interesting. Overall, I think it prompted many of them to think more about the "back-stories" to a wide variety of things and to raise more questions in their life.

I purchased this book with a few similar tyoe books for a small family and friends ,vacation, had a couple of game nights and the books ended up being read aloud and a hit along with the games we played,.The book was great for conversation and getting people to tell some great stories

This is the 3rd time I've bought this book. One of my high school teachers had it so I asked for it for Christmas one year. Unfortunately, my mom brought it to her classroom and got it lost. I missed having it so she bought me a new one. I now just bought a copy for my very curious little cousins. It's a very interesting book. I find that I drop little nuggets of knowledge on my friends on all these random topics. That's what I was doing to my cousins and they kept asking me what else I knew. I figured I'd just buy them a copy for Christmas. Hopefully they enjoy it as much as I have.

The author should have done a little more homework before publishing this book. Many of the facts do not include the whole "story" or history. On page 85, the author states S.O.S in morse code is 3 dashes-3 dots- 3 dashes when in fact it is just the opposite. In morse code, S is represented by 3 dots, O is 3 dashes, therefore it should read 3 dots- 3 dashes- 3 dots. But for the price it was an O.K. read.

These were Christmas gifts for my hubby and a dear (male) friend. The books are already a hit. I've already learned facts that I didn't really need to know ;-) ............but I have a feeling my hubby is going to share every fact that he reads with me (which is really okay). As long as he's enjoying it, that's what counts.

This book is interesting and easy to read. Although some of the explanations are not so reliable, for English learners it is useful to understand the background of the phases frequently appearing in English writings and also convenient to know the topics English speakers have been interested in.