Do Fish Drink Water?: Puzzling and Improbable Questions and Answers

Bill McLain
3.56
723 ratings 71 reviews
Is it true that elephants are afraid of mice? How much gold does the United States store in Fort Knox? Why do I get a headache when I eat ice cream too fast? How did the "seventh inning stretch" originate? As the official webmaster for Xerox, Bill McLain was surprised by the kinds of questions he was receiving, like whether people born blind can see in their dreams and why rabbits are associated with Easter. McLain began to answer each and every question—attracting national attention from MSNBC, CNN, and People —and the result, collected in Do Fish Drink Water? , is a surprising, funny, and informative collection of facts. McLain's answers can often be as wild as the questions and prompt entertaining anecdotes about where he found them. McLain explains how magnets are made, what caused the Great Depression of 1922, and even explains why cats purr. Also included is an extensive list of websites where he conducts research, offering an informative guide to making the most of the Internet.
Genres: NonfictionScienceTriviaReferenceHumorChildrensAnimalsEducation
296 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
132 (18%)
4 star
248 (34%)
3 star
256 (35%)
2 star
70 (10%)
1 star
17 (2%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Bill McLain

Lists with this book

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Interesting and Readable Nonfiction
3928 books1906 voters
The Book of General Ignorance
Why Do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
Best Bathroom Books
434 books71 voters
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Best Non-Fiction (no biographies)
6227 books8037 voters
A Short History of Nearly Everything
A Brief History of Time
Cosmos
Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only
1830 books3587 voters