Know It All

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By NewScientist & Mick O'Hare

Publisher Description

Some of the craziest questions & answers from the magazine’s “Last Word” column, on subjects like Earth, space, meteorology, evolution, health, and more.

New Scientist magazine’s beloved “Last Word” column is a rare forum for “un-Google-able” queries: Readers write in, and readers respond! Know It All collects 132 of the column’s very best Q&As. The often-wacky questions cover physics, chemistry, zoology and beyond: When will Mount Everest cease to be the tallest mountain on the planet? If a thermometer was in space, what would it read? Why do some oranges have seeds, and some not? Many people suffer some kind of back pain. Is it because humans haven’t yet perfected the art of walking upright? And the unpredictable answers showcase the brainpower of New Scientist’s readers, like the anatomist who chimes in about back pain (“Evolution is not in the business of perfecting anything.”) and the vet who responds, “Quadrupeds can get backache too!”

A Guardian Top 10 Science and Technology book

Praise for Know It All

“An entertaining and intellectually stimulating read.” —Shelf Awareness

“The experts at New Scientist magazine have published a book that answers some of the oddest but most entertaining questions they’ve been asked.” —Daily Mail (UK)

“Explain[s] some of life’s great mysteries.” —Reveal (UK)

“Answers the questions you’ve probably wondered all your life.” —Wales Online (UK)

“Great answers to common dinner party questions.” —Good Housekeeping (UK)

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2 Reviews

3.0

Mariechen Puchert

Created over 3 years ago

“I expected this book to be something in the line of XKCD’s “What If”, which is my fault for not reading the synopsis from the beginning. So if you’re planning on reading this book, let me tell you AGAIN: this book has reader-submitted answers to reader-submitted questions from New Scientist. It is not a single-author work. To be honest, my biggest problem was that I had to read this book really quickly because my NetGalley request was only approved MONTHS after I first requested it. And this is not a book to be read quickly. It is a book to leave on your bedside table and to pick up, open at random, and read the brilliance of people around the world. Reading it from cover to cover, as I did, just gets exhausting and a little annoying. The people who submit the answers seem to be very intelligent but most of them are not authors. Their answers are higher-grade, and sometimes a little know-it-all. I would buy this book in hard copy for the purposes of reading a question or two a day, but I would not buy a digital copy, and I definitely would not call it light reading.”

Cait Coy

Created about 10 years ago

“ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1395589252ra/9017005.gif Reading science books (almost) never fails to make me feel like a complete idiot and it’s all my fault. This book is absolutely fantastic in every way and I understood maybe…25% of it? But it’s definitely a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1423529909ra/13639190.gif This book is a collection of the Last Word column in the New Scientist magazine in which readers will pose random scientific questions that they want to know the answer to and scientists will write in to answer them. It’s split into thirteen different sections which cover everything from space to alcohol and many things in between. It’s an incredibly broad range with all kinds of interesting questions. Some questions have only one response while others have multiple responses that give varying levels of detail to their answers. If you were a fan of https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21413662.What_If__Serious_Scientific_Answers_to_Absurd_Hypothetical_Questions by Randall Munroe but wanted less silliness and more science, this is the book for you. https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1423529909ra/13639191.gif Unfortunately, I have a hell of a time understanding science. I need things like comics and the most basic explanations to understand anything science related. I generally consider myself a fairly intelligent person but damn does science go over my head. I’m giving this book four stars because I love the idea and the execution. It’s another fail on my part with a science book because as much as I wanted to understand, as soon as the scientist responding started getting detailed, my eyes started crossing and my attention started wandering. But seriously, don’t let my science mental block stop you from reading this awesome collection of questions. If you’re a fan of science and finding out the answers to random questions like Do fish really grow in proportion to the size of their tank? and If you could journey to the centre of Earth, what would the sensation of gravity be at various points on the way down, and at the centre? then this is a book well worth picking up.”

About NewScientist

Established in 1956, New Scientist is the fastest-growing and bestselling science magazine in the world, reaching over 3 million readers through its print and digital channels. Its series of accessible popular science books, which debuted in 2005, has sold well over 2 million copies worldwide. Jeremy Webb, who has worked at New Scientist for over twenty-three years, is editor-in-chief.