The Natural History of Nonsense

It is now time for “extra” favorite reads.  This time I allowed an RA to provide me a second favorite book, mainly because he brought a copy and left it with me.  The book is called The Natural History of Nonsense by Bergen Evans.  This is an interesting book as it was written in the 1940s yet it is providing an overview on the history of all living beings on the earth, with some pretty strange “historical thoughts” in which the author provides research data to prove his point, yet disagrees with the literature at every turn.  Bergen presents data that demystifies “urban legends” ranging from: animals not being as smart as humans; why belly buttons are “innies vs. outies”; biblical contractions; why is it colder in parts of NYC than at the North Pole?; why do frogs come out from hiding before major storms?; why do the female birds sit on the eggs?; and questions about chimpanzees snakes.  After addressing many of the myths of animals, he moves on to the human race!  I had no idea that doctors were so short-sided “back in the day,” such as how one would get ill by using a bathtub! WOW!  The author than focuses on ethnic stereotypes, such as why African Americas are more physically agile than other ethnicities (though he uses pretty 20^th century un-pc terms), same for when he presents information on Latinos and Asian-American people.  This is such a “period piece” that illustrates how far we have come as a society.  I’m not sure I got the humor of the book, though it certainly was helpful to be brought back in time.  The book clearly shows the limited view many people had in the 1940s and how computers and knowledge sharing has moved our society to more thoughtful and data driven in our thinking.  For sociologist students, it might be helpful to read how ignorant we were in our thinking.  The author shows the challenges in the “thought leaders” of the day.  Not sure I thought it was so “witty” but was an interesting read nonetheless.  Thanks Luka for a second suggestion.