Uncommon Knowledge: Extraordinary Things That Few People Know

Description

The world can be an amazing place if you know the right questions to ask: How did carrots become orange? What's stopping us from having a four-day week? How can we remove all the broken bits of satellite from orbit? If everything is so terrible, why is the global suicide rate falling? The keen minds of the Economist love to look beyond everyday appearances to find out what really makes things tick. In this latest collection of The Economist Explains, they have gathered together the juiciest fruits of their never-ending quest for answers. For an uncommonly interesting read, take a peek at some Uncommon Knowledge - and pass it on! The world only gets more amazing when discoveries are shared.

Tom Standage is Deputy Editor of The Economist. He is author of several books, including Seriously Curious, Writing on the Wall: Social Media - The First 2,000 Years and The Victorian Internet. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Wired.

For Go Figure: "Books like this make you wary of ever guessing the answer to anything -- Mark Mason * Daily Mail * An uncommonly brilliant little book -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail *