Imponderables (book series)

Last updated
Imponderables
AuthorDave Feldman
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre
Publisher
Published1986–2006
Media typePrint
No. of books11
Website imponderables.com

Imponderables, or Mysteries of Everyday Life Explained, is a series of illustrated reference books by David Feldman written in FAQ format. The series was published by imprints of HarperCollins from 1986 to 1993, Penguin from 1995 to 1996, and HarperCollins from 2004 to 2006.

Contents

Premise

The books examine, investigate, and explain common, yet puzzling phenomena. Examples include: "Why do your eyes hurt when you are tired?", "Why do judges wear black robes?", and "Why do you rarely see purple Christmas lights?", among many others. The word "imponderable" is used to describe such mysteries of everyday life. The books are organized in a FAQ format.

Additional chapters explore Frustables, defined as Imponderables that are uniquely frustrating because they lack a clear answer. Some of the recurring Frustables are:

Volumes

Not all volumes include a number stamp. HarperCollins assigned each edition more than one ISBN, therefore the numbers listed below may not be the first edition.

No.TitlePublisherDateISBN
1Imponderables [lower-alpha 1] HarperCollinsSeptember 1986 0-688-05913-9
2Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?November 1987 0-06-015781-X
3When Do Fish Sleep?October 1989 0-06-016161-2
4Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?September 1990 0-06-016293-7
5Do Penguins Have Knees?October 1991 0-06-016294-5
6When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? [lower-alpha 2] November 1992 0-06-016908-7
7How Does Aspirin Find a Headache?November 1993 0-06-016923-0
8What Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway?PenguinOctober 1995 0-399-14084-0
9How Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch?October 1996 0-399-14189-8
10Do Elephants Jump?HarperCollinsNovember 2, 2004 0-06-053913-5
11Why Do Pirates Love Parrots?September 2006 0-06-088842-3

Revised volumes

Feldman significantly revised two volumes for HarperCollins in 2004. They were released alongside reprints of other volumes with new titles.

No.TitleDateISBN
1Why Don't Cats Like to Swim?November 2, 2004 0-06-075148-7
6Are Lobsters Ambidextrous?August 16, 2005 0-06-076295-0

Who Put the Butter in Butterfly?

In 1989, Feldman explored a number of idiosyncratic features of the English language in Who Put the Butter in Butterfly?. [1] The volume was not published as part of the Imponderables series by HarperCollins, however the book design and text formatting of paperback editions is identical to other volumes.

TitleDateISBN
Who Put the Butter in Butterfly?April 1989 0-06-016072-1

See also

Notes

  1. Revised as Why Don't Cats Like to Swim? (2004).
  2. Revised as Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? (2005).

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