Science Without the Boring Bits: A Curious Chronology of Discovery, Invention and Wild Speculation - Hardcover

Thrill! - as radio astronomers detect the mysterious 'wow' signal from outer space! Gasp! - as mathematicians come up with a number so big it won't fit into the known universe! Wonder! - as Archimedes' death rays destroy ships over 2000 years ago! Laugh! - as absent-minded Isaac Newton boils his watch while checking the time on his egg! Retch! - as Soviet surgeons graft the head of a puppy onto the shoulder of a fully grown dog! Be Awed! - at the taste of raspberries at the centre of the Milky Way! Astonish Your Friends! - with stories of snottites, leap seconds, incandescent beards, flying monks, flossing monkeys, winking corpses, ancient steam engines, radioactive suppositories, edible mud, and much, much more... All the wacky science you really don't need to know.

Ian Crofton's authorial credits include The Totally Useless History of the World, The Kings and Queens of England, The Disappeared and Traitors and Turncoats. He has also written on science for a younger audience, co-authoring Deserts and Semideserts and Atoms and Elements in the Young Oxford Library of Science.