Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things | Charles Panati
1 post | 2 read | 2 to read
For lovers of facts, students of popular culture, history buffs, and science enthusiasts, the foremost specialist on everything tells how and why hundreds of the everyday items, expressions, and customs we take for granted came into existence. Learn the fascinating discovery stories behind over 500 phenomena, including: How chewing gum and Silly Putty began as substitutes for rubber. How the potato chip emerged from an act of pique on the part of an Indian named Crum. How a socialite invented the dishwasher because servants too frequently broke her expensive china. Why April Fool's Day started out as New Year's Eve, a joke in itself. How the song 'Happy Birthday to You' began as a kindergarten jingle titled 'Good Morning to All.' How the zipper was one man's attempt to make obsolete not buttons... but shoelaces. How the newlywed husband came to the aid of his accident-prone bride with the invention of the Band-Aid. How the hot dog began as an outlawed Roman sausage and received its name at a New York baseball game. How a pot-and-pan salesman who baited customers with soapy steel wool pads launched the S.O.S empire. How Drs. Fallopius and Condom made strides in inventing and popularizing a male means of birth control. How the original Goldilocks was a disgruntled, gray-haired crone, tortured by the three bears. How Ketchup became from the Romans, Tabasco sauce from an exiled New Orleans banker, Mayonnaise from a French duke, and A.I. Steak Sauce from a royal chef named Brand.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
TK-421
post image

Here‘s a few eclectic shelves I don‘t think I‘ve shared before. Left: corner shelf in the bedroom that‘s mostly my hubby‘s sports books & some chunksters I didn‘t have room for anywhere else. Top right: mostly to be read or to be reread books on a shelf at the foot of our bed. Both double as cat perches for Minerva. Bottom right: living room shelf that started as a tbr shelf & ended up being a sort of mix of tbr & tbrr. #shelves #30JuneBooks