Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives

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Click a cover for a larger version.

Cover artist
Root
Language
English
Original language
English
Publisher
Macmillan
Categories
Psychology and science
Publication year
2007
ISBN
978-0-330-44811-6
Pages
299
Has read?
Yes
Debut?
No

Synopsis

Quirkology is a word coined by the author, and is the study of the more quirky side of human activity. The book draws a number of conclusions, such as that women van drivers are more likely to take more than ten items through the express line at supermarkets, that words containing the letter K are funny, and that women's personal ads would garner more replies if written by a man (the opposite is not true).

Richard Wiseman has spent twenty years studying these matters, but the book also briefly mentions other seminal studies in psychology (such as Milgram's obedience study and studies concerning memory and the manipulation thereof).

Review

I can thoroughly recommend the book, although as the title suggests, it's mostly about quirky little things about human behavior. The book wasn't all that interesting, but it's definitely entertaining.