The science of our everyday life is explored via one man's Very Bad Day. Short chapters explain the science behind this disastrous day, from oversleeping and burning toast, to a leaky pen and a bee sting; from hard disk failure to dropping your keys down a drain; and finally watching your bathtub overflow.

It is kind of interesting, but wasn't what I was really expecting. The snippits are very short, so you 'learn' something, but a lot of what you 'learn' isn't really about the science of a bad day, but rather 'how a toaster works - if you don't already know this'. It's not a bad read, but I didn't find this an imaginary trip through a bad day, but rather 34 unconnected snippits of 'how things work.'

If you are a person who likes to keep a book in the car for redlights or lines at the bank, etc...it won't disappoint you, short snippits that can be easily digested make this book quite useful for those situations where you are the 5th in line and boredom is rearing its ugly head.

If you are looking for a book that holds you in and ties everything together in a 'good read,' then look elsewhere. ( )

Imagine the worst day you've ever had, one where things just kept going wrong. Well, however bad it was, it probably wasn't as bad as the day described in this book. From sleeping thru the alarm going off to the tub overflowing when he goes to take his nightly bath, the individual in this book just can't get anything to go right.

In this book of mishaps, Dr. Bentley takes them one by one, and then describes the "science" behind the event and what could cause such a thing to happen. Depending on on well read you are, you may learn all kinds of things that you didn't know about what causes our world to work the way it does, and what is happening something doesn't work the way we'd like it to.

Bentley uses both humor and science to let you share in this on going train wreck of a day, and possibly learn how to avoid the same mishaps yourself. Or, at least, keep so many of them from happening. I'd suggest reading this book in small doses. I was hitting "fact overload" a few times and had to put the book down to read something that was more for enjoyment than to "learn" something. ( )

About: Bentley goes through a hypothetical very bad day in which the science behind 34 mishaps is explained. Oversleeping, shaving cuts, bad milk, bird poop, skipping CDs, skin burns and hard drive crashes are examples of what's covered (good thing this bad day is hypothetical!)

Some Interesting Things I Learned:

* To remove chewing gum, try peanut butter or mayonnaise (the oils in them help the molecules in the gum slide off whatever they are stuck too). You can also try icing the gum to freeze it, and then break the frozen mass.

* NASA didn't spend millions of dollars to develop a "Space Pen," They bought them from Fisher. Most normal ballpoint pens will work in zero gravity anyway.

* If you eat something very spicy and want to cool down your mouth, drink milk. It's thought that the mix of casein and fat will wash away the capsaicin molecules that give chilies their spice. Milk chocolate and several types of beans and nuts are thought to have a similar effect.

* Cut yourself shaving? Don't dab the cut with a tissue, you'll just keep disrupting your platelets that are trying to heal the area. Instead, apply steady pressure.

* Anti-lock brakes leave dotted skids that look like ======= . Non-anti-lock brakes leave solid line skids.

Pros: Well-written with very interesting and varied topics. Short chapters make for easy pick-up reading.

Cons: No cites, no full bibliography provided. No real sum up, book just sort of ends. ( )