Why the Toast Always Lands Butter Side Down: The Science of Murphy’s Law

276 Pages·2005·24.06 MB·English

by  Richard Robinson

RICHARD ROBINSON
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Richard robinson is the author of seven books of
popular science, including the Science Magic series
(Oxford University Press), which was short-listed for the
Aventis Prize. He works full-time as a science presenter,
and regularly performs demonstrations around the world
from Boston to Beijing. He was also a founder member
of Spitting Image.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2014
in
https://archive.org/details/whytoastalwayslaOOrich
WHY
THE TOAST
ALWAYS LANDS
DOWN
BUTTER SIDE
The Science Of Murphy's Law
Richard Robinson
ROBINSON
London
To Dad, better late than never
Constable & Robinson Ltd
3The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
LondonW6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com
This edition published by Robinson,
an imprint ofConstable & Robinson Ltd, 2005
Copyright © Richard Robinson 2005
Illustrations by Kate Charlesworth
The right ofRichard Robinson to be identified as the author ofthis
work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and PatentsAct 1988
All rights reserved.This book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way oftrade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,
hired out or otherwise circulated in any form ofbinding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy ofthe British Library Cataloguing in
Publication data is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-84529-124-7
Printed and bound in the EU
13579 8642
10
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface: Murphy's Law ix
Note on the Shape of the Brain xix
Chapter 1:Taking It All In: The Senses 1
Chapter 2: Getting the Measure 25
Chapter 3: Memories 44
Chapter 4: Making Connections 67
Chapter 5: Emotions 84
Chapter 6: Public Opinion 116
Chapter 7:The World Turned Upside Down 173
Chapter 8: Pure Science 176
Chapter 9: Fuzzy Logic 220
Appendix 1: All Murphy's Laws 224
Appendix 2:The fMRI Scan 238
References 240
Further Reading 244
Index 245

Acknowledgements
Contributors to this book have been nearly everyone I
have met, and most inanimate objects I have ever come
across. In particular, Rory Fidgeon and Sam Hutton for
checking it through, and Bill Parish for the maths.Thirzie,
Philip,judy and Leonie have at some time or another had
to cope with me while I struggled. Much respect to them.