When Do Fish Sleep? and Other Imponderables of Everyday Life

by David Feldman

Another great collection of the answers to life's little mysteries, from the bestselling author of Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Trivia, Reference, Science, Comedy

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

He holds a bachelor's degree in literature from Grinnell College, and a master's degree in popular culture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He consults and lectures on the media. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imponderables can be fun and add to the world while in my opinion it is always fun to see what has got other people asking questions. As such this is my first of the book by the author and so it would be a new experience for me.

For the most part the writing was pretty much decent with the author providing a question in bold and then answering it. Names and locations were added at the bottom to acknowledge the person(s) who had asked the question. If this had been the only way of writing I wouldn't have minded it as bad but instead the book did have some questionable content.

At almost any chance the author kept referring to his earlier works so it seemed that he was trying to sell his books to the reader. Not a problem usually but in this case just throw an advertisement in the front or back instead of trying to re-direct me to a book that more than likely I don't have on hand. At the same time when he wasn't trying to sell me the works then he was making cultural jokes.

I don't mind someone trying to be comedic or adding a drop of humor, especially on a really informative read, but most of the jokes were really bad and a decade or so down the road not many will know what you are talking about since of the cultural references. As it is a lot of these Imponderables will also be forgotten in the dust of time while new ones will most definitely have to replace them.

All in all it was a decent read but one that is better to take in small servings instead of reading from cover to cover like I did since you can get overwhelmed even if the writing is really simple. And also remember that by the time you come across the book it will already be a catalog of yesteryear and how those times used to work.

[Simone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like trivia so I thought I’d love this book so much that I bought two books in one shot and . I HATED the delivery. That’s 10 bucks burnt away.

A fact is presented, and then 3 people propose a possible answer. (3 actors named A, B and C). The listener has 10 seconds to decide which answer is the correct one.

Didn’t like this set-up, I wanted a fun litany of interesting facts - not a game show!!!

Plus (especially in “When Do Fish Sleep”) in a lame and unsuccessful attempt at humour, A B and C would bicker and quarrel and dispute the over answers. This was an incredibly annoying and unnecessary waste of time.

[Jbussen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just overall a meh. Not to date, okay sense of humor, good, med, and bad topic questions. I love my BR readers and this series is okay. I liked and will probably re-read them again, (I don't know when I first read them, 2000? 2007? Earlier? Later? Beats me) its just not deep or groundbreaking, or even memorable. I just like BR readers.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was an interesting book and it was fun to learn about random trivia.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, if outdated, book attempting to answer some of life's toughest questions. Would be good for middle-schoolers without access to the internet.

[Karry · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting little book. One for flipping through and enjoying in quick snippets, but not deep and WAY out of date.

[Beth Piatkowski-cadenhead]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13544754

[D.J. Desmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Learned about pencils... that’s about it

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell into the rhythm of this series when I read "Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?" so it was comforting and enjoyable to return for the sequel. Of course, like the first book, this installment is a few decades old, and some of the questions and their answers are outdated. Oftentimes, I wasn't getting an age-old question of mine answered; I was realizing that something existed to be questioned in the first place.

Part of me wishes that I could have read this series in its heyday, because I would have been so down to submit questions and answers. Imagine me doing that now: "Dear Imponderables, I know that I am over 30 years late to this debate, but I hope that you will excuse me for being born in the late 90s and will read this letter anyway."

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was today years old when I found out bowling shoes are deliberately ugly so people don’t steal them. I MEAN I GUESS IT MAKES SENSE IN HINDSIGHT, but I for real never even thought about that for a second before. I guess I just thought it was a kooky bowling alley thing to make the shoes look like that. Bonkers.

Also I love that the word calculate comes from the latin calcules, which meant ‘pebbles,’ which were what they used to add, subtract, multiply, etc. Never knew that! I love words.

[Stevie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not even sure where I got the soft cover book from. Pulled it out of a cardboard box in the garage and chipped away at it at about 10 pages a read over the course of several months. Pretty amusing overall. Took me a good second to realize just how old and potentially antiquated some of the imponderables are. Had to do a double take at the publication date when I started reading about rotary phones. I had known it was older from the start. However, it really hit home at that point. Still, I liked it as is. It was a lot of fun and nothing was so old that it was hard to follow.

[Laura Cushing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these imponderables are very dated now, but there is enough still relevant to make this an entertaining and somewhat educational read.

[Julien Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised when I read this book. This was because a lot of the things in the book, were things that I actually wondered. This book is worth it for sure.

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun. Answering questions that you've always had, or now wonder why you never had. Not everything is answered difinitively, but it's a fun and interesting read.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

When a Buzzfeed listicle becomes a book.

[Sam Link · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty standard trivia-ish book from the late 80's.

[Helen Geng]

Read October 2021

[Barb Ratcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny book that the authors use peoples ideas and look for answers.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read the whole book. The first 30-60 pages, yes. But after that I page through and only rad the answers to questions I found interesting.

[Emmy]

Some of the questions are really interesting and some are just whatever. I'm having a little trouble maintaining my enthusiasm.

[Jann Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little outdated but interesting.

[Remo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nueva entrega de la recopilación de respuestas curiosas pero inútiles a preguntas que no nos habíamos hecho pero NECESITAMOS tener respondidas.

¿Por qué En muchos hoteles te doblan el último piquito del pael higiénico?
¿Por qué, si el agua es más pesada que el aire, hay nubes?
¿Cuándo se convierte una ternera en una vaca?
¿Por qué tienen pelillos las pelotas de tenis, y por qué tienen hoyuelos las de golf?
¿Por qué MIckey Mouse tiene cuatro dedos?
¿Cómo se les quita el hueso a las aceitunas ?
¿Por qué las uñas de las manos crecen más rápido que las de los pies?
¿Qué son exactamente las ojeras y por qué salen ?

Y así unas doscientas. Algunas están ya dasfasadas (¿por qué los tatuajes suelen ser azules?) y otras se solucionan con una búsqueda rápida en Internet (este libro es del 89), pero hay muchas que siguen siendo entretenidísimas de leer. Me encantó.

[April Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

What ages would I recommend it too? Twelve and up.

Length? Each story is a few pages.

Characters? No.

Setting? Real World before 1989.

Written approximately? 1989.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? Ready to read more.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Some answers have been updated in recent years.

Short storyline: A question is asked, and answers are given for it. Some are really good, and some are funny.

Notes for the reader: This book is a bit outdated. Aerosol cans, VHS tapes, phones, airline tickets, carbon paper.

One of the answered questions led me to ask another. How does a a one armed, or no armed, military member salute?

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book of the category 'random interesting topics', or something I'd recommend for toilet reads or for any small breaks. Or any time when you are too tired to concentrate in a long story. Or on a long flight or something.
Lots of interesting tidbits of information, but since it was published in the 1990s, 20-30 % of the trivia is already out of date. Very few people for instance actually use the yellow pages any more for anything (other than crafts or composting perhaps).

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Do Fish Sleep? And Other Imponderables of Everyday Life by David Feldman (Harper and Row Publishers Inc. 1989) (031.02) is an excellent trivia read. Written and compiled on the order of "The Straight Dope," this doesn't quite rise to the level of Uncle Cecil's Straight Dope, but it comes close enough to make it an entertaining read. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 1/13/14.

[Sam Morin · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book is pretty good and some what funny. the book will give you something that most people ask, such as why is a t.v. louder when commercials come on or the most common (which is the title of the book) when do fish sleep. very interestig and probably bound to keep you interested.

[Gru · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a really fun book that answer those hard questions like when do fish sleep? or why goofy talks and pluto that is a dog too doesn't talk? or why mickey mouse and his friends just have 4 fingers?

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

impress everyone you meet with your random knowledge.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saving this book to read to my grandchildren

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great book for family meals, camping, and spending time together