What do you think?
Rate this book
Car Talk Science: MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back
Presented together for the first time, here are all-time favorite Car Talk calls that run happily off road, veering into the amazing world of science, where Tom and Ray actually wield some authority. MIT may want its diplomas back, but the world's most knowledgeable garage scientists are undeterred in seeking greater knowledge - and laughter.
Audio CD
Published August 30, 2016
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 15, 2017
A wonderfully entertaining laugh-a-minute listen perfect for an on-the-go-reality-escape!
“Hello and welcome to this collection of calls put together specifically to embarrass the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now you’ll hear us tackle the very pillars of science: physics, chemistry, fluid dynamics and, of course, cream rinse.”
The hilarious online antics of Tom and Ray Magliozi return in a new audio, Car Talk Science – MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back. Before you ask, both brothers did indeed graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I absolutely love the Magliozi Brothers’ shows every time I can catch them on NPR where they were known as “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers.” In this release, the Tappet Brothers hilariously debate multiple topics that callers have presented to them including how to make a Cub Scout’s Pinewood Derby car go faster and how not to transport a mattress.
Following please find a few favorites quotes from Car Talk Science – MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back:
“It turns out that we’re not the only ones who go out on a scientific limb as we discuss or attempt to discuss cars, car repairs and scientific education in America today.”
---
The two quote a student answering a test question:
The body consists of three parts: the brainium, the borax and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain. The borax contains the heart and lungs and the abominable cavity contains the bowels of which there are five: a, e, i, o, u.
---
“How do you keep a mattress on the roof of your car from flying?”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know how many people know it, but a lot of people have learned that putting your arm up there to hold the mattress is not going to work.”
The whole CD was side-splitting fun, but my very favorite section concerned a lawn chair balloonist. I couldn’t believe anyone would do such an absurdly dangerous thing, so I actually checked the story’s veracity on snopes (http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/...) . Indeed, Snopes confirmed the truthfulness of the crazy tale. You can read about it on snopes, but, believe me, there’s no similarity to hearing it relayed in the brothers’ own words. Here’s a very short snippet pulled from that story:
“Two passing jetliners reported to controllers they’d seen a man with a gun seated on a deck chair at eleven thousand feet…”
I think it’s fabulous that excerpted highlights of their radio shows are becoming more available in audio form. This is a CD I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to again and again! My only complaint is that it is too short at just over an hour long. That said, Car Talk Science – MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back is a wonderfully entertaining listen perfect for an on-the-go-reality-escape or anytime you crave a laugh.
My full review is posted at Reading Between The Wines Book Club. Please check it out there: http://www.readingbetweenthewinesbook...
“Hello and welcome to this collection of calls put together specifically to embarrass the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now you’ll hear us tackle the very pillars of science: physics, chemistry, fluid dynamics and, of course, cream rinse.”
The hilarious online antics of Tom and Ray Magliozi return in a new audio, Car Talk Science – MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back. Before you ask, both brothers did indeed graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I absolutely love the Magliozi Brothers’ shows every time I can catch them on NPR where they were known as “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers.” In this release, the Tappet Brothers hilariously debate multiple topics that callers have presented to them including how to make a Cub Scout’s Pinewood Derby car go faster and how not to transport a mattress.
Following please find a few favorites quotes from Car Talk Science – MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back:
“It turns out that we’re not the only ones who go out on a scientific limb as we discuss or attempt to discuss cars, car repairs and scientific education in America today.”
---
The two quote a student answering a test question:
The body consists of three parts: the brainium, the borax and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain. The borax contains the heart and lungs and the abominable cavity contains the bowels of which there are five: a, e, i, o, u.
---
“How do you keep a mattress on the roof of your car from flying?”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know how many people know it, but a lot of people have learned that putting your arm up there to hold the mattress is not going to work.”
The whole CD was side-splitting fun, but my very favorite section concerned a lawn chair balloonist. I couldn’t believe anyone would do such an absurdly dangerous thing, so I actually checked the story’s veracity on snopes (http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/...) . Indeed, Snopes confirmed the truthfulness of the crazy tale. You can read about it on snopes, but, believe me, there’s no similarity to hearing it relayed in the brothers’ own words. Here’s a very short snippet pulled from that story:
“Two passing jetliners reported to controllers they’d seen a man with a gun seated on a deck chair at eleven thousand feet…”
I think it’s fabulous that excerpted highlights of their radio shows are becoming more available in audio form. This is a CD I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to again and again! My only complaint is that it is too short at just over an hour long. That said, Car Talk Science – MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back is a wonderfully entertaining listen perfect for an on-the-go-reality-escape or anytime you crave a laugh.
My full review is posted at Reading Between The Wines Book Club. Please check it out there: http://www.readingbetweenthewinesbook...
February 19, 2019
Linda wrote a wonderful review, in 2017,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and so has Alex Shrugged, in 2018
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
so it must be time for one more.
Thank NPR for having the sense to hire the two funniest, smartest brothers who used to run a 'do-it-yourself, with help from us and our tools' garage in the Lechemere neighborhood, in back of MIT, back in the '70s. I went there once, in 1979. I learned that it's worth it to pay someone else to work on my car.
When WBUR put those guys on the radio, in 1977, giving serious advice about cars, car repair, and duh, life, I was in. They were funny, but feeling their way. They were our local talent, until 1987, when NPR spread them around for all of us to enjoy. They have listeners around the world. It's not so much about cars as life.
And I have been with them, all these years. They're more family to me than most of my relatives, because I've spent so much more time listening to them, and their mother, and crying when Tommy died. I lost my daughter the same month.
Listening to them now, as I did when I was pregnant, a new mom, and a barely-willing survivor 30 years later, has helped me more than any therapy could.
So, yeah, they've been with me for 40 years or so, and I'm not missing any chance to have another laugh.
Thank you, everyone who contributes to NPR. It isn't what it used to be, and funding gets cut every year, and the free press isn't free. Guard what we have, or we'll have to start something new.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and so has Alex Shrugged, in 2018
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
so it must be time for one more.
Thank NPR for having the sense to hire the two funniest, smartest brothers who used to run a 'do-it-yourself, with help from us and our tools' garage in the Lechemere neighborhood, in back of MIT, back in the '70s. I went there once, in 1979. I learned that it's worth it to pay someone else to work on my car.
When WBUR put those guys on the radio, in 1977, giving serious advice about cars, car repair, and duh, life, I was in. They were funny, but feeling their way. They were our local talent, until 1987, when NPR spread them around for all of us to enjoy. They have listeners around the world. It's not so much about cars as life.
And I have been with them, all these years. They're more family to me than most of my relatives, because I've spent so much more time listening to them, and their mother, and crying when Tommy died. I lost my daughter the same month.
Listening to them now, as I did when I was pregnant, a new mom, and a barely-willing survivor 30 years later, has helped me more than any therapy could.
So, yeah, they've been with me for 40 years or so, and I'm not missing any chance to have another laugh.
Thank you, everyone who contributes to NPR. It isn't what it used to be, and funding gets cut every year, and the free press isn't free. Guard what we have, or we'll have to start something new.
November 9, 2024
Audiobook. Great as expected. There are numerous parts where you can't help but laugh and snort out loud.
April 22, 2018
This audiobook is a collection of NPR's Car Talk radio show episodes where callers ask questions about their cars and life. This 1 hour collection features questions regarding aeronautical engineering, the laws of mass and motion, and other such weighty issues in science which Click and Clack utterly mangle with their tomfoolery.
It takes very intelligent people to make science formulas sound funny so don't be fooled. This is a good collection. If you've heard one episode, you've heard them all. If you like one you will like them all. It is witnessing the process that is entertaining. If you went back and analyzed it, you would ask yourself, "Why was that funny?" It isn't the telling of a joke that is funny. It is the telling of the story.
(I used to be a member of an improvisational comedy group. Car Talk is improvisational comedy at its best.)
I'd listen to this one again.
It takes very intelligent people to make science formulas sound funny so don't be fooled. This is a good collection. If you've heard one episode, you've heard them all. If you like one you will like them all. It is witnessing the process that is entertaining. If you went back and analyzed it, you would ask yourself, "Why was that funny?" It isn't the telling of a joke that is funny. It is the telling of the story.
(I used to be a member of an improvisational comedy group. Car Talk is improvisational comedy at its best.)
I'd listen to this one again.
March 25, 2022
Published in 2016 by HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books.
Hosted by Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Duration: 1 hour, 1 minute.
Unabridged.
For years a staple on the weekend schedule of every NPR station was "Car Talk", a call-in show featuring brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi. These guys were experts in practical car maintenance and repair, they could talk all day long and they clearly enjoyed each other's company. The show was entertaining and informative. The last new show was broadcast in 2012.
Neither of these brothers was a professional mechanic, but they operated a "bring your own parts and fix it yourself" car shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts and picked up a thing or two along the way. They also both have degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), also located in Cambridge.
They used to receive calls that covered all sorts of car-related topics. Most were straight up car questions, but some were different. In this case, these are more science-related. Some are kind of duds, like the rather long conversation about...
Read more at: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2022...
Hosted by Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Duration: 1 hour, 1 minute.
Unabridged.
For years a staple on the weekend schedule of every NPR station was "Car Talk", a call-in show featuring brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi. These guys were experts in practical car maintenance and repair, they could talk all day long and they clearly enjoyed each other's company. The show was entertaining and informative. The last new show was broadcast in 2012.
Neither of these brothers was a professional mechanic, but they operated a "bring your own parts and fix it yourself" car shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts and picked up a thing or two along the way. They also both have degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), also located in Cambridge.
They used to receive calls that covered all sorts of car-related topics. Most were straight up car questions, but some were different. In this case, these are more science-related. Some are kind of duds, like the rather long conversation about...
Read more at: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2022...
February 26, 2019
A short and fun listen to some of Tom and Ray's favorite calls. The chemistry between the two works well, and the callers seem t have the appropriate expectations, which helps keep the mood light.
November 30, 2021
A fun road trip book to listen to, though a bit too much laughing by the brothers. Brought back memories of Sunday mornings listening to them on NPR.
February 17, 2022
Funny. I’m neither a car nor a science person but this was engaging. I laughed out loud.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews