Product Description From airline food, bagpipes and Barney to soggy cereal, telemarketers and warts, here is the first A-to-Z, illustrated compendium of everyday annoyances-complete with truly informative scientific explanations and wry commentary.
When it comes to aggravation, it's the little things that count. Car alarms, fingernails on a blackboard, having a song stuck in your head, cookie mush at the bottom of your coffee cup, mosquitoes, mimes, chain letters-and those silly curtains between First Class and Coach, what are those about?
THE POCKET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGGRAVATION is a unique tour through the things that drive us crazy, full of fascinating details about their inner workings, causes, remedies and histories. Deadpan cross-sections, diagrams and technical drawings bring such things to life as VCRs that flash 12:00-12:00-12:00 and the sound waves created by nails on a chalkboard or crinkly candy wrappers.
Chuckles and giggles.June 30, 2006 Sally The book was great, it's fun to share it with other's who look like they could use a pick me up at the coffee shop.
The errors do however, jump off the page at me, as I edit for a living.
Other than that, I'd recommend it.
For the record. respiratory tract
respiratory tract
n : the passages through which air enters and leaves the body
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc.
respiratory tract
The air passages from the nose to the pulmonary alveoli, including the pharynx, larynx, trachea, and bronchi.
The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Respiratory Track with a 'K', is infact in error, correctly put, it is a Tract, with a 'T'.
carry it with youMay 26, 2004 Alexander E. Paulsen(Jacksonville, Fl United States) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is a real hoot. I take it with me when I travel and when people see me reading it they invariably ask me about it.
Most of these are serious aggravations but handled in a typicaly British humourous fashion. Some entries are less serious such as:
Why is the your destination always on the fold of your map?
Using the equation P = A/mn = 2b(2/m + 1/n - 4b/mn), scientists determined there is a better than 50-50 chance your destination on a map will fall into the Murphy Zone - after Murphy's Law - around the edge of the map or in the crease
This and other hilarious gems is a sure fire conversation maker.
Aggravations and SemanticsMay 5, 2003 3 out of 17 found this review helpful
Using the word "aggravation" in the sense of "annoyance" is not incorrect. While most dictionaries list the first definition of "aggravation" as "to make things worse," they also list as a second or third defnition the use of "aggravation" as a synonym for "annoyance." The American Heritage Dictionary, for example, gives the definition of aggravation as: 1. The act of aggravating or the state of being aggravated. 2. A source of continuing, increasing irritation or trouble. 3. Exasperation. The Cambridge Dictionary lists a definition of "aggravation" as "adj informal annoyance." So this use of "aggravation" is accepted.
As for mispelled words in the text, I would not use that as a guage of how well or poorly a book is researched. After the author writes a book, it goes through the hands of several editors. This book has copius notes at the end that point to a great deal of research including scientific journals and personal interviews. This seems relatively uncommon for this type of light entertainment reference.
Incidentally, "respiratory" is the correct spelling according to Mirriam Webster, The Cambridge Dictionary of American English, Webster's Revised Unabridged, and The American Heritage Dictionary which I have here at my desk.
very enjoyableFebruary 8, 2003 Dr. Roger T. Helmers(Tracy, CA United States) 7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I very much recommend this book. It was a quick read on my daily train commute and I actually resented getting off the train and walking home (it is difficult to read in the dark while you're walking). However, I found a few things "aggravating" about it. First, the term "aggravating" is being misused here since the word is not synonymous with "annoying", which would have been the correct one to use. "Aggravating" means getting or making something worse but it has become one of those slang words currently en vogue (similar to "impact", which has lately become an annoying substitute for "affect"). Second, there are at least half a dozen misspelled words in the book (not typos, mind you, but misspelled words - the difference being that misspelled words are spelled that way on purpose, and for the wrong reason). One example is "respiratory track (sic)". These misspelled words are distracting and do not inspire confidence in the thoroughness of the research.
Nevertheless, my overall evaluation of this book is overwhelmingly positive and I can't wait for the sequel (quite a few more annoying things I can think of!)
informative and hilarious!July 12, 2002 4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is awesome, not only does it discuss the things that aggravate and irk is, but Laura Lee goes in depth and explains the reason and science behind them, from crinkly candy wrappers to lost luggage to slow drivers in the fast lane! I enjoyed this book and its humor so much, I hope Laura Lee writes another book on the things that aggravate us!
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