An Uncommon History of Common Things

An Uncommon History of Common Things

Author(s): Bethanne Patrick

John Thompson

Henry Petrosski (Foreword)

Publisher: National Geographic Society

ISBN: 978-1-4262-0420-3 

This book was quite interesting, albeit at times, it was a pain in the butt to read. That's not to say that it wasn't interesting, because there were a lot of different facts that quite frankly, I had no idea (i.e. *spoiler* Silly Putty originating as a government experiment--just to name one). 

During the time I read this book, I couldn't help but feel that it could benefit from being split into a few smaller books. In fact, at one point, the thought that the volume was supposed to be several books in one entire compilation, much like my copy of 'Hitchhiker's Guide' consists of five individual novels, plus a short story. 

As I kept reading, and when I looked for a picture of the cover for this review, I soon came to realize that this was not the case. 

On another note, during the time I spent reading this book, the Christmas holiday season rolled around, and one of the items I got as a gift was an Amazon Kindle Fire. I then started reading books using the tablet, vie the OverDrive app, which was quite convenient, once I found out that my existing library card from Ohio was still valid. 

After I finished Roderick Rules, I then realized that I had to get back to the task at hand and finish this novel so that I could review it before my brother returned it to the Parker library. So today, I spent the morning cramming through it and finally got to the end. 

As it turns out, some of the stereotypes that I have seen in popular culture have a ring of truth to them. For example, Steve Martin's Saturday Night Live sketch titled 'Theodoric of York: Medieval Barber,' while technically being a fictional character--and also not necessarily relevant to this book (the book references the profession when describing the history of the barber pole), is technically correct in its depiction of how the profession was during that particular period of time. Turns out, barbers in the middle ages really did perform surgeries as well as provide haircuts.

Would I consider reading this book again? That is one question that in this particular case, I am still on the fence about. While it was definitely really interesting because of its facts, it also felt as though it went on for quite a while, and also felt more like a volume of an encyclopedia, as opposed to an actual novel. At least Hoax kept my attention and interest with its writing style, despite being very factual.

That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend this book, because it's definitely worth perusing, especially if there's a particular object that a person would like to find more information on. In all honesty, the best way to describe it would be a miniature encyclopedia.