The more we ponder, the odder the world can seem. How do footballers get their shirt numbers? Why does having daughters make couples more likely to divorce? How do you move a horse from one country to another? What counts as a journey into space? The keen minds at The Economist contemplate all these questions and more in their quest for the globe's most extraordinary quandaries and conundrums, with bizarre facts and headscratchers that show the world is even stranger than we might have thought. From plant-based milk and supermoons to the next Dalai Lama and what really happened at the storming of the Bastille, this collection of the oddest and most mindboggling explanations will amaze and delight in equal measure.

The latest edition in the Economist Explainer series, edited and introduced by Deputy Editor Tom Standage

About the Author
Tom Standage is Deputy Editor of The Economist. He is the author of several books, including Truly Peculiar, A Brief History of Motion, Uncommon Knowledge, Writing on the Wall: Social Media - The First 2,000 Years and The Victorian Internet. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and Wired.

Reviews
Praise for Tom Standage: 'Uncommonly brilliant * Daily Mail *
The Father Christmas of knowledge -- Giles Coren
Books like this make you wary of ever guessing the answer to anything * Daily Mail *



Book Information
ISBN 9781800812093
Author Tom Standage
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Economist Books
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 220g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 20mm