{"id":302,"date":"2009-01-09T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbicmsblog.reedbusiness.com\/elogic_660000266\/2009\/01\/09\/your-favorite-non-fiction-answering-how\/"},"modified":"2009-01-09T08:10:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-09T08:10:00","slug":"your-favorite-non-fiction-answering-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=302","title":{"rendered":"Your Favorite Non-Fiction Answering "HOW?""},"content":{"rendered":"

HOW does a man’s personality change after a six-foot long iron tamping rod has just been shot the entire way through his head — entering through his left cheekbone, exiting from the top of his skull, and landing some 30 yards away? HOW does he not lose consciousness when this happens? HOW does he not die of infection? HOW did the experience of what happened to Phineas Gage in 1848 shape what we know today about the human brain? These are just a few of the many "HOW" questions that were answered or at least raised<\/em> for me when I read John Fleischman’s fascinating book Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science<\/a><\/em> (Houghton Mifflin, 2002). It’s one of my favorite non-fiction books that answers the question "HOW?" (and "WHO?<\/a>" and "WHAT?<\/a>" and "WHEN?<\/a>" and "WHERE?<\/a>" and definitely "WHY?" — but mostly "HOW?").<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On a lighter note, HOW is it possible that trout are "made of" trees? To answer that question you’ll have to read April Pulley Sayre’s book called (you guessed it) Trout Are Made of Trees<\/a><\/em>, illustrated by Kate Endle (Charlesbridge, 2008). It’s another one of my "HOW?" book favorites because it explains the connection between plants and animals in such clear, easy-to-follow fashion.<\/p>\n

HOW about you? What non-fiction books that tell you HOW something works or happened or came to be are on your list of favorites? <\/p>\n

(One more thing: If you’re a fan of Phineas Gage and you want to be creeped out in the best of fashion, go to the Warren Anatomical Museum<\/a> on the fifth floor of the Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Longwood Campus. There you will find Phineas’ skull on display, as well as the famous tamping rod that DIDN’T do him in but… didn’t do him any favors. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. And, yeah. It’s creepy cool.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOW does a man’s personality change after a six-foot long iron tamping rod has just been shot the entire way through his head — entering through his left cheekbone, exiting from the top of his skull, and landing some 30 yards away? HOW does he not lose consciousness when this happens? HOW does he not die of infection? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}