The Straight Dope Tells All

I love The Straight Dope, and I have to say that there are parts of this book that were so entertaining that I found myself thinking, "This is probably my favorite collection of these columns"--certain especially funny questions, particularly acerbic polemics, et cetera.This book addresses who invented the yellow happy face symbol, takes a very skeptical look at the infamous Roswell Incident, explores why the KKK burns crosses, discusses sex in space, whether people's personal magnetism can short out street lights, and if rabbits' teeth can grow to the point that they can no longer use them to eat.So there are a lot of cool parts in here...but there were other parts as well.There's no question that this book is entertaining and engaging, but it's also got a lot more filler in it than any of the previous volumes: lengthy transcriptions of chatroom conversations, not-so-insightful reader responses, and a kind of un-Cecil-Adams-like laziness about answering the questions that I'd never noticed before. For instance: he often just posts a question on an online message board and then tells us what people said. His whole omniscience schtick seems to falter here.And then there's the book's size: it's pretty slight compared to most of the earlier ones, and some of the topics start to feel as if you've already read them in earlier volumes.But whatever. These books are great, better than any other trivia books I can think of, and even as I wrote the above complaints, I was wishing that he'd hurry up and put out Volume 6. It's been almost eight years already since the last book!Also, I'd love to see the short-lived TV show on DVD. I'd buy that for sure.

I first read The Straight Dope Tells All years ago in the 90s. I was totally immersed in it. Very interesting and humorous too. I read it again about once a year. I ordered this one for my brother. I know he will love it.

Delivered as advertised.

Yet another book from him...If you havent heard about Cecil Adams then let me tell you he's one of the most eccentric "personages" ever existed... he claims to know everything about everything and cannot be mistaken... a bit arrogant sometimes he comes again to make mankind a favour and take us all from profound ignorance...Good book for trivia fans...Warning: expect to read almost anything imaginable here on these pages... it's true!

I've always enjoyed Cecil and have, over the years, purchased his first four books. And it's true--each volume is a bit less fascinating than the previous. It really seems that the most familiar, universal, and entertaining imponderables were addressed in the earlier volumes. Odd, but seemingly true. Still, keep going Cecil!

TSDTA is absolutely hysterical. Cecil answers questions concerning the origin of the smiley face and Area 51. He even disagrees with an entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, to which an editor of the EB replies claiming that Cecil is indeed correct and the EB wrong!