The Velocity of Honey and More Science of Everyday Life

Allison Sivak is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library at
the University of Alberta.

Jay Ingram’s fifth book on science for general audiences links the
everyday events in our lives to the mysteries of science.

Much of the book focuses more on psychology and on physics than the
other sciences. As the author notes, he has selected various topics and
explanations because they happen to interest him. This interest comes
through in his writing, which is lively and engaging and peppered with
humour. Ingram, who seems to sense when the explanations he’s giving
might go over the head of the non-scientific reader, uses
straightforward, everyday comparisons to illustrate his points. His
investigations range from the almost mundanely unnoticeable daily
occurrence (why coffee stains in a ring) to the science behind our
common truisms and well-worn sayings (e.g., “six degrees of
separation” and “time flies when you’re having fun”).

Among the greatest mysteries of science for those who are not
scientifically inclined is that often there is an assumed clear,
straight path from the research question to the final conclusions.
Ingram’s trail to answering a basic science question is filled with
failed or absurd-sounding experiments, diversions, and incidental facts,
all of which cleverly illustrate the meandering path that scientific
research (as well as all other forms of research) must take in order to
achieve what appears on the surface to be the answer to a very simple
question. Ingram’s own interest in a variety of topics is itself
meandering, ensuring that readers are likely to find at least one topic
about which they think, “I always wondered why that happened!”