Title: Fifty Curious Questions: Pabulum for the Enquiring Mind
Author: Martin Fone
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
ISBN: 978-1-5462-8002-6
Pages: 112
Genre: Reference /Trivia
Reviewed by: Allison Walker

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Author Martin Fone is here to answer your quirkiest inquiries. Fifty Curious Questions, Pabulum for the Enquiring Mind answers all of life’s most pertinent questions with knowledge, and most importantly, self-effacing humor. Furthermore Fone’s quirky and good-fun humor is essential to the nature of these questions; without it the answers threaten to be mind-bogglingly dull. No one wants to know why the best ideas come to you in the bath unless they come to you with some laughs, and this is exactly where Fone hits his mark.

Questions vary from the truly fascinating (Can you unboil an egg?) to totally bizarre (Do you lose weight when you fart?) to surprisingly useful (How do you get rid of hiccups?). Answers don’t just deal in the yes or no of a question, chapters delve into lengthy explorations of why and how. Silly questions are taken into serious consideration. Answers you thought were impossible, like how to make sure no one blinks in a group photo, have some kind of solution. Even if you’ll never need to unboil an egg, you’ll learn something from reading about it in Fone’s book. Fone doesn’t waste his reader’s time, his book is a trove of useful and useless information, all of it equally engaging.

Fifty Curious Questions is exactly the type of book you want for a quick pick-me-up. Fone manages to craft answers that are engaging and fulfilling, yet knows exactly when to move on with the next inquiry before boredom threatens. It’s fast paced, easy reading and funny. If your dinner party is getting dull, questions like “What are the signs of a midlife crisis?” are sure to be a conversation starter. You will laugh more than once reading Fone’s answers to your curious questions.

The author writes that his is a quest for knowledge based on natural curiosity; as this natural curiosity is in us all. If Fone’s goal is to ask his readers to slow down, take puzzlement of the world around them, and question their mindless acceptance of life’s most befuddling events, then he has surely succeeded. It doesn’t matter if you’ll never use the answers gained through Fone’s questions, what matters is your curiosity and what you do with it. As in all things, the ability to laugh at the world around you makes Fifty Curious Questions a true pabulum for the enquiring mind.