The Theory of Everything Else
A Voyage Into the World of the Weird
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3.9 • 10 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"A pleasure. ... Suitable for beach reading or for mainlining before a dinner party." —Dan Piepenbring, New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"Absorbing. ... As thoughtfully written as it is nuts." —Chicago Tribune
A collection of the world’s most mind-boggling, thought-provoking, and downright hilarious theories by the co-host of the hit podcast No Such Thing as a Fish, Dan Schreiber.
Why are we here? Do ghosts exist? Will we ever travel back in time? Are we being visited by extraterrestrials? Will we ever talk to animals? Are we being told the truth? Are mysterious creatures roaming the Earth? And why, when you’re in the shower, does the shower curtain always billow in towards you?
We don’t know the answers to any of these questions (that includes the shower-curtain one, which is a mystery that has eluded scientists for decades, and which they are still trying to solve). But don’t worry, no matter what questions you have, you can bet on the fact that there is someone (or something) out there, investigating it on your behalf—and Dan Schreiber collects their latest findings.
From the Silicon Valley tech billionaires currently trying to work out whether or not the universe is one giant video game simulation to the self-proclaimed community of Italian time-travelers who are trying to save the world from destruction; The Theory of Everything Else will act as a handbook for those who want to think differently.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
No Such Thing as a Fish podcaster Schreiber debuts with a humorous survey of bizarre "speculations, beliefs and claims, begging to be accepted as truths." Contending that "pretty much everyone in the world" believes their own "bit of batshit," Schreiber documents Nancy Reagan's consultations with an astrologer on Cold War negotiations, tennis star Novak Djokovic's pilgrimages to ancient Bosnian pyramids purported to emit cosmic energy, and more. Even NASA has been convinced by unlikely theories, and once funded the research of a neuroscientist who aimed to establish human-to-dolphin communication. While Schreiber's anecdotes don't offer much more than entertainment value, readers will be charmed by his colorful narration and clear enthusiasm for the hypocrisies of human beliefs, including continued popular fixations with 16th-century "seer" Nostradamus, despite his predictions' "jaw-droppingly low hit rate," and intractable Bermuda Triangle superstitions ("the number of ships and planes that go missing there is pretty much the same percentage as anywhere else in the world"). This will delight anyone looking for dinner conversation fodder who doesn't mind raising a few eyebrows.
