The Babinski Reflex and 70 Other Useful and Amusing Metaphors from Science, Psychology, Business, Sports.and Everyday Life.

Goldberg, Philip.

ISBN 10: 0874775639 / ISBN 13: 9780874775631

Published by Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc., Los Angeles, 1990

About this Item

211pp. Or card covers. Prev owners name in ink on front end paper. Tells the origin and meaning of 71 metaffects (specialised term that can be used to describe why things happen the way they do) and how they can be used in everyday situations. Some like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the Greenhouse Effect are well known. Others like the Biffle Poll, Coolidge Effect and Fiddle factor are less well known but equally intriguing. Size: 8vo.

Seller Inventory # 000751

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Babinski Reflex and 70 Other Useful and Amusing Metaphors from Science, Psychology, Business, Sports.and Everyday Life.
• Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc., Los Angeles
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874775639
• ISBN 13: 9780874775631
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Miscellaneous

About this title

Synopsis

A witty collection of scientific terms metaphorically applied to everyday life

Reviews

Arranged in alphabetical order, the entries in this entertaining collection include the origin of the metaphor, an example of its use, and a metaffect ("a recognized . . . principle whose official meaning can be transferred to another context"). The style of presentation is breezy, and the material is sure to enliven speech or writing with new means of expression. The book belongs on a browsing rather than reference shelf, but because some of the examples are contemporary and uninhibited, a little caution may be suggested.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

How-to book author Goldberg describes this project as "a fun-fact book." The gimmick is the use of terms like Babinski Reflex and Gresham's Law as "metaffects"--using them outside of the context for which they were coined. Goldberg attempts to explain the original sense of the terms and to suggest ways the terms might enter casual conversation. Many of the examples are tortured, a few are pretentious in the extreme, and more than several are disturbing, as in "Man, she brings out the beast in me! One look at her and I babinski like a dog in heat!" Of some use as a handy reference of simple explanations of a few terms from physics and economics, but little value beyond this is apparent.
- Mark L. Shelton, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.