Read Do Elephants Jump? Online
Authors: David Feldman
Fair enough. Just as Imponderables are ponderable (“Imponderability” refers to that state in which you think you will never find an answer), so are some Imponderables solvable if you know where to look in the library. This has always been the toughest part of deciding what Imponderables to include in our books — many mysteries are fascinating but solvable through traditional research in a library (or might be known to experts in a field but not published in mainstream sources). For example, in this volume, “Why Do Beavers Build Dams?” seems like an easy question to answer. Every documentary we’ve seen on beavers highlights their construction of dams. So in cases like this, we consult encyclopedias and other standard reference books to see whether the “whys” are answered. In this case, they weren’t to our satisfaction. Because we were both interested in the answer to the question and clueless about its solution, we included this Imponderable. We’re sure we could have found the answers in books, but not easily through standard reference works. We love librarians, and not just because they buy our books. They help us find our experts, and we feel a kinship for anyone whose pursuit is to track down the answers to annoying questions.
Leach concluded her letter with:
You would make so many librarians and our customers happy if, as part of your tenth-book celebration, you would publish a union index to all ten books.
Who loves ya’? This has long been our most requested feature and we hope the back of this volume helps you unburden your library patrons of their Imponderable afflictions.
Well, at least one person loves us, and the feeling is reciprocated. Along with librarians, teachers are just about our favorite folks, especially this one — Larry Warmingham, now an administrator for the school district of Lancaster, Pennsylvania:
I have spent the last ten years or so using your books in my classroom. I don’t know whether this is a common thing or not, but I wanted to let you know that it has been very helpful.
As a former middle-school science teacher, I was always looking for new ways to engage my students. I got your
Imponderables
book as a gift and was intrigued. I soon had many of your books on my shelf. It then occurred to me that if I wanted to get my students to be inquisitive and to look for answers that couldn’t be found in the usual places, then I needed to ask them the right questions.
The first question I used was, “Why is there a black spot in white bird droppings?” thinking that this would be a great start for hormonal preteens! It worked quite well. I used them once a week and gave prizes to students who were able to come up with the right answers. I worked it like the lottery. One set of prizes was divided among the correct answers. This way students were less likely to give away answers if they knew they would have to split the prizes.
Students began to call Wendy’s to find out why they had square hamburgers, e-mail M&M to find out what the letters stood for, etc. We even got to the point of creating a “final exam” at the end of the year. It’s surprising how many students remembered the correct answers. The answers are not always in an encyclopedia, or a textbook, or a dictionary. Sometimes it’s fun to look for the answer and very rewarding to finally find it. I think it was helpful to my students to search in new places, to think outside the box, and to realize that answers can be found almost anywhere. Since I am no longer in the classroom as much, I have started to post the questions on my office door, and my colleagues stop by to give a guess to the answers each week. Just thought you’d like to know that there is more to Imponderables than just an interesting answer — but I guess you already knew.
Isn’t it time to throw caution to the wind and develop an
Imponderables
curriculum, Larry? We’re available for consultation! Until you get back to us on that, we’ll just have to bide our time, hunting down Imponderables before your students put us out of a job.
Until we meet again, may you all jump for joy. Elephants would want you to.
I wouldn’t have been able to write a second
Imponderables
book without the support of readers, so it’s hard to express the enormity of my gratitude for your contributions over ten volumes and almost twenty years. Your letters and e-mails do more than supply material for the books — they provide the energy to go on when I think of pursuing other alluring professions, like animal husbandry or envelope stuffing. I would say that I’m not worthy — but I don’t want to give you ideas.
I’m so pleased to be back home at HarperCollins, especially with my editor, Susan Friedland, who loves to eat and laugh, two prerequisites for any cosmically attuned person. We first met sixteen years ago, when I used to loiter in her office; she finally realized it would be easier to edit me than to get rid of me. Thanks to Califia Suntree for her help.
Muchas gracias
to two collaborators who have been part of my writing career since day one: my able agent, Jim Trupin, and the illustrious illustrator, Kassie Schwan.
For their invaluable research assistance, a big shout-out to Phil Feldman and Mark Sinclair, and a little whisper-out to Tom Rugg for his assistance on the Lone Ranger Imponderable. John Di Bartolo helped turn eleven indexes into one.
My friends and family deserve a medal for putting up with me, but they’ll have to be content with a crummy acknowledgment. Mucho thanks to Fred, Phil, Gilda, and Michael Feldman; Michele Gallery; Larry Prussin; Jon Blees; Brian Rose; Ken Gordon; Elizabeth Frenchman; Merrill Perlman; Harvey Kleinman; Pat O’Conner; Stewart Kellerman; Michael Barson; Jeannie Behrend; Sherry Barson; Uday Ivatury; Laura Tolkow; Terry Johnson; Christal Henner; Roy Welland; Judith Dahlman; Paul Dahlman; Bonnie Gellas; James Gleick; Cynthia Crossen; Chris McCann; Judy Goulding; Karen Stoddard; Eileen O’Neill; Joanna Parker; Maggie Wittenburg; Ernie Capobianco; Liz Trupin; Nat Segaloff; Mark Landau; Joan Urban; Diane Burrowes; Virginia Stanley; Sean Dugan; Alison Pennels; Marjan Mohsenin; Dennis, Heide, and Devin Whelan; Ji Lu; Alvin, Marilyn, Audrey, and Margot Cooperman; Carol Williams; Dan Fuller; Tom O’Brien; Susan Thomas; Tom and Leslie Rugg; Stinky; Matt Weatherford; and Amy Yarger.
Special thanks to my pals at Starbucks #839 for keeping me vertical; to John Di Bartolo, Annette Matejik, and my step-pals for keeping me ambulatory; to Jim Leff and Chowhounds for making sure I’m well fed; to PSML and Spectropop, for keeping the musical faith; to my Popular Culture Association pals, for getting academia right; to Bill and Saipin Chutima and Ali El Sayed for their artistry and friendship; and to the Housewife Writers for their frogspit.
And then there are all the experts in fields ranging from syringes to skunks who helped answer the Imponderables in this book. The most fun part of my job is when I find
the
expert or experts on some field I know nothing about, and hearing them talk about the subject they are passionate about. Without their willingness to share their knowledge with us,
Imponderables
would not be possible. My gratitude goes to all these sources whose expertise led directly to answers in the book:
Bob Allen, California State University, Fresno; Shirley Alvitre, Frank J. Zamboni and Company; Amurol Products Company; Robert Anderson, Idaho State University; Ron Anderson, Amana Division of Maytag Corporation; Lori Andrade, Stanley Bostitch; Cassie Arner, University of Illinois; Mark Arnold.
Connie Baboukis, Oxford University Press; Peggy Baker, Pilgrim Hall Museum; Gunnar Baldwin; Delia Barnard; Linda Bartoshuk, Yale University School of Medicine; William Benedict, Theatre Historical Society; Fraya Berg; Bruce Bjorkman, Traeger Grills; Deven Black; Michael Blakeslee, Music Educators National Conference; Russ Born, Just Born; Stephen Brady; Julie Bridge, Thomas More Association; L. S. Brodsky; Fred Bronson,
Billboard
; Harold Brooks, Mesoscale Applications Group, National Severe Storms Laboratory; Shelor Brumbeloe; Stanley M. Burstein, California State University, Los Angeles; Peter Busher, Boston University; Brian Butler, U.S. Catholic Historical Society.
Campbell Soup Company; Lenore Campos; Bob Carrol; Bob Cate, Bowater, Inc.; John Chaneski; Amy Chezem, National Association of Chewing Gum Manufacturers; Faleem Choudhry, Pro Football Hall of Fame; John Churchill, Phi Beta Kappa Society; Peter Clare, Thurston Company; Warren Clark, Ford Gum Company; Catherine A. Clay, Florida Department of Citrus; Terry Collingham, Colonial Needle Company; Sean Collins, National Public Radio; Tom Conley, Lifoam Leisure Products; John Corbett, Clairol; Norman Cox, Franke, Gottsegen, Cox Architects; Sherri Creamer, Alive Again Bears; David Currier.
Doug Danks, Dome Corporation of North America; Lorraine D’Antonio, Religious Research Association; Thomas Deen, Transportation Research Board; Karen Del Principe, FASNY Museum of Firefighting; Alan Detscher, Secretariat for the Liturgy; John Di Bartolo, Polytechnic University; Michael DiBiasi, Becton-Dickinson and Company; Jim Dickinson, K-Tube; Pat Donahue, Kraft Foods, Inc.; Thomas Dorman, Dorman Publishing; Chuck Doswell, University of Oklahoma; Joe Doyle; Jerry Dragoo, Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico.
Ray Ehrlich, American Plastics Council; EPS Molders Association; J. Richard Ethridge, Backyard Barbeques; Mark Evanier; Mark Evans, Purdue University.
Richard Fabry,
American Window Cleaner Magazine
; Fred Feldman; Phil Feldman; Arther Ferrill; Robert Fitts; Eddie Fizdale, Peak Produce; Scott Forman, New York Medical College, Westchester Medical Center.
Louis Galicia, Great Western Forum; Stan Garber, Selmer Company; Maura Gatensby; Burle Gengenbach, University of Minnesota; Nat Gertler; Autumn Gill, University of Notre Dame; Jim Grady, Tri-State Window Cleaning; Janis Grant, North Alabama Wildlife Rehabilitators; David Gray, California State University; Robert D. Greenberg, FCC; Neil Grey, International Bridge, Tunnel and Turn-pike Association; Mark Grunwald, Philadelphia Zoo; Gund, Inc.; Harmeet Guraya, USDA.
Jeffrey Hahn, University of Minnesota; Tom Hailand; Christopher Halleron; Richard Hanneman, Salt Institute; Ed Hansen, American Association of Zoo Keepers; M. N. Hartman, Vita Needle Company; Neil Harvey; R. C. Harvey; Gary Heinrichs, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Frank Heppner, University of Rhode Island; Roger Herr, South’s Bar; Billy Higgins, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; Lauren Hiltner, Babe Farm; Keith Holmes; Celwyn Hopkins, Independent Battery Manufacturers Association; J. Benjamin Horvay; Michel Huet, International Hydrographic Bureau.
Sid Jacobson; Scott Jackson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Ben H. Jenkins; James Jester; Caleb Johnson; Carl Johnson; Lenworth Johnson, University of Missouri; Richard Allen Jones, Japan Information Center.
R. Kamins; Elizabeth Karmel, Girls at the Grill; Jane Kerber, Advanced Storage Technology; Arif Khan; Mindy Kinsey,
Teddy Bear and Friends
; Phil Klein; Dan Kniffen, National Cattlemen’s Association; Mark Kohut, St. Martin’s Press; Ken Koury; Bill Kretzschmar, University of Georgia; Jim Kunkel, C&W Co.
Delila Lacevic; Ella Lacey, Southern Illinois University School; Joseph Landau; Richard Landesman, University of Vermont; Susan L’Ecoyer, NARM; Dave Lewis, Corby Industries; John Lewis, Billiards Congress of America; Anthony Lojo, Swingline Staplers; Raoul Lopez, Culver City Ice Arena; Tom Lubbsmeyer, Boeing Co.; Lundberg Family Farms; Theodore Lustig, West Virginia University.
Soheila Maleki, USDA; Steven Marks, Wayne State University; Don Markstein, Toonpedia; Anthony Martin, National Flag Foundation; Garry Mauer, Window Cleaning Network; Mary Anne Mayeski, Loyola Marymount University; Geoff Mayfield,
Billboard
; Linda McCall; Kevin McCray, National Ground Water Association; Jim McDade, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Melissa McGann, Charles D. Schulz Museum and Research Center; Rima McKinzey; Arnold Merkitch; Larry Meyers, MagTek, Inc.; Theresa Michael, General Crushed Stone Company; Don Monroe, Morton Salt; Robert Montgomerie, Queen’s University; Stewart Montgomery, MagTek, Inc.; Michael Moore, Steinway & Sons; Dan Morrison; Arthur J. Mullkoff, American Concrete Institute; Sean F. Mullan, University of Chicago; Donna Myers, DHM Group.
Blake Newton, University of Kentucky; Masahiko Noro, Japan Foundation; Richard O’Brien; Bob O’Dell, Becton-Dickinson and Company.
Bill Palmer, Travel Centers of America; Jim Parham, Jive Records; Jim Patton, Smurfit Newsprint; Enid Pearsons; Doug Peters, Frank J. Zamboni and Company; Gin Petty; David Pickering; Janet Pope, Louisiana Tech University; Harrison Powley, Brigham Young University; Judy Provo, Purdue University; Rebecca Pyles, East Tennessee State University.
Quaker Foods and Beverages.
Real Foods; Recording Industry Association of America; Gary Regan; Rhino Records; Errol Rhodes, American Bible Society; Edward Richards, Louisiana State University; Charles Richman, EBM Industries, Inc.; Sara Risch, Science By Design; Andrew Ritter; Lloyd Rooney, Texas A&M University; Alan Rooscroft, San Diego Wild Animal Park; Steven N. Rosenberg; Jo Rothery,
Teddy Bear Times
; Tom Rugg; Russ Berrie and Company; Denis Ryan, Mine Safety Appliances Company.
Dan Scheeler, Sasakawa Peace Foundation; Tom Schott, Purdue University; Mike Schroeder, Amateur Hockey Association of the United States; Heidi Schwartz,
Today’s Facility Manager
; Norman Scott, National Biological Service; Samuel Selden; Sherwood Medical Company; Carole Shulman, Professional Skaters’ Guild of America; Brian Sietsema; Nina Simone; Skippy Peanut Butter; Dorothy Skrotzki, Wildfur, Inc.; Whitney Smith, Flag Research Center; Louis Sorkin, American Museum of Natural History; Will Sousa, Babe Farm; Mike Starling, National Public Radio; Steiff North America, Inc.; Irwin Steinberg, Tortilla Industry Association; Dick Stilwill, National Appliance Parts Suppliers Association; Mike Stooke, Snookergames; Dennis Stout, E. D. Bullard Company.
Timothy N. Taft, University of North Carolina; Surnie Takagi; Alice Taylor, National Public Radio; Carol Thomas, University of Washington; Don Thompson, Comair Rotron; Nathan Tift; Carolyn Freeman Travers; Ritomo Tsunashima.
Father Kevin Vaillancourt, Society of Traditional Roman Catholics; Willy Voelzke, Rieger Printing Ink Company, Ltd.
Joe Walt, Sigma Alpha Epsilon; Ralph Waniska Texas A&M; Bobvin Ward, Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America; Janet Ward, Just Born; Robert L. Ward, Ahrens-Fox Fire Buffs Club; Lee Weaver; Weber-Stephen Products Co.; Marc Weinberg, Ballsy Bear; Brent Weingard, Expert Window Cleaner; Allison Wells, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Lorraine Wettlaufer, Just Born; JoAnne C. Williams, Michigan Loon Preservation Society; Jon Williamson, North American Interfraternity Conference; Melanie Wong; Jim Wright, New York State Department of Transportation; Michael Wurtz, Sharlot Hall Museum.
Richard Zamboni, Frank J. Zamboni and Co.; and Mike Zulak, San Francisco Zoo.
And to the experts who preferred to remain anonymous but provided valuable research, a grateful tip of the hat.