Extraordinary Origins Of Everyday Things (1989) - Plot & Excerpts
A good blend of history and speculation. The author sorts by various criteria--origins of superstitions; holidays; customs; inventions and much more!Many people might just dip into this type of book just looking for certain infomration--but I read it entirely and found the writing well well organized and fun.The illustrations from older books reprinted here I found added much to my please. a picture is worth a thousa nd words, they say--and I always enjoy old phtographs and engravings.Of course, with so much informationb I cannot recall everything nor do I plant to. I just wanted to pick up some neat and interesting facts about history--and this book succeded in that.Of course, some of the history might be debated--especially back in the times of the ancient world. The author does point out that these are the best estimates available at time of writing.Highly recommended for anyone interest is history; popular culture; word origins; and origins of many of our customs and inventions.
Still reading... its gives you the origins of such things as holidays, superstitions, traditions, things we use and say everyday. Very interesting. I learned I'm holding my New Years Celebration on the day that New Years actually used to be, which was originally March 25th, til Julius Ceaser changed it to January 1... April Fools is also has the same origin where the New Years celebration used to go on for a week until April 1 when the gift giving and such stopped. But when people resisted and kept on celebrating the old new year, people sent them prank gifts and invited them to non-existant parties as a joke to make fun of the people who stayed with old tradition. Once Jan 1 was popularly practiced, the joke-giving became a tradition of its own right in the form of April Fools day... cooooool lol
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