Kitchen Table Reviews: How Weird Is It?
The kitchen table team finds this book fascinating — and pretty darn weird.
How Weird Is It? by Ben Hillman
The answer to How Weird Is It? turns out to be—if you’re reading Ben Hillman’s book, as we did, this week—pretty darn weird. I’m just warning you. Not that you could’ve figured that out from the title. But he’s not joking; it’s really very weird.
The weirdest part, it turns out, is that this oversize volume (while not particularly thick, the pages do measure an impressive almost twelve inches by twelve inches) sports a variety of bizarre photos to illustrate the various topics. For the visually inclined, this is either entertaining or terrifying. Or both.
Me: I thought this one was kind of fun, and different from anything we’ve read recently.
Son: This was so great; I loved all the weird stuff. I want more weird stuff!
Daughter: I didn’t like it.
Me: Really? Why not?
Daughter: It was boring.
Me: Really?? How can you say that when there were so many things in there you didn’t know before, but that were really unusual? I thought a lot of it was fascinating.
Daughter: Well, yeah, I guess it’s probably sort of interesting, but I thought the way it was written was kind of… dry. It wasn’t funny. It could’ve been funny, but it wasn’t. I mean, the pictures were funny. I liked those. But then it was like the text didn’t go with it.
Son: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I thought it was all great.
Me: I had a few minor issues with the way it’s written, but nothing that extreme. I did notice there’s a lot of exclamation points. That seemed kind of unnecessary.
Daughter: Exactly. It was sort of “And now I’m going to tell you this! And this!” It kind of felt like reading a very excited textbook.
Me: Hmmm. Well, why don’t you each tell me your favorite part.
Son: I liked the part about whether we’re from Mars. There was a green family! I think they did that with lights. Or maybe Photoshop.
Daughter: I liked the part about how bacteria sleeps, and then there was a picture that sort of looked like a hairy potato in bed.
At this, both kids began laughing hysterically. Hairy potatoes in bed are funny!
Me: I liked the part about how humans are related to fungus. And the picture where everyone is a mushroom.
Daughter: He’s a fungus-head.
Son: No, you’re a fungus-head!
They dissolved in giggles, again. (That part wasn’t weird, even though the book was.)
Pros: Weird photos are fascinating. Learning things you didn’t even know you didn’t know. My children are now using “fungus-head” as their preferred insult for one another.
Cons: Sometimes weird is kind of gross. Lots! of! exclamation! points! Strangely devoid of humor despite covering many topics that could easily be funny because they’re so weird.
How Weird Is It? gets two thumbs up (from me and the boy child) and one thumbs down (from the girl child, that fungus-head) at our kitchen table.
