WHY THE TOAST ALWAYS LANDS BUTTER SIDE DOWN: THE SCIENCE OF MURPHY’S LAW
Book ID/图书代码： 03275005B10126
English Summary/英文概要： Fun, quirky popular science explaining the real reasons why everything always goes wrong – the various truths behind Murphy’s Law.
The law of laws, Murphy’s Law, sits above all others like an uninvited guest at the feast. Whatever your field of endeavour Murphy is there to trip you up, delay and frustrate you. The more you endeavour, the greater the chance of tripping up. Is there a rational explanation? That’s what this book is here to provide. In fact, a closer look at Murphy’s Law can give us some insights into us and our increasingly tangled lives.
The law of laws, Murphy’s Law, sits above all Intended as light reading for the popular science market, this book presents the fullest ever analysis of Murphy’s Law – peppered with examples such as why your toast always lands butter-side down (it has nothing to do with the butter), why does your queue always move the slowest? Why, when you lose something, do you keep looking in the same place over and over again ... and why is it suddenly there the twentieth time you look? Why do you think of the right thing to say just after you’ve put the phone down? Why is the tune you hate most the one you can’t get out of your head? Why do you think of five important things to remember for tomorrow just as you’re about to fall asleep? Why do you take the same wrong turning every single time?
The law of laws, Murphy’s Law, sits above all The first part of the book shows that, however odd the external phenomena at work, there is generally a scientific explanation. But why then do we continually fail to recognize or remember the explanation? The second part of the book goes on to show how much of Murphy’s Law stems from the way our own mind works – its physical limitations, evolutionary biases, and social impressionability.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 用有趣的大众科学来解释各种错误的现象——墨菲法则。
墨菲法则像是一些没被邀请的人去参加盛宴。你越努力去做好，你将更有可能被绊倒。这是合理的解释吗？这就是这本书告诉我们的。事实上，我们越接近墨菲法则可以让我们更能洞察自己复杂的生活。
意在给大众科学市场增添亮色，这本书充分对墨菲法则进行了分析——并加了许多例子，比如为什么你的队伍移动很慢？为什么当你掉了东西你会在同一个地方找？为什么只有在你挂了电话后才发现要说的话没说？为什么你讨厌的曲调都是在你耳边缠绕？为什么你会犯同样的错误？
这本书的第一部分就对那些生活中的现象进行科学的解释。但是为什么我们还会忘了那些解释呢？这本书的第二部分告诉我们了有多少墨菲法则的分支可以用我们自己的思维来思考——身理上的限制，进化基础和社会的敏感性。(Vincent)
Awards/获奖情况：墨菲定律是美國的一名工程師愛德華•墨菲作出的著名論斷，亦稱莫非定律、莫非定理、或摩菲定理，是西方世界常用的俚語。墨菲定律主要內容是：事情如果有變壞的可能，不管這種可能性有多小，它總會發生。
在科學和演算法方面，它與英文所謂的“worst-case scenario（最劣情形）”同義，數學上用大O符號來表示。例如，對插入排序來說，最劣情形即是要排序的陣列完全倒置，必須進行 n*(n-1) 次的置換才能完成排序。在實驗上，證明了最劣情形不會發生，並不代表比它輕微的情形就不可能，除非能夠很有信心的推論事件的概率分佈是線型的。
在文化方面，它代表一種近似反諷的幽默，當作對日常生活中不滿的排解。
About the Author/作者介绍： 理查•羅賓遜是十部大眾科普書籍的作者，這些科普書包括入圍過安萬特科學獎的《科學魔術》系列（牛津大學出版社）。他是一位全職科學節目主持人，定期受邀在世界各地的大學和學校舉辦的科學藝術節上，主持展示科技知識。他所主持的科技節日從愛丁堡科學節到韓國科學節，他在大學演講從英國一直延伸到烏克蘭的大學。他擁有心理學學士學位。
插畫作家凱特•查理斯沃思定期為《新科學家》雜誌製作插圖繪畫，她為各種各樣的出版物製作插圖，包括《歷史卡通史》。
Richard Robinson is an acclaimed science presenter whose shows for school students are in regular demand around the world. He is author of Why The World is Wonky and Science Magic, and was a founder member of ‘Spitting Image’.
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