Never Shower in a Thunderstorm, by Anahad O'Connor

(pb; 2007: non-fiction)

From the back cover:

"For more than two years the New York Times's 'Really?' columnist Anahad O'Connor has tracked down the facts, fictions, and occasional fuzziness of old wives' tales, conventional-wisdom cures, and other medical mysteries. Now he opens up his case files to disclose the experts' answers on everything from which of your bad habits you can indulge (sitting too close to the television does not hurt your eyes) to what foods don't pack the punch advertised (you can lay off the beet juice!).

"A compendium of answers to the curious and nagging questions of how to keep healthy. Never Shower in a Thunderstorm provides guidance and amusement to anyone who has ever wondered if the mosquitoes really are attacking her more than everyone else. (Yes, they are.)..."

Review:

Witty, informative, straight-forward read, this. O'Connor is an excellent writer who's written the perfect, read-it-when-you-feel-like it coffee table paperback -- or, as some of my friends would say, it's a "bathroom read," something you can read (O'Connor's facts and explanations rarely run longer than a few pages) for a few minutes, here and there, without losing the "flow" or feel of the book.

Fun work, this. Can't wait to read O'Connor's follow-up to this.