Father Knows Less, or

June 25, 2007
Jamieson, city editor for the New York Times
, whose seven-year-old son, Dean, has been in “full-bore question mode†for the past few years, decided that the best strategy for giving Dean the answers was also to give himself a challenge. He would get each answer “from a real person who knows it by heart, whose very livelihood depends on the knowledge†that Jamieson would present without sugarcoating or simplification. The result is a compendium of hilariously insightful questions from kids (age seven and under) with often insightfully hilarious answers from adults ranging from a doctor discussing the difference between somatic and neuropathic pain (“What would hurt more: getting run over by a car or getting stung by a jellyfish?â€) to a dominatrix explaining Mach 1 air speed (“If you don't hit anything with it, how does a whip make that noise?â€). Jamieson helpfully organizes the questions by theme into chapters, although his introductory anecdotes to each, while amusing, should have been drastically reduced to make room for more questions. Too bad this funny and fascinating book is coming out in September: it makes a perfect Father's Day gift for any dad whose child has ever asked, “Why is the sky blue?†or “Why do we have eyebrows?†or “What does 'sexy' mean?â€