Panati’s Browser’s Book of Beginnings: The Origins of Everything Under, and Including, the Sun

Obsessed with the origins of things, Charles Panati has dug up enough root causes and beginnings for any barroom sage or academician to fend off the most troublesome trivia queries. Ranging from the beginnings of the universe, the emergence of bacteria and bony fish to soap, loaded dice, ethnic slurs, hypnosis, paper money and much more, “The Browser’s Book of Beginnings” is a fascinating read sampled randomly or digested whole.

“A weapon for stumping the supercilious experts.” -- The Boston Globe

“A might oak of a book. Panati is fearless, far-reaching, formidable, and, when it pleases him, frivolous.” -- The New Yorker

“The last word on the first of everything.” -- Newsday.

“I came away from this book bubbling with new information.” -- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times