Why the Toast Always Lands Butter Side Down: The Scientific Reasons Everything Goes Wrong

Haven't you noticed that after waiting forever for a bus, three will arrive bunched together? That your nose always starts to itch the minute your hands are full? That the line you're on at the supermarket always moves the slowest? There's a law governing all these phenomena: Murphy's Law, which is most generally stated as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong," but which is most frighteningly revealed in hundreds of day-to-day situations. For example:

• Nothing works while people watch
• You blink; they score
• If you want to be late, give yourself plenty of time

Sound familiar? Actually, there are rational explanations for all of the above. The answers turn out to be one part science and three parts psychology—or brain science, really. In Why the Toast Always Lands Butter Side Down, Richard Robinson explains with a light touch, but with serious intent, the science and science of mind behind dozens of these these inexplicable, frustrating recurring nightmares.