Author Richard Wiseman describes ‘quirkology’ as the use of scientific methods to study the curious aspects of everyday life:

“On the surface, … investigations into boredom, beauty, prayer, and tea-making may appear to have nothing in common. But in fact they are all excellent and early examples of an approach to investigating human behavior…”

While much of the book is purely entertainment, he hits on some significant and even troubling truths at times. He recounts a televised experiment in which

“everyone saw exactly the same evidence about a crime in which the defendant had allegedly broken into a house and stolen a computer. However, half the pubic saw a defendant whose face showed characteristics of the stereotype of a criminal …. The other half saw a defendant whose face matched a stereotypical innocent person.”

“ About 40 percent returned a guilty verdict on the man who… fit the stereotype of a criminal. Only 29 percent found the blue-eyed, baby-faced man guilty. People had ignored the complexity of the evidence and made up their minds on the basis of the defendants’ looks.”

Some of the other fun and revealing examples deal with baseball caps, female van drivers, Mother Teresa, even our choice of greeting cards. Have you ever wondered why some people are luckier than others? Would you like to improve the attraction power of your personal ads? And if you aspire to a career in stand-up comedy, do you know which letter of the alphabet will draw more laughs from an audience? These are just a few of the tidbits you’ll find addressed here.

There’s something to fascinate anyone in Quirkology, and Wiseman’s presentation shows his own delight in discovering the quirkiness inherent in humans. Unfortunately, there is no explanation for the one line in this book that I found most intriguing : “Although Freud claimed to be a scientist, many of his ideas are completely untesticle.” Is that a typological quirk, and if so, what does it tell us about Richard Wiseman?