Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati

And it's doubtful that a dinner in Asgard influenced the idea of the number 13 being unlucky. Panati seems to assume Norse mythology is OLDER than Christianity. Yes!! No one knows what the Norse believed before the birth of Christ.

The Norse myths weren't written down until the middle ages, and were part of the belief system of Scandinavians a thousand years AFTER the Last Supper occurred. Also ridiculous, and more likely the other way around. This myth, says Panati, likely influenced the story of the Last Supper. Then Loki crashed the party, which made it 13. Here's another: he says the number 13 became an unlucky number because the Norse gods had a big dinner, with twelve gods in attendance. Panati likely has no idea how the Easter bunny became so popular. Germans have settled all over the US since the early 1700s, they didn't just spread from PA. Then, as the Germans spread through the US, the Easter bunny came with them.' This is ridiculous. For example, he says that 'German settlers in Pennsylvania in the 1700s brought the idea of the Easter bunny from their homeland. Half the stuff Panati lists as 'facts' are more like opinions of 'folklorists' or citations from questionable history. I got to about page 70, and lost interest. Highly recommended for anyone interest is history popular culture word origins and origins of many of our customs and inventions.

The author does point out that these are the best estimates available at time of writing. Of course, some of the history might be debated-especially back in the times of the ancient world. I just wanted to pick up some neat and interesting facts about history-and this book succeded in that. Of course, with so much informationb I cannot recall everything nor do I plant to. a picture is worth a thousa nd words, they say-and I always enjoy old phtographs and engravings. The illustrations from older books reprinted here I found added much to my please. Many people might just dip into this type of book just looking for certain infomration-but I read it entirely and found the writing well well organized and fun. The author sorts by various criteria-origins of superstitions holidays customs inventions and much more!

Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati