To find a listing of all the winners of the Nobel Prize you can consult an almanac or, for the chemistry prizes, the recently published Nobel Laureates in Chemistry: 1901-1992 (American Chemical Society and Chemical Heritage Foundation, 1993). But where can you find a listing of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes, awarded each year since 1991 to individuals whose achievements cannot or should not be reproduced? How many people know, for example, that the 1996 Ig Nobel Prize for Art was awarded to Don Featherstone of Fitchburg, MA, for his invention of the plastic pink flamingo, or that the 1991 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Erich Von Daniken, the author of Chariot of the Gods, for explaining how human civilization was influenced by ancient astronauts from outer space? These are just two examples of the important (?) information contained in this new collection of scientific humor.

Scientific humor has a long history. For example, in 1931 G. Beck, H. Bethe, and W. Riezler published a spoof paper in Die Naturwissenschaften, entitled "Remarks on the Quantum Theory of the Absolute Zero of Temperature", which pokes fun at the mystical properties that A. S. Eddington and others were claiming for the number 137. In 1938, an article entitled "A Contribution to the Mathematical Theory of Big Game Hunting", written by H. Petard of Princeton University, appeared in the American Mathematical Monthly. In the 1950s, Alexander Kohn and Harry J. Lipkin began publishing the Journal of Irreproducible Results (JIR), which became a major venue for publishing humorous articles on sciencesuch as Alexander Kohn's "Kinetics of Inactivation of Glassware", which is reproduced in this collection. Marc Abrahams was the editor of JIR from 1990 to 1994 and started Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) in 1994. For those who are not regular readers of AIR, this volume is a delicious sampler of what this bimonthly publication has to offer.

For example, I was delighted by the interview with Roald Hoffmann in which he says, "Junk mail is the mail that gives me the greatest pleasure in the world because I know immediately what to do with it." I also got some good advice on how to deal with telephone solicitations, and I had great fun reading the almost infinite list of authors of the article entitled "The Effects of Peanut Butter on the Rotation of the Earth". Among the authors are John H. Watson, M.D., Mycroft Holmes, Ph.D., Daniel Kaye, Ph.D., and Theodore Williams, Ph.D. The article consists of one sentence: "As far as we can determine, peanut butter has no effect on the rotation of the earth."

We have all been told that you can't compare apples and oranges, but this cliche is just not true. This volume includes an article entitled "Apples and Oranges: A Comparison", by Scott A. Sandford, which contains the transmission IR spectra of a desiccated apple and orange. In the 4000-400 cm^-1 region the two spectra are remarkably similar. I think I will follow the author's suggestion and keep a copy of the figure in my wallet for use in discussions.

For the really high-tech cook there is an article entitled "The Laser Cheese Raclette". It describes a procedure for using a 250-W CO₂ laser to produce this classic dish from the Swiss Alps. The laser must be defocused and the cheese displaced using a numerically controlled X-Y table for best results. The authors also describe a blown-powder technique for depositing pepper and investigate the relationships among particle size, fluidity, and taste. A processing map is presented to allow the reader to choose the best laser parameters for a given number of guests. Having read this article, I plan to add a CO₂ laser when I remodel my kitchen.

This is a book to keep on your shelf and take down when you are feeling depressed. Since humor is personal, no one will find all the pieces to be funny, but I'm sure that everyone will find something in the collection to raise his or her spirits. I hope that this book will be read by nonscientists, particularly young people, who will learn that scientists are real people who can laugh at themselves.