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Subtitled "An amazing compendium of factoids, minutiae, and random bits of wisdom", Vital Statistics is attorney Paul Grobman's first book. From its title, it might seem to be a volume consigned either to your coffee table or to the smallest room in your domicile -- and indeed, there's much here that's light-hearted -- but the book also includes fascinating morsels of information that may make you linger over its pages rather than flipping through them.
Vital Statistics is broken up into brief chapters, each one exploring a particular topic via statistics or researched facts. Grobman is careful to cite references, which are wide-ranging enough to be of interest in and of themselves; I frequently wondered, "How did he dig that up?" Periodicals and polls provide much of the information. In a nod to contemporary technology, Google makes appearances as a cited research tool.
In the book's introduction, Grobman is careful to point out that while the statistics he is presenting are the product of actual research, statistics are "often slippery things"; he even finds some of the research cited in the book to be "hard to believe". The old adage "figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure" applies, and should cause you to view some of the numbers with skepticism.
All of the "big topics" of existence are covered -- death, taxes, religion. Grobman has a keen eye for the evolution of societal prejudices and mores. Some of the most thought-provoking and informative material in the book discusses religion; Christianity, Judaism and Islam each receive their own chapter. The persecution of gays in various periods of history is underscored by sobering statistics and anecdotes. The struggle for gender equality is highlighted in "First Women".
Conversely, there's lots of whimsical fun in the chapters that cover minutiae. The chapters on restaurants, diamonds and crossword puzzles (yes, crossword puzzles) are filled with fascinating nuggets. Weddings get quite the write-up; I had no idea that so many of them incorporated gunplay! Celebrities, including Elvis and Michael Jackson, are also profiled in the book, with the facts and stats for both being at least as bizarre as you'd expect. Then there are secret recipes, the amount of reindeer Santa needs to deliver his presents, and ample evidence as to why I should never sample Kopi Luwak coffee (see p. 73 and be prepared for nausea). Some facts, like the most overdue book returned to Harvard University's library, or the number of presidents who have claimed to see UFOs, are trivia at its most bizzare. Other oddments seem like terrific conversation fillers: "Which animal is considered to be the smartest?", "How many pounds of sugar does the average American eat each year?", "How many times does the average adult laugh in a day?"
Grobman is a good sport. Despite being a lawyer himself, he presents "warts and all" statistics in his section on attorneys. While it might not surprise you that the public's perception of lawyers is skeptical at best, you may be floored by the number (it's a big number) of lawyers that practice in the United States. If you need a compelling reason why Washington is rife with litigation, check out how many lawyers live in the District of Columbia alone! Doctors aren't spared, either. If you're about to have surgery, you might want to skip over the malpractice stats listed in Vital Statistics. Other "scary" stats include insects and pests (with rats featured prominently), cigarettes, germs and a whole section on other "Things to Fear".
The information included here is rendered with wit and humor, but also with an eye toward visual appeal. Unlike an almanac's staid presentation and small type, Vital Statistics is in a friendly large format that is imaginatively designed. Fonts and layout are even used upon occasion to underscore a particular punchline. It's not easy to compile a book -- out of statistics, no less -- that causes you alternately to laugh, ponder and shudder. Grobman's data may occasionally be factually suspect, but its entertainment value is considerable.
-- Christian Carey
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About the Publisher:
Plume is a unit of Penguin. Piss off.
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