Book details of 'Sex As a Heap of Malfunctioning Rubble (And Further Improbabilities : More of the Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results)'

Title	Sex As a Heap of Malfunctioning Rubble (And Further Improbabilities : More of the Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results)
Author(s)	Marc Abrahams
ISBN	1563053128
Language	English
Published	September 1993
Publisher	Workman Publishing Company

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Sex As a Heap of Malfunctioning Rubble (And Further Improbabilities : More of the Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results)':

Reviewer Koos van den Hout wrote:
The next book of the Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
Sociological Aspects of Humour-Density Reduction in Sobriety-Deficit Peer- Reviewed Scientific Journals Earlier research (Slade, 1994) has indicated that compilations of research papers whose results couldn't (or shouldn't) be reproduced can result in uncontrollable convulsive shuddering, shortness of breath, tearing of eyes, and severe lateral abdominal pains. The abdominal pains (often referred to as a "stitch") are strong enough to provoke remarks in affected individuals about "busting a gut". Further research has indicated a need for a quantized baseline for measurement of humour density. After careful investigation, a sample of two items was chosen. One item from the earlier study (Slade, 1994), "The Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results," was compared with a new item, "More of the Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results." (Selection of this latter item prompted a query from the research community as to, "What does that have to do with computers?" I am happy to report that whereas BJIR I had only one, quarter-page, filler item loosely related to computers, BJIR II has four full pages devoted to "The Touring Machine" and another for "The Binary Abacus." This represents a 2000% increase in research in this field.) The experimental protocol consisted of an analysis of the number of articles copied and distributed via computer networks. Painstaking statistical measures indicate that BJIR I had a humour density specified uniquely by the term, "a lot". BJIR II had only two such samples, "Heaviest Element Discovered" (also known as "Adminsitratium"), and "A Call for More Scientific Truth in Product Warning Labels." A partial factor in this reduction may be that BJIR I had thirty-three years of material to choose from, whereas BJIR II had as source material only the 1989 to 1993 issues. In opposition, one must note that BJIR II (specifically, the "Administratium" article) has garnered a unique position on the net. It is one of only four jokes specifically forbidden as repeated submissions to "rec.humor.funny". (The book title, review title and review file name are extensions of the research started by the JIR publisher as to the effect on sales by the inclusion of the word "sex" in the title. The wording comes from a new JIR column, "Elegant Results," which reports new scientific discoveries first noted in the advertisements in such leading scientific periodicals as "Cosmopolitan".) copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKSEX.RVW 940815
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Book description:

A proposal to save the Grand Canyon by filling it with styrofoam piffles. The role Jell-O played in the mass extinction of dinosaurs. Why men's beards trigger hysteria and antipathy in cats. JIR is definitely still at it, and from hypothesis to experiment to conclusion here are 150 startling new discoveries reported in the pages of The Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results, the magazine for biologists, protozoologists, mathematicians, astrophysicists, clinical psychologists, and physiographers. Selection of the Library of Science Book Club.