An entertaining chat with "Do Elephants Ever Forget?" Author
| Published: 11th October 2007 14:01 |
Guy Campbell lives with his girlfiend of 3 years in Twickenham, Middlesex. He grew up in nearby Teddington (like Keira Knightley and Noel Coward) plays football in the park on Sundays and has been a mad poker player for 15 years or so. Guy loves puzzles of all types, often writing them as well as doing them in the bath...
First off, what was your reason for writing the book?
Everyone has questions that never get answered, like for instance, how exactly does a TV work? We all have TVs, but ask yourself how exactly that picture of Ant and Dec is happening on the front of that box and for most people, it's just crazy witchcraft. We don't tell you how a TV works in the book - it's very complicated and technical and frankly, a little bit dull - but lots of other questions you thought you'd never get an answer for are fully explained!
Where does your inspiration (and ideas) come from?
I asked around a lot. Most people have a question, whether it's about the polar ice caps melting or how flies can walk upside down, or whether cats are cleverer than dogs. Often we assume that there is no answer to the question, but sometimes, surprisingly, there is, and if we could explain it in terms simple enough for me to understand, we did.
What's the one puzzling question you've always wanted to know but haven't yet come to find the answer to?
Whether there is intelligent life in space. It's a very frustrating answer really. The answer is yes, there almost certainly is, but it is probably so far away we'll never get to meet them - unless they are scientifically advanced enough to have cracked the problem of travelling faster than the speed of light. We currently think this is impossible - but that doesn't necessarily mean it is... See what I mean? Frustrating... Have aliens visited Earth? Probably not, but I don't know!
What's the strangest question you've been asked?
A friend asked how much of yourself you could eat before you died. Which just shows you the type of people I hang out with... We answered it anyway! It turned out to be a survival question - could you avoid starving on a desert island by eating your own leg...?
What is your favourite puzzling question taken from the book?
If you had to eat just one food forever, which one would you choose? I didn't think we'd get a satisfactory answer. We went through seaweeds and super fruits and vitamin packed root vegetables from the Amazon. Whatever you choose will be missing some really important ingredient - like vitamin B12 or something - that your body will eventually miss, making you unhealthy. Until we found the answer. There is one food that you could probably live on forever quite healthily. Just one.
Where do you do your research /how do you locate the answers to people's questions?
The internet is a massive resource for information, but you do have to know where to look. Fortunately scientists and universities tend to be very generous with their information, and if you can find access to scientific papers from respectable universities, or from charitable organisations like the World Wildlife Fund, you know you can trust what they say. It's good to have first hand proof though. A friend of mine went to the Galapagos Islands while I was writing the book and met the world's rarest animal. So I know that George (that's his name), the ONLY living member of his species, is alive and well and still unique. I have it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. (He's not a horse).
Do you have any more books in the pipeline?
Yes, I'm writing a series of puzzle books at the moment, and another science book for Michael O' Mara that looks at all the things we think we know, but are in fact completely wrong. Did you think Everest was the world's highest mountain? Ha!
What has been the most surprising answer you've found to a puzzling question?
I suppose that in 60 years we will be able to sail over the North Pole. The good news is that the North Pole melting isn't going to flood the world though. The SOUTH Pole on the other hand...
What is one of the most popular puzzling questions you get asked?
By far, it is "Why is the Sky Blue?". Should anyone ask you this question, the answer is "Rayleigh Scattering". Read the book if you need further explanation!
"Do Elephants Forget?" is priced at £7.99 and is available from all good book shops and Amazon.co.uk. For further information visit www.mombooks.com
We have 3 copies of "Do Elephants Ever Forget? And Other Puzzling Questions Answered" to giveaway. This makes a great gift to yourself or for your kids! You can enter to win a copy by answering this question: What is one of the most popular puzzling question that Guy gets asked? Email your answer to us by November 30.
What do you think?
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