Dr. Joe & What You Didn't Know

177 Fascinating Questions About the Chemistry of Everyday Life

By: Dr. Joe Schwarcz

Narrated by: Nick Hahn

From Beethoven's connection to plumbing to why rotten eggs smell like sulfur, the technical explanations included in this scientific primer tackle 99 chemistry-related questions and provide answers designed to inform and entertain. What jewelry metal is prohibited in some European countries? What does Miss Piggy have to do with the World Cup? How can a cockroach be removed from a human ear? The quirky information offered incorporates scientific savvy, practical advice, and amusing anecdotes.

©2003 ECW PRESS (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Interesting facts, but the narrator's lacking

What didn’t you like about Nick Hahn’s performance?

His pronunciation of scientific words should have been researched! It's a little jarring to hear words pronounced as they are spelled as opposed to how they should be said! I have a bit more of a science background than average, and the mispronunciations spread misunderstanding and the belief that science is hard! (It's not)

Any additional comments?

It's a fun book.

Good content. Problem with narration.

There is a problem with the audio encoding I think. Speed the narration up to at least 1.3x to be tolerable.

Very interesting, but almost un-listenable

What other book might you compare Dr. Joe & What You Didn't Know to and why?

The "Einstein" series by Robert L. Wolke. Very similar in scope, Wolke's books discuss chemistry as it applies to food, the kitchen, various aspects of every day life.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nick Hahn’s performances?

Definitely not. His pronunciation of chemicals and other technical terms is beyond absurd and almost indecipherable at points. Obviously no one bothered to so much as do a Wikipedia search for the pronunciation of things like dichloromethane, much less speak to anyone with a technical background.

A Great Book, held back by a mediocre reader.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the book. It's a wonderful collection of connections between seemingly unrelated things.

But I fear it has been harmed by the audiobook reader. He's probably a wonderful man, kind to children and loving to his wife. But the man keeps getting words wrong. An example of one such instance is calling substances, usually greasy or waxy, "em-you-lents". He means emollients, pronounced "em-ahl-ee-ents".

There's a lot of such mispronunciations. Some are less jarring, some more so. I'm finding them difficult to ignore, as they pop up suddenly. Like "pluh-SAH-bo" instead of "pluh-SEE-bo". They're not huge errors, but they're annoying, and they're straining my temptation to turn it off and choose another book to listen to.

Update: I set this book aside for a few days and tried it again. The content is wonderful. I love the questions, and the answers are not just accurate, but entertaining. Then the reader mangles another word, and my teeth clench.

Voice providers, please, Please, PLEASE check the pronunciation of words you're unfamiliar with. There are plenty of sources. Even videos or audio files that let you hear how it sounds. I implore you, please don't try to muscle through it, or sound it out. Check it and say it correctly. Every bad pronunciation makes it a little more likely that the listener is going to close the audio file and not try to listen to it again. This harms the reputation of the author, and they don't deserve that.

I've had audiobooks of some dear favorites (The Many-Colored Land, The Ladies of Mandrigyn, and others) utterly ruined because the reader doesn't know a word and won't check the pronunciation. Please don't guess. Look it up.

Narration is abysmal.

Couldn't give the content it's due, I'm afraid. The narration was so poor and jarringly without cadence that I gave up during the first chapter.

ANOTHER book ruined by bad narration

I will never again buy an audiobook produced by Audible. This is the second one I've purchased with a distractingly terrible narrator. His frequent mispronunciations, awkward cadence, and obvious lack of interest in the material made it unlistenable. This did not sound like a professionally produced audiobook. I will be requesting a credit refund (again).