The Babinski Reflex

Library Journal

How-to book author Goldberg describes this project as ``a fun-fact book.'' The gimmick is the use of terms like Babinski Reflex and Gresham's Law as ``metaffects''--using them outside of the context for which they were coined. Goldberg attempts to explain the original sense of the terms and to suggest ways the terms might enter casual conversation. Many of the examples are tortured, a few are pretentious in the extreme, and more than several are disturbing, as in ``Man, she brings out the beast in me! One look at her and I babinski like a dog in heat!'' Of some use as a handy reference of simple explanations of a few terms from physics and economics, but little value beyond this is apparent.-- Mark L. Shelton, Columbus, Ohio

School Library Journal

Arranged in alphabetical order, the entries in this entertaining collection include the origin of the metaphor, an example of its use, and a metaffect (``a recognized . . . principle whose official meaning can be transferred to another context''). The style of presentation is breezy, and the material is sure to enliven speech or writing with new means of expression. The book belongs on a browsing rather than reference shelf, but because some of the examples are contemporary and uninhibited, a little caution may be suggested.