You Just Can’t Help It (2011)
(OUT OF PRINT)
How many times have you been frightened and felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Or been unable to hold back a laugh? Or flinched when an object whizzed by, too close for comfort? The thing is, you just can't help yourself -- you're only human! Part Desmond Morris's The Naked Ape, part MAD Magazine, and all Jeff Szpirglas, this unique book provides a cultural, historical, and socio-biological perspective on human behavior.
Szpirglas's goofy, kid-friendly sensibility paired with the book's look, energy, and scope is guaranteed to engage and captivate young readers. Kids will read about body language, birth order, staring contests, fits of laughter, crowd behavior, sniffing dirty diapers, yawning, dreaming, and the art of lying -- only to realize that science is at work behind each action!
You Just Can't Help It! is an enthralling and slightly zany exploration of the basic human biology that determines our reactions, social interactions, and the ways we communicate with one another.
Reviews
“Eminently browsable, entertaining, with facts ripe for sharing (did you know that most people elected to Congress are first-borns? interesting!), this book may also help young people gain a deeper understanding of some of their own puzzling behavior.” – pinkme.typepad.com
“With a breezy text supported by a lively design, Szpirglas again presents science in a way certain to attract middle-grade and middle-school readers…Popular science through and through, you can’t help enjoying this.” – Kirkus Reviews