Contents
Finally, you were alone with your own child — the whole long vacation day, all the cosmically long holidays. You can, without hurrying, talk about everything in the world. Yes, he is just waiting for this. Do you always know how to answer him?
Editor Gemma Harris came up with a great idea — to ask thousands of children from 4 to 12 years old to send her questions, and leave them exactly as they sounded, without editing them and not discarding «funny» or «stupid». And then show them to famous scientists, writers, travelers, restaurateurs and even comedians. And they were happy to answer them. And Gemma Harris compiled their answers into a book.1.
Where do dreams come from?
Alain de Botton, the philosopher, answers:
“Most of the time you are able to control your mind. Do you want to play lego? Your brain will help you do it. Decided to read? You are welcome! You put letters into words, and the characters of the book come to life in your imagination. And something strange happens at night. While you are sleeping in bed, your mind begins to show the most incredible, amazing, and sometimes scary pictures. You can sail the Amazon or hang out on the wing of a flying plane, spend five hours on an exam with your most disliked teacher. Much of what you encounter in your daily life (sometimes without even noticing it) suddenly blossoms into a riotous color in your dreams. In ancient times, people believed that dreams predict the future. Today, we believe that in this way our consciousness is rebuilt and puts itself in order after the next day. Why are dreams scary? During the day, something can frighten us, but we are so busy with our own affairs that we do not have time to think carefully about what happened and return to it only at night, already in a dream. Or maybe, on the contrary, in the rush of the day you did not pay attention to something pleasant — and it can also appear in a dream. In your dreams, you return to what you missed, recover, dream about pleasant things and explore the fears that are hidden deep, deep in your mind during the day. They prove that our brain is an amazing machine, some of which we are not even aware of when we use it for homework or computer games. Dreams show that we are not completely in control of ourselves.
- «In dreams, tomorrow is born»
Why did people invent music?
Jarvis Cocker, musician and TV presenter answers:
“Great question. I wish I knew that too… (just kidding!) Yes, of course, if tomorrow we woke up in a world without music, no one would die. After all, this is not air or water, it is quite possible to live without music — but just imagine how boring life would become then! All discos would close, and at concerts the crowd in the hall would simply silently look at the same silent performers on stage. But seriously, absolutely all peoples in the history of mankind had their own music, which means that it is still needed for something. Some scholars even believe that man began to sing and compose music long before he learned to speak. It is possible that music was the very first way people communicated. She still helps people understand each other without words. Think of sad and happy songs. Both of them use the same set of notes (if you remember, there are only 12 of them), but they are very different from each other in mood. You might argue that it’s because of the words that are in the song. No. If you go to a foreign country and turn on the radio in a foreign language, you can still easily distinguish sad songs from happy ones. The sound of the melody will tell you about the mood of the song. How is that even possible? I do not know. But that’s the way it is. Such is the magic — like the music itself in general. And you can experience this magic at any time. I like to watch movies and read books, go to the theater and art galleries — but I don’t experience such a magical feeling from all this. Only from music. That’s why people invented music.»
- Oliver Sachs: «Man is musical»
Why am I bored?
“You probably know what elephants look like. If I had a trunk like theirs, I would never be bored in my life — know I would suck water into the trunk and douse my friends. However, elephants are also bored, and then they sway sullenly from side to side, stepping from one huge leg to another. How to save an elephant from boredom? He needs to turn on the music. Elephants love serious, old-fashioned music, and that there are more violins. Tell me, do you like this kind of music? I bet it doesn’t. But why are elephants so bored that they cannot do without music? This happens to them in small zoos where there is nothing to do.
You miss for the same reason. Nothing to do. Friends have departed. I want to go play outside, but I have to sit quietly and motionless behind closed doors. Boredom is your body’s request to change activities before you become completely sad. In such cases, it would be good to go somewhere with family or friends or find yourself a new interesting business. Maybe try the elephant medicine next time? Turn on the music and have a good chat with your trunk.
What are rainbows made of?
“Rainbows are made of light. Getting into a drop, the sun’s ray changes direction, is refracted. Then it is reflected from the second wall of the drop and, leaving it, is again refracted, becoming colored. For a rainbow to appear in the sky, it must rain and the sun must shine, and you can see the rainbow if you are between the rain and the sun. Alas, it is impossible to find places where the rainbow touches the ground — and we all know that, according to legends, pots of gold should be buried there. The fact is that although you see a rainbow, it is intangible, it does not exist — it is only the sun that has passed through the raindrops. Try to approach the rainbow, and you will see how it will move further and further away. The outstanding scientist Isaac Newton explained what a rainbow is, and it happened only 300 years ago. And before that, people built the most incredible assumptions. Only in one they were unanimous: rainbows are beautiful!
- Principles of communication for children and adults from Julia Gippenreiter
Why are cakes so delicious?
“You know, I myself asked myself the same question many times. Making a cake is like a big science experiment. You put eggs, butter, sugar and flour in a bowl, mix everything gently, put it in the oven — and then the magic begins! And while this is happening, it is incredibly difficult to remain patient, because the oven smells really delicious. The most important thing is to accurately guess the amount of each of the products, and then the cake turns out so delicious that I can’t help but smile a huge smile when I start eating it. This magic is also remarkable in that it is available to everyone.
The first (and most favorite) ingredient is my oven, you need to heat it up to 180 degrees. Then I take 200 grams of powdered sugar and the same amount of butter and mix them with a large wooden spoon. I break four small eggs into a bowl and mix the resulting all with the same wooden spoon. Next is the simplest — add 200 grams of self-rising flour. With her, you can not be zealous and interfere not so much. It’s nice to see how the resulting dough fills the molds and goes into the oven. But here’s what you need to remember — every time I, unable to restrain my curiosity, opened the oven a little before the magic half hour passed, my cake simply refused to become big, magnificent and tasty. Therefore, I spend 30 minutes dancing in the kitchen and singing, and then — time! — and our cake is ready, all ruddy and airy! And maybe that’s why the cakes turn out so delicious (especially with jam or cream) — they’re so fun to make!»
How to give a short answer to any question?
Sometimes there is no time at all for a detailed answer, but it happens that we ourselves do not know or do not remember how to answer correctly. You have to freak out. And you know what? Children welcome this with delight!
Why do we sleep at night? Wait, you will become a student — and you will learn to sleep during the day.
Do aliens exist? Yes, they pretend to be your younger siblings. So be careful.
Can you eat worms? That’s what you ask them.
What would I look like without a skeleton? Like hairy jelly.
Why do we need money? It used to be cheese instead, but money is better — it doesn’t smell.
1 J. Harris «Why is water wet?» (Career press, 2014).