Imponderables

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Imponderables is a series of eleven books written by David Feldman. The books examine, investigate, and explain common, yet puzzling phenomena. Examples include "Why do your eyes hurt when you are tired?", "Why do judges wear black robes?", and "Why do you rarely see purple Christmas lights?", among many others. The word "imponderable" is used to describe such mysteries of everyday life. The books are effectively a frequently asked questions list for people who wonder why and how the world works as it does. The first book in this series was published in 1986.

The books in the series (each named after an imponderable covered in the book) are:

Imponderables (Reissued as Why Don't Cats Like to Swim?)
Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?
When Do Fish Sleep?
Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?
Do Penguins Have Knees?
When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? (Reissued as Are Lobsters Ambidextrous?)
How Does Aspirin Find a Headache?
What Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway?
How Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch?
Do Elephants Jump?
Why Do Pirates Love Parrots?

The books also feature additional chapters on Frustables, which are defined as imponderables that are uniquely frustrating because they lack a clear answer.

Some of the recurring frustables are:

Why do you so often see one shoe lying along the side of the road?
Why do the English drive on the left and most other countries on the right?
Why do American women shave their armpits?
Why do doctors have such messy handwriting?

Feldman also wrote one Imponderables book solely about linguistic mysteries, entitled Who Put the Butter in Butterfly? The book deals with the mysterious origins of names and phrases in the English language.

The term "Imponderables" is a trademark.