(#44) / Mental Floss / (founded) by Mangesh Hattikudur & Will Pearson / (Magazine)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Mental Floss / (founded) by Mangesh Hattikudur & Will Pearson

ISBN-10: 7547008896 / Mental Floss, LLC

p. 72 / $4.99 (Retail)

2011 (March/April issue)  

Body of Content

Summary: The magazine often covers a few areas in great depth – as opposed to diverse, article-heavy entries like many magazines.  In this issue of Mental Floss, the magazine takes an in-depth look at topics concerning the human brain and technology.  Further, it highlights a geographical concern – by looking at “8 Things You Didn’t Know about Congo”.  Smaller articles also include looks at a visionary Japanese artist, a Russian playwright’s forgotten play, a look into Turkey’s Islamic yet democratic government, and the magazine signature trivia column, “The Quiz”.  The magazine is cerebral and cognitive in nature – with a nice visual look – with only a few advertisements dotting its pages.   

Critique: The magazine is a bi-monthly publication (6 times annually) and often contains a major theme that unites large sections of its pages.  In this issue, the motif is technological applications in cognitive areas – or more simply, modern issues surrounding the human brain.  The magazine calls this topical umbrella “Hacking the Brain” – with five persons (i.e. articles) standing underneath – “Cyborg Monkeys and the Future of Prosthetics” – “The Art of Building a Better Lie Detector” – “Why Cockroach Brains Will Save Your Life” – “Growing One Animal’s Brain inside Another Animal’s Body” – and “The New Science of Confronting Fear” (p. 38). 

The headline categories within each article often feature word puns or instances of irony.  In the robotic monkey article, the headlines include “Monkey See, Monkey Do” and “The Giant Leap to Mankind” (p. 42-43). In the lie detector article, the headlines include “Anatomy of a Lie” and “Paying for the Truth” (p. 45).

Overall, the magazine contains a humorous, cerebral quality to it – and the magazine completely embraces this identity – of finding interesting article ideas and spinning them with intellectual and humorous information.    

      

Teaser: “Fun facts have never been more interesting or useful – read Mental Floss for an academic, fun-time experience.”

Information about the Author: Mangesh Hattikudur is a co-founder of the magazine, along with Will Pearson.  Both were students – enrolled at Duke University – when they began the magazine.  He graduated in 2001 and over the last decade, Hattikudur and his cohorts have established a magazine that includes commercial spin-off products – such as t-shirts and board games – along with an accompanying web presence via their online site (Wikipedia, 2011).  The various editors of Mental Floss have also written eight books coinciding and based upon their magazine (Amazon, 2011).  

Supplemental Material

Genre: Entertainment / Trivia

Curriculum Ties: History – geography / Technology – machines, robots / Anatomy – neuroscience, animal science

Booktalking Ideas: 1) “Do you want to beat a lie detector test – or find out about robots who can read your mind? Check out this issue of Mental Floss”.

Reading Level: Later teens will appreciate the more difficult sections of cognitive information – best for 16-19.  

Challenge Issues and Defense: This magazine is a pretty safe choice for any library – I would not expect any challenges.

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I wish I had read this magazine when I was in high school – a lighter version of Popular Mechanics with a little bit of Jeopardy mixed in.

Last Thoughts

References:

Amazon. (2011). Mangesh Hattikudur [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/

Mangesh-Hattikudur/e/B001IGNZDO

Wikipedia (2011). Mangesh Hattikudur [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangesh_Hattikudur

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Vanessa Carlton / Album – “Rabbits on the Run”