I had a few quibbles about the selection process, but overall, I was really impressed. One of the best pieces was "The Curious History of the First Pocket Calculator." It has great ingredients, from Nazi death camps to the tiny nation of Lichtenstein to very steampunk-ish technology.

Reading about Rohrshach tests, embryonic and adult stem cells, ubiquitous scientific claims made mostly by advertisers, and which parts of the brain are stimulated by moral and ethical decisions. And that just scratches the surface of this book. It's one of those reading experiences where I begin to think that, if I spent the rest of my reading life reading nothing but these anthologies, my time would not be wasted.