Charles Panati: 5 books

Charles Panati, the foremost specialist on everything, turns his sharp eye to the every-changing parade of trends and fads that have shaped American popular culture for the last one hundred years.  We've bobbed to the Turkey Trot, flown through the air with the Lindy Hop, slam-danced through...

Obsessed with the origins of things, Charles Panati has dug up enough root causes and beginnings for any barroom sage or academician to fend off the most troublesome trivia queries.  Ranging from the beginnings of the universe, the emergence of bacteria and bony fish to soap, loaded dice, ethnic...

Charles Panati, America’s favorite gatherer of origins, now offers the last word on how people, places and things of all sorts have met their ends through the centuries.  From famous presidents to frightening epidemics, from ancient extinctions to vanished vogues, from bizarre last wills to...

“Honesty is the best policy.”  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”  “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” These familiar sayings have become part of our collective memory and embody the values we hold in common – but where did they come from?  With...

Has there ever been a gay pope?  What is history’s first love poem? Why do men have nipples? How did “drag” come to mean cross-dressing?  At what age does a man’s penis stop growing?  Do female animals have orgasms?  How long have people been giving the finger? ...