Mark Di Vincenzo - Your Pinkie Is More Powerful Than Your Thumb

A s far back as I can remember, Ive found the truth strangerand more interestingthan fiction. Even as a boy, I avoided comic books and Hardy Boys mysteries and devoured newspapers and magazines, often sharing what I discovered with others. It came as no surprise to my family and friends that I pursued journalism, an adventure in which I was actually paid, though never very well, to play the role of the messenger. After twenty-four years as a newspapermanseventeen as a reporter and seven as an editorI quit to start a writing and editing company, but the bug to tell others about the fascinating and surprising nuggets I discovered never left me.

In recent years, the recipient of much of this information has been my wife, who shares my enthusiasm for the oddities sometimes found within current events. It was my wife who came up with the idea for my first book, Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There . The confidence I gained from writing Buy Ketchup convinced me I could write another book, a compilation of the freshest, most interesting, and most surprising information I came across. What I ended up with is Your Pinkie Is More Powerful Than Your Thumb, a quirky fact book like no other.

Your Pinkie Is More Powerful Than Your Thumb focuses on the most recent discoveries in health, science, history, and more. This is not a book where youll find out who can eat the most hotdogs, whos covered with the most tattoos, or who weighs the most.

Your Pinkie Is More Powerful Than Your Thumb is a book in which youll find the answers to questions youd never think to ask:

How did Hitler act at the dinner table?

Whats the happiest job in science?

What can you expect to get in a trade for a woolly mammoth?

Which beverage is more environmentally friendlybeer, tea, coffee, wine, or milk?

Whats more3 dollars or 300 cents?

Where is the most dangerous place in the world to be an albino?

What percentage of doctors in China smoke?

But Your Pinkie Is More Powerful Than Your Thumb is more than just a compilation of facts. Its loaded with dozens and dozens of money- and health-related tips that can help make you healthier and wealthier. And smarter.

Although I cant promise you that reading this book will cause you to live longer and get richer, I can promise that youll learn a lot and be better off for it.

W hereor whatsNauru? Keep reading. Youre about to learn a lot about recent health-related discoveries your doctor probably doesnt even know about. Youll learn about whether you should bother with multivitamins, how much hair you lose every day, why it turns gray, and why you should care a lot if you cant touch your toes. Speaking of your digits, youll learn about why life without your pinkie fingers would make you miserable and which nation is most visionary when it comes to kidney transplants. (You wont believe it.)

WHY ARE HOSPITALS SO WORRIED ABOUT NECKTIES?

Neckties, regardless of who wears them, are rarely cleaned, and doctors ties, which are more likely to be bombarded with bacteria from sneezes and coughs, can unknowingly spread disease to patients. The British Medical Association recommends doctors avoid wearing neckties and other functionless clothes that can serve as superbugs. The American Medical Association may consider a similar resolution after it compiles more scientific evidence. Those who want doctors to shed their neckties point to a 2004 study of ties worn by employees of New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens in which half of the doctors ties contained germs that could cause illnesses. Only 10 percent of the neckties worn by hospital security guards carried similar germs. What you can do: This research, doctors say, just goes to show the importance of washing not only our handsand bodiesbut also our clothing, furniture, and carpeting.

HOW MANY DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BACTERIA ARE ON YOUR HANDS RIGHT NOW, AND WHY ARE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS EXCITED ABOUT THAT?

About 150. And about 135 of those are fairly unique to each person. Forensic experts and other law enforcement professionals predict that one day theyll be able to use bacteria to prove who touched an object, even if a criminal wiped away his finger-prints. Researchers compared bacteria on a computer mouse with bacteria from the computer user and 270 other randomly chosen people and found that the closest match was to the person who used the mouse. The researchers expect that the technique they used will improve, leading to better accuracy. Right now their findings are correct between 70 percent and 90 percent of the time. What you can do: Washing your hands is a good way to kill germs and stop the spread of disease. Spend at least twenty seconds washing your hands. Despite what your mother always told you about using hot water, researchers have found that water temperature has no effect on soaps ability to kill germs. Studies show washing hands with soap can kill diarrheal disease by 45 percent.

IF YOURE TRYING TO CHOOSE JUST THE RIGHT DOCTOR, WHATS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO FIND OUT?

If your doctor sees you at the grocery store or at the library, will he approach you and say hi or hide behind a shelf? In other words, is he an extrovert? A new study suggests that medical schools would do everyone a big favor if they required would-be doctors to take a personality test as well as the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, the standardized test that measures mastery of premed courses. Three psychologists gave more than 600 Belgian medical students a standardized personality test that focused on extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The researchers kept in touch with the students for nearly a decade and concluded that extroverts often struggled early on in medical school but usually excelled as they spent less time in the classroom and more time with patients. While conscientious students also did well throughout medical school, extroversion was the most telling sign that students would succeed. Bad news if youre sensitive: Students who were more likely to become emotionally upset struggled in school. Bonus question: Which prestigious medical school accepts students who dont take organic chemistry, physics, or the MCAT? Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City. The school reserves slots for about thirty-five students a year who dont take the traditional premedical school curriculum and maintain a 3.5 grade point average as an undergraduate.

BAD BOSSES CAN BE A PAIN IN THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT. WHERE ELSE CAN THEY BE A PAIN?

In the heart. Swedish researchers found that men who had to endure incompetent and inconsiderate supervisors were more likely to suffer from heart disease. The researchers tracked 3,100 men between the ages of nineteen and seventy, checking their hearts at work between 1992 and 1995. By 2003, seventy-four had suffered from heart attacks, angina, or some other sort of heart disease. Those with bad bosses were 60 percent more likely than those with good bosses to suffer heart disease, and the longer the men worked for a bad boss, the more likely they were to have heart problems. In fact, having a bad boss in this study was a more accurate predictor of heart disease than an employees smoking or exercise habits, weight or cholesterol. What you can do: A bad boss is the top reason why people quit their jobs. If you dont want to leave your company: (1) talk with your boss and be direct and professional, (2) get advice from the human resources department, and (3) ask for a transfer to another department.