The Theory of Everything Else

May 1, 2023
No Such Thing as a Fish podcaster Schreiber debuts with a humorous survey of bizarre “speculations, beliefs and claims, begging to be accepted as truths.” Contending that “pretty much everyone in the world” believes their own “bit of batshit,” Schreiber documents Nancy Reagan’s consultations with an astrologer on Cold War negotiations, tennis star Novak Djokovic’s pilgrimages to ancient Bosnian pyramids purported to emit cosmic energy, and more. Even NASA has been convinced by unlikely theories, and once funded the research of a neuroscientist who aimed to establish human-to-dolphin communication. While Schreiber’s anecdotes don’t offer much more than entertainment value, readers will be charmed by his colorful narration and clear enthusiasm for the hypocrisies of human beliefs, including continued popular fixations with 16th-century “seer” Nostradamus, despite his predictions’ “jaw-droppingly low hit rate,” and intractable Bermuda Triangle superstitions (“the number of ships and planes that go missing there is pretty much the same percentage as anywhere else in the world”). This will delight anyone looking for dinner conversation fodder who doesn’t mind raising a few eyebrows.