Author Description

Nice is the secret ingredient to a better life. It makes us happy. It may even be what makes us civilizedÑwhen we say thank you, shake hands, send flowers, we're doing the nice things that bring people together.?A compulsive and chunky book for lovers of trivia, popular history, customs, and cultureÑand a perfect gift to say Òyou're niceÓÑThe Book of Nice is an entertaining, quirky compendium of those signs, traditions, and expressions that we so often take for granted, yet turn out to be quite fascinating. It's about why we cover a yawn (originally to prevent evil spirits from entering our bodies, now to hide the impression that something's boring us). About holiday traditionsÑit's thanks to Guy Lombardo's December 31 broadcast in 1929 that we now sing ÒAuld Lang SyneÓ on New Year's Eve. About customary offeringsÑthe wedding cake evolved out of the Roman use of wheat as a symbol of fertility (and it's much tastier than bits of grain). And about those simple yet essential nicetiesÑhow Thomas Edison championed an obscure term, ÒhelloÓ (if Alexander Graham Bell had gotten his way, we'd all be saying ÒahoyÓ). Why not put a little nice in your day?