Ruben Meerman

This is a copmbined review of this and [The Surfing Scientist]

These two books are spin-offs from a clutch of television and radio shows including the eponymous Surfing Scientist on Tuesday afternoons, The ExperiMENTALS. Indeed, the Surfing Scientist page on the ABC's web site includes a number of excerpts from the books, and the one episode of the delightfully manic ExperiMENTALS that I've seen recreates at least four tricks from the second book. For those who, like me, have minimal familiarity with the ABC shows, the books stand cheerfully on their own two feet as excellent sources of fun things to make and things to do, to echo a heading from Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia, which gave me much joy as a ten-year old. These are superior to the ancient Arthur Mee in that they spell out the science behind the tricks in engaging ways: not only can we make a frozen hand suitable for floating scarily in a bowl of Halloween punch, but we get to understand why the red colouring doesn't spread evenly through the ice; we can construct two unconventional paper planes, and also learn something of why they fly and keep their balance despite their unflightworthy appearance. I'll be remembering these books when it's time to buy gifts for young people of curious bent and an inclination to engage with the physical world -- and is there any other kind?… (meer)

(This is a combined review of this and [The Surfing Scientist #2]

These two books are spin-offs from a clutch of television and radio shows including the eponymous Surfing Scientist on Tuesday afternoons, The ExperiMENTALS. Indeed, the Surfing Scientist page on the ABC's web site includes a number of excerpts from the books, and the one episode of the delightfully manic ExperiMENTALS that I've seen recreates at least four tricks from the second book. For those who, like me, have minimal familiarity with the ABC shows, the books stand cheerfully on their own two feet as excellent sources of fun things to make and things to do, to echo a heading from Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia, which gave me much joy as a ten-year old. These are superior to the ancient Arthur Mee in that they spell out the science behind the tricks in engaging ways: not only can we make a frozen hand suitable for floating scarily in a bowl of Halloween punch, but we get to understand why the red colouring doesn't spread evenly through the ice; we can construct two unconventional paper planes, and also learn something of why they fly and keep their balance despite their unflightworthy appearance. I'll be remembering these books when it's time to buy gifts for young people of curious bent and an inclination to engage with the physical world -- and is there any other kind?… (meer)