The reader of Weighing and Balancing learns how to construct a simple but very sensitive balance out of a wooden rod, some string, cup hooks, and paper plates. Equipped with this tool, it is easy for him to answer such questions as "Which is heavier, three pencils or two lumps of clay?" and to check the apparently obvious answer to the question "Which weights more, an eight ounce package of candy or an eight ounce package of nuts?" The familiar question "Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of stones?" is no longer a riddle.