Book Description

Ever lose your hat in a strong wind?

Ever feel the wind pushing you from side to side?

Know why you can feel the wind, but never see it?

You will!

Renowned science author Vicki Cobb makes scientific principles easy for even the youngest kids to understand. Follow this book with a young child who loves to play. Bring along balloons. Find a windy place. Together you'll face the wind and see that learning is a breeze.

Discover science, and the world will never look the same.

Great hands-on activities and irresistible illustrations by Julia Gorton make Science Play a perfect way to learn about science . . . just for the fun of it!

Reviews (2)

Everyone knows it's Windy
Alas poor science books. Forever to be doomed to the non-fiction section of the library where, occasionally, a student will pull one out to help with their school's science project. I've always found children's scientific picture books to be especially depressing little creations. More often than not they're drawn or illustrated in such a way that their messages go out of date, even as their science remains correct. Fortunately for us all, I don't think this will be the fate of "I Face the Wind". True, it's trendy. But it is also such a nice little compilation of facts and experiments that I hope it doesn't disappear too quickly in the unused library shelves for all time.

The book begins with a "Note to the Reader". That reader, as it happens, is actually the adult who will be reading this book with their child. The note implores "readers" to allow their children to first read about the experiments and then find their own results before moving on in the book. This might get a little tedious if the experiments were vast complicated affairs. Fortunately, author Vicki Cobb has limited experiment materials to those objects people already have around their house(tape, wire hangers, etc.). No experiment is dangerous and none of them require adult supervision in any way.

The book is sort of an Intro. to Science for younger children. Kids will enjoy the bright colorful illustrations. Each scene takes place across a pure white background, occasionally dotted by a window or a tree. The pictures will certainly date in 5 to 10 years down the road, but if you want something that will make your kids interested in science NOW, then this is the book for you. And hey, it won the Robert F. Sibert Honor in 2004! If you're brave enough to take a chance introducing your kids to a little well wrought non-fiction, this here's a good starter book for them to consider.

T-Air-rifc!
This book is a great introduction to the concept that air is a real thing even though it can't be seen. It has easy experiments that anyone could do at home. The illustrations give life to the experiments and the information. The story does an excellent job of introducing the idea of air as a real thing even though kids can't see it. It touches on the science of molecules. I would recommend this book for preschool clear through elementary. It would be a great starting off point for discussing gases and I would consider it a very early flirtation with chemistry. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Teaching Tool
This book helps children understand the facts of life as well as how their bodies change as they go through puberty. The pictures are drawn very realistically. There is a good mixture of text and pictures which help hold a child's attention. Unlike other books on this subject, this one is less embarassing and encourages parent-child discussions. Both my children have used this book until the book has become nearly worn out. I give it as a gift to other parents whose children are entering puberty. ... Read more

Book Description

Making a periscope, a rainbow, a sound cannon, and musical instruments can be both fun and educational as children explore the properties of light and sound. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must Read book for a kid of 4-8 age group
After reading this book my kid who is just five can explain all about rainbow.Which color is on the top of rainbow and which one is at the bottom .What makes rainbow?,how many colors is in it?,What is the shape of rainbow?Where and when can we see itwhy can't we touch it,How does a white sunlight makes a rainbow.They got their questions answered by this book.They got introduction about prism,color wheel.Now they know why orange lies in between red and yellow and green lies in between yellow and blue.Basically it is a perfect book for a kid who wants to know all about rainbow. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

My Class Loved This Book!
As a second grade elementary school teacher, I am alwayslooking for educational books that I can use with my class. Ourschool library carries "The Usborne Big Book of Experiments". Our school was having a science fair and I found this book to be very helpful. My class loved the pictures and the experiments were exciting. Most of the supplies they could find at home. I am going to purchase this book for my own library,I've used it so much. I give this book an A+. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Forces and Movment
I think this book was very descriptive and a well writen book. Its perfet for research for anything and my kids loved it. They read it for a week then they asked if there was a nether "Forces and Movement" out that they could read! Thanks, Jeremy Lacocque ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A High School Physics Teacher
I used this resource occasionally last year because the text has little in the way of problems involving math. My main complaint is the topics addressed in this workbook are often not explained covered in the text. For example, the workbook topics of static drawings, coefficient of friction, frequency/preiod, and angular quantities. Consequently, the student often has only the brief workbook section introduction (1/2 page) and a sample problem for reference. In my experience this is insufficent. Yes, my students can sometimes step through the problem, but doing so forces the student outside the realm of conceptual physics which is the whole idea of this course.

It seems like this workbook was a too-quick attempt to throw a math resource into the course. The premise is good: the text needs more math so the student can see how math is the language of physics. But the task of introducing new topics should be left to the text.

Excellent for college or high school algebra-based physics
Each chapter starts with a two or three page review of the relevant physics. There are many detailed examples neatly worked out. Then there are numerous exercises, often with good real-world relevance. This is not a revolutionary book, but I strongly recommend it to physics teachers and students alike. It is a good supplement for any algebra-based physics course. A teacher's edition is also available. ... Read more

Book Description

One Saturday at the beach, Laura, Juan, and Sarah decide to have a sand castle contest. As the tide rises, the walls get longer, the towers get taller, and the moats get deeper. The friends measure their sand castles with spoons, shovels, and bare feet until Larry the lifeguard and his tape measure surprise them all. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1665, when an epidemic of the plague forced Cambridge University to close, Isaac Newton, then a young, undistinguished scholar, returned to his childhood home in rural England. Away from his colleagues and professors, Newton embarked on one of the greatest intellectual odysseys in the history of science: he began to formulate the law of universal gravitation, developed the calculus, and made revolutionary discoveries about the nature of light. After his return to Cambridge, Newton's genius was quickly recognized and his reputation forever established. This biography also allows us to see the personal side of Newton, whose life away from science was equally fascinating. Quarrelsome, quirky, and not above using his position to silence critics and further his own career, he was an authentic genius with all too human faults. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great!
I have never read a biography quite as good as this. This book has some of the best descriptions of Newton that I've ever heard: "Like Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton was not just an aimlesschildhood tinkerer, but a tinkerer playing with ideas and mechanisms."It has so many interesting details about his life, such as the jumpingcontest at school, or the many different clocks that he made. This bookmade me realize that Newton wasn't just a great scientist, but a politicalfigure as well, with a seat in Parliment, head of the Royal Society, andDirector of the Mint. If it is possible, Cristianson would be my nomineefor the Pulitzer Prize.

Great book for a get to know feeling with issac newton
The book, Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revoultion, was a good book beacause it went futher than the inventions and into Isaac Newton, the man. The book showed his public and private fueds with rival scientists. Thebooks also shows his emotions; lots of resenment and hate, love of theunknown, and joy of experinicng life to the fullest. The only bad part ofthe book was it was to fast; it didn't show enough of the discoverery, itraced along to show what happened to Newton after the discovery like hisfame and how it destroyed his rivals. But in the end you feel like you knewNewton and lived in the Scientiic revolution.

Isaac Newton and the scientific revolution is a superb book
This book gives an excellent portrayal of Isaac Newtons life and discoveries. It shows how a childhood dilemma leads to Isaacs will to succeed. It also depicts Newton`s social life with friends such as halleyand John Locke. The book shows his feuds with rival inventors such as JohnFlamsteed. This book deserves 5 star for it depicts Newtons scientificgenius inside his personal world. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Wow - what a disapointment
I'm a college student transferring into another school - I've been through 2.5 years of college math and I needed to brush up on some of the stuff I hadn't used since high school so that I could take the SAT II Math IIC, a requirement for some of the schools I'm trying to go to. College math credits are apparently no match for requirements set forth by admissions boards.

While browsing the book, I saw no less than 10 major errors in the explanitory parts of the book - now, it's one thing to make a mistake on a review question, but when there are HUGE errors in the parts of the book dedicated to trying to help you learn something, there's a problem. Luckily they didn't affect me much, since I know all of the material in the book, but I feel sorry for anyone else who isn't quite on solid ground with this material. For example, there is a part of the book detailing Statistics and Probablility. After adding up 20 fictional test scores, you are then told how to find the Arithmetic Mean, Mode, Median, and Range - too bad they made an error on the most simple part of the whole problem: Adding up the test scores. Their answer was 84 LESS than when you get by simply plugging the numbers in a calculator and hitting enter. This is a no-brainer here, something that "Hardvard Students" should not mess up. My mother never went to college and she knows how to add better than that.

That brings me to my next point. They make it a point to say it was written by _*OMG HARVARD STUDENTS!!*_ - to sell more books - although I'm betting the students were busy getting drunk until the week before their deadline and they made tons of errors just trying to get the book out on time... This isn't worth the money you'll pay for it.

Conclusion: Solid in theory, but disapointingly lacking in the details. ... Read more

Book Description

A brand-new collection of outstanding physics projects!

Are you having a hard time coming up with a good idea for the science fair? Do you want to earn extra credit in your physics class? Or do you just want to learn more about how physics affects our everyday lives? Janice VanCleave’s A+ Projects in Physics can help–and you don’t even need any complicated or expensive equipment.

This step-by-step guide features 30 different topics in physics and dozens of winning experiment ideas. Packed with helpful illustrations and charts, the book helps you explore key physics concepts, including:

• Angular measurement
• Linear intertia
• Transfer of energy
• Light rays
• Sound waves
• Electricity and magnetism
• Terminal Velocity
• And much more

This inspirational guide gives you all the hands-on help you need to turn your own ideas into science fair projects. ... Read more