The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists: The Coolest Experiments and Projects for Science Fairs and Family Fun

by Ken Denmead

Fans of the New York Times bestselling Geek Dad and The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun will flock to the 3.0 version, The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists . As Ken Denmead explains, most kids lack an understanding of science and an awareness of how it influences our everyday lives. What kids today need is a fun way to learn scientific concepts. This book will help scientists-in-the- making discover how our world works with creative project ideas, including how

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Parenting, Childrens, Reference, Family

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2010

About the author

Ken spent most of his life as an ordinary geek, playing D&D, video games, watching and reading geeky movies and books. He was GuideBAT on AOL when it was cool (for geeks), and ran a play-by-email Star Trek RPG called Starbase Phoenix. He also succeeded in marrying the love of his life, and having two great kids.

Then, one day, everything changed.

He answered an open call for new writers for the GeekDad blog at Wired.com, put on by Chris Anderson. He made the cut, and started writing up a storm. Six months later, Chris asked him to take over the blog. In the following two years, Ken has secured a book deal, and GeekDads readership has exploded (not, you know, literally).

Its all been a crazy ride and doesnt look to end anytime soon, but he hasnt given up his day-job quite yet.

"

Reviews

[Joseph R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of scientific experiments and demonstrations that can be done at home with the family. The experiments range in complexity, difficulty, and duration. There's classic stuff like building a potato cannon and more mundane tasks like identifying all the flora and fauna in your back yard. Some projects are clearly safer than others. Flames and explosions make recurring appearances. But that's the sort of science that a mad scientist would do, right?

The book has an appendix listing the cost, difficulty, and time needed for each experiment. The individual experiments include a list of items needed and step-by-step instructions along with illustrations. The editing is unfortunately a little choppy, with occasional references to wrong page numbers and one or two experiments that aren't as clearly detailed as they need to be. The illustrations are more fun than technical. Every now and then I thought, "How is this supposed to go together again?" But overall, it's fun to read and we will be trying out some experiments, like extracting our own DNA and copper-plating some iron nails or steel paperclips. Those experiment will mostly likely wind up on the blog.

Slightly recommended.

[Erik Dewey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself slightly disappointed with the Geek Dad books. There isn't anything inherently wrong with them, but the experiments never quite grab me as something really exciting to do. They are great books for science fair time, but I didn't find anything terribly new or interesting.

Some of the experiments included things like Mentos and Diet Coke, making a biosphere, and the good old potato cannon. Neat, but not new. Although I did like the section on subliminal suggestions. That would be a fun experiment.

So, nothing wrong with them, just nothing earth shattering awesome either.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's got a bunch of really cool experiments with cost and supply lists- enough to keep you and your kid occupied for a while. It also has a science background for everything. I learned a lot by reading this which will get my kid to learn a lot later too.

There were just a few grammatical errors and too many ridiculous scifi tangents. Although these tangents were amusing, I'd hesitate about reading them to your kids cus it might distort the Line between science and scifi for them or even get their hopes up for ridiculous things like robots and zombie.

All in all a great book.

[Mindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm calling it the Geek Mom Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists