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03/10/2006 Archived Entry: "Backyard Ballistics"

KA-BLOOEY! If you're looking for a gift for an inquisitive, science-minded boy -- one who's at the stage of liking to make things go boom (and I think that "stage" runs from about 6 to 60), check out the book Backyard Ballistics.

Its monumental subtitle describes about half of what makes it so fun: "Build potato cannons, paper match rockets, Cincinnati fire kites, tennis ball mortars, and more dynamite devices." Besides that, it's well written and filled with fascinating vignettes about innovators like Newton, Archemedes, the Montgolfiers and Zeppelin and little snippets of friendly physics.

I have no interest in blowing things up & checked the book out of the library strictly from curiosity (what, you mean the "freedom-protecting" fedgov still allows us to read books about setting things on fire and blasting things into the sky?). But I loved it. And I can easily see this book getting some kid hooked on science and engineering.

Posted by Claire @ 12:55 PM CST
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