6/7/17

Four board books that introduce physics to babies

First thing last Friday morning at Book Expo, Sourcebooks had a giveaway of a series of books I knew I had to see, and so (eschewing my usual gazelle-like grace) I trotted with intent determination to their booth bright and early, and I was rewarded with the following board books by Chris Ferrie (all May 2017)--Newtonian Physics for Babies, General Relativity for Babies, Quantum Physics for Babies, and Rocket Science for Babies.



They are charming books, and they do keep things simple, with very few words per page, hitting the key concepts  (for instance, two pages of Rocket Science shows "This ball has no lift"  "The wing has lift!") The simplicity is such that the conclusions at the ends of the books ("Now you are a rocket scientist!") seemed a tad optimistic, and goodness knows I am no further along toward understanding just why the electrons go around in set rings ("An electron can be here."  "Or here."), but the appeal to geeky adults is utterly undeniable.  I liked General Relativity best myself.

These strike me as books that are perfect to give as baby presents to the geeky grownups in your life.  Babies themselves, I think, will enjoy having their parents read them out loud if they are fond of their parents' voices.  But parents deserve fun too, and one of the most enjoyable thing about being a parent with a captive audience on your lap is the fun of telling them things they will neither comprehend or remember.  So go for  it, geeky parents, and enjoy elaborating on the simple frameworks presented here!  Follow up with demonstrations of what balls do!  Drop apples!  Bring up gravity in casual conversation!

One could also give these as a gift to a college kid struggling with physics, but that would probably be unkind. 

Thanks, Sourcebooks--I enjoyed these! And now I get to move them on from my dining room table to my public library; I am curious to see how well they will circulate.

1 comment:

  1. Ha! I love it! I am totally that geeky parent. Except my youngest is now about to go study Engineering Physics at college, so I guess I have to wait for grandkids.

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