Reviews

Book Review: Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win by Judy Dutton

Review by Erika Engelhaupt.

Book Review: The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts by Neal Bascomb

Review by Devin Powell.

Success with Science: The Winners’ Guide to High School Research by Shiv Gaglani, ed.

In this guide to high school research, five Harvard students and past competition winners give tips on project ideas, finding mentors and more. Research Corp. for Science Advancement, 2011, 180 p., $19.95.       

The Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun: Cool Hacks, Cutting-Edge Games, and More Awesome Projects for the Whole Family by Ken Denmead

All the entertainment a geek family could want is packed into this how-to book, from backyard zip lines to homemade robots. Gotham Books, 2011, 227 p., $18.

Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life beyond Our Solar System by Ray Jayawardhana

Engaging stories of astronomers and their quest to find Earthlike planets orbiting distant suns, and even signs of life. Princeton Univ. Press, 2011, 255 p., $24.95.           

Bad Science by Linda Zimmermann

A brief history of science blunders through the ages, including radium cures and phrenology, the reading of head bumps. Eagle Press, 2011, 224 p., $14.95.

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 by Michio Kaku

A physicist interviews over 300 scientists and lays out a mostly rosy vision of research advances that he predicts will shape the world by 2100. Doubleday, 2011, 389 p., $28.95.

Book Review: The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

Review by Tom Siegfried.

Book Review: The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks

Review by Bruce Bower.

Cosmic Challenge: The Ultimate Observing List for Amateurs by Philip S. Harrington

This guide to observing the heavens beckons backyard astronomers to find 187 targets using instruments ranging from bi­noculars to monster scopes. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, 469 p., $45.    

Discoverers of the Universe: William and Caroline Herschel by Michael Hoskin

An in-depth account of the lives of sibling astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, who discovered Uranus, comets galore and much more. Princeton Univ. Press, 2011, 237 p., $29.95.        

How Old is the Universe? by David A. Weintraub

An astronomer outlines the research showing that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. Princeton Univ. Press, 2011, 370 p., $29.95.