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Hot Topics! Reading List of...
Science!

Magic School Bus, by Joanna Cole

Ms. Frizzle shepherds her reluctant students through many adventures in books that are as fancifully conceived as they are educational.  The original full-color, horizontal format Magic School Bus books, listed below, are the best for gifted kids, with lots of fascinating details on each subject!

The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body  (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body)

The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System  (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System)

The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth  (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth)

The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip  (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip)

The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor)

The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane)

The Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs)

The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses)

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive)

The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks)
The Magic School Bus And The Science Fair Expedition (or from Amazon.co.uk The Magic School Bus And The Science Fair Expedition)

Horrible Science, by Nick Arnold.  Visit Horribles! for the whole collection!

Angry Animals  (or from Amazon.co.uk Angry Animals), also Animals Teachers' Resources 

Get to grips with gruesome grizzly bears, wolf down some facts about, er, wolves and snap up some savage shark stories

Blood, Bones and Body Bits (or from Amazon.co.uk Blood, Bones and Body Bits)

Perfect for budding young doctors and scientists

The Body Owner's Handbook (or from Amazon.co.uk The Body Owner's Handbook), also The Human Body Teachers' Resources

What you need to know about you...

Bulging Brains (or from Amazon.co.uk Bulging Brains)

Discover how chopping your brain in half needn't be fatal, and whether girls or boys are the real masterminds in this book about grey matter

Chemical Chaos (or from Amazon.co.uk Chemical Chaos)

Delightful history of scientific development, while teaching basic chemistry

Deadly Diseases (or from Amazon.co.uk Deadly Diseases)

If you think you can stomach the sick side of Science, then read on to find out about all kinds of illnesses from the common cold to cruel cholera

Disgusting Digestion (or from Amazon.co.uk Disgusting Digestion)

Dishes up the dirt on your innards...  Also Disgusting Digestion Sticker-Activity Book or Amazon.co.uk Disgusting Digestion Sticker-Activity Book

Evolve or Die (or from Amazon.co.uk Evolve or Die)

Weird and wonderful facts about survival and extinction

Dr Grimgrave's Gruesome Guide to Poison (or from Amazon.co.uk Dr Grimgrave's Gruesome Guide to Poison)

Explosive Experiments (or from Amazon.co.uk Explosive Experiments)

Reveals how many mistakes scientists make on the road to discovery, while giving readers the chance to try a few things out for themselves

Fatal Forces (or from Amazon.co.uk Fatal Forces), also Forces Teachers' Resources  

Why do your ears stop you falling off your bike? What can make your fillings explode? Find out...

Fearsome Fight for Flight (or from Amazon.co.uk Fearsome Fight for Flight)

Laugh at some seriously silly flying stunts, find out which scientist was blown up in a balloon, and learn how to build a world-beating plane

Frightening Light (or from Amazon.co.uk Frightening Light), also Light Teachers' Resources  

How eclipses turn day into night, why rattlesnakes can still find a person in the dark and why legs seem to bend under water

Killer Energy (or from Amazon.co.uk Killer Energy), also Electricity Teachers' Resources  

Find out how your body turns stodgy school dinners into energy, why steaming manure can warm you up and how to build your own geothermal power station

Microscopic Monsters (or from Amazon.co.uk Microscopic Monsters), also Micro-organisms Teachers' Resources (due 3/20/06)

facts about the tiny world of microbes - viruses, bacteria, amoebas

Nasty Nature (or from Amazon.co.uk Nasty Nature), also Plants Teachers' Resources  

Slither into the animal world to discover what kind of frog lives in the toilet, and many other fantastic facts

Painful Poison (or from Amazon.co.uk Painful Poison)

Painful Poison will dish up a deadly dose! Are you brave enough to discover: how to turn your brother or sister into a zombie slave? why you are breathing in poison right now?

Really Rotten Experiments (or from Amazon.co.uk Really Rotten Experiments)

packed with loud, noisy, wet and soggy experiments that are guaranteed to make your friends and teachers squirm...

Shocking Electricity (or from Amazon.co.uk Shocking Electricity)

discover how an electric eel can give you a nasty shock?; why electricity keeps your heart beating?

Sounds Dreadful (or from Amazon.co.uk Sounds Dreadful)

The world of rumbling resonance, shocking sound waves and sonic boom gets a sound check

Space, Stars and Slimy Aliens (or from Amazon.co.uk Space, Stars and Slimy Aliens), also Earth and Beyond Teachers' Resources (due 3/20/06)

Are you spaced-out to discover: which astronomers killed people? why space makes the guts explode? what the moon smells like?

Suffering Scientists (or from Amazon.co.uk Suffering Scientists)

a potted history of scientists and their discoveries, from the first Greek brainboxes to modern day geniuses

The Stunning Science of Everything! (or from Amazon.co.uk The Stunning Science of Everything)

Taking a journey from the very small, to the very big, explore the horrible Universe...

Terrible Truth About Time (or from Amazon.co.uk The Terrible Truth About Time)

What happens if you go too close to a black hole? How do flies tell the time? Why the years pass more quickly as you get older?

Vicious Veg (or from Amazon.co.uk Vicious Veg)

Dig up the dirt on the world of plants

Ugly Bugs (or from Amazon.co.uk Ugly Bugs), also Mini-Beasts Teachers' Resources 

Itching to find our which bugs hide behind the wallpaper? What slugs do with their slime?  Also Ugly Bugs Sticker-Activity Book or Amazon.co.uk Ugly Bugs Sticker-Activity Book

As They Mold... um, Grow

Science Coloring Books -

Classic scientific coloring books, for pre-teens through college students! 

The Anatomy Coloring Book by Christine Becker

For younger kids, try Color Anatomy...

The Biology Coloring Book by Robert Griffen

The Botany Coloring Book by Paul Young

Color the structure and function of plants and surveys the entire plant kingdom...

The Geography Coloring Book by Wynn Kapit

Not science, but part of the series...

The Human Brain Coloring Book

The Human Evolution Coloring Book

Scientific background for understanding the origins of humanity, explains dating methods, includes evidence from living primates, fossils, and molecular studies, clarifies the anatomical and behavioral similarities and differences between ourselves and our closest living relatives...

The Marine Biology Coloring Book by Thomas M. Niesen

The Microbiology Coloring Book by Richard Alcamo & Lawrence Elson

The Physics Coloring Book by Richard Stuart & Lawrence Elson

For younger kids, try Color Me Physics...

The Physiology Coloring Book by Wynn Kapit, Robert Macey, and Esmail Meisami

companion to The Anatomy Coloring Book...

The Zoology Coloring Book by Lawrence Elson

Advanced Scientists...

The Amateur Naturalist by Gerald Durrell

A treasure trove for anyone interested in studying the world around them, no matter the part of the world in which they might live. Although you needn't be an actual collector in order to enjoy this book, there is also information on how to begin collecting wild flora and fauna...  

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin

Speaks in the clear voice of a woman who emerged from the other side of autism, bringing with her an extraordinary message about how animals think and feel.  Temple's professional training as an animal scientist and her history as a person with autism have given her a perspective like that of no other expert in the field. Standing at the intersection of autism and animals, she offers unparalleled observations and groundbreaking ideas about both...  Listen to Grandin's interview on the Diane Rehm show Temple Grandin: "Animals in Translation"...

Asimov on Chemistry by Isaac Asimov

out of print but available used...

Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson

A real eye-opener for teen readers who regularly indulge at the Golden Arches. An adaptation of Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, Chew on This covers the history of the fast-food industry and delves into the agribusiness and animal husbandry methods that support it. Schlosser lays out the gruesome details behind the tasty burgers and sandwiches. Equally disturbing is his revelation of the way that the fast-food giants have studied childhood behavior and geared their commercials and free toy inclusions to hook the youngest consumers...

The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by Lewis Thomas

A beautifully written collection of essays. His observations, more than conclusions, bring one very close to a belief that in some way, all life is connected...

Madame Curie by Eva Curie

The remarkable life and astonishing mind of one of the greatest scientists of the century, written by her daughter, it remains a landmark and an inspiration for students, scientists, and young women everywhere...  

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Neal Thompson

The discovery of penicillin in 1928 ushered in a new age in medicine. But it took a team of Oxford scientists headed by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain four more years to develop it as the first antibiotic...

One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey by Neal Thompson

Explores the man whose walk on the moon is still compared to humankind's progenitor's crawl out of the primordial ooze. And whose retreat back to a farm in his native Ohio soon after the last ticker tape confetti fell, has left him looked upon as a reclusive hermit ever since.  This is the true story of a national hero, whose life long quest to walk on the moon truly mirrors our best selves...

On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines by Jeff Hawkins with Sandra Blakeslee

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself.  Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines.  

The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein

In the summer of 1995, a teenager in a Detroit suburb, a mediocre student with a relentless scientific curiosity, managed to build a rudimentary nuclear breeder reactor in a shed behind his mother's house, using radioactive elements obtained from items as ordinary as smoke detectors. He got so far along in his efforts that when the Feds finally caught up with him...

She's Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff by Annalee Newitz & Charlie Anders

An anthology essays spotlights women who write comic books for a living, get caught up in their favorite role-playing games and win "sexiest geek alive" contests by sporting a corset made out of circuit boards. Editors Newitz celebrate women's technical accomplishments and nerdy hobbies, while several contributors also discuss their encounters with sexist discrimination... (young adult)

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figured it out. [Bryson's] aim is to help people like him, who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, to appreciate how we have used science to understand the smallest particles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space...

Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney

Explores the brilliant and prescient mind of one of the twentieth century's greatest scientists and inventors. Called a madman by his enemies, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was, without a doubt, a trailblazing inventor who created astonishing, sometimes world-transforming devices that were virtually without theoretical precedent...

The Velocity of Honey and More Science of Everyday Life by Jay Ingram

Why does the journey to a new location always take longer than the trip home? What is the science behind the theory of "six degrees of separation?" Why doesn't honey flow out in all directions?  Explore the extraordinary science behind ordinary happenings...

The World's 20 Greatest Unsolved Problems by John R. Vacca

Current debates in astronomy and cosmology, physics and astrophysics, biology and paleontology, neuroscience, geology, chemistry, and energy
 

For All Ages!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

recounts a year spent eating home-grown food and, if not that, local. Accomplished gardeners, the Kingsolver clan grow a large garden in southern Appalachia and spend summers "putting food by," as the classic kitchen title goes. Nine-year-old Lily runs a heritage poultry business, selling eggs and meat. What they don't raise (lamb, beef, apples) comes from local farms. Come winter, they feast on root crops and canned goods, menus slouching toward asparagus. Along the way, the Kingsolver family, having given up industrial meat years before, abandons its vegetarian ways and discovers the pleasures of conscientious carnivory...

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

The famous story of a Japanese boy who must face life after escaping the tidal wave destruction of his family and village...

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier

Distills everything you've forgotten from your high school science classes and more into one enjoyable book, a guide for the scientifically perplexed adult who wants to understand what those guys in lab coats on the news are babbling about, in the realms of physics, chemistry, biology, geology or astronomy, or the scientifically curious young adult who wants to understand everything...

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

A fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again...

Powers of Ten by Philip & Phylis Morrison

Starting with a view of a billion light-years, the book moves inward, with each page being 1/10^th the scale of the previous one. In 25 steps, you're looking at a picnic by the shores of Lake Michigan, then plunging into a human hand, down through the cells inside it, the DNA inside the cells...

The Way Life Works: The Science Lover's Illustrated Guide to How Life Grows, Develops, Reproduces, and Gets Along by Mahlon Hoagland and Bert Dodson

What happens when a biologist and artist share an interest in life from bacteria to humans, and collaborate on taking their knowledge public? The result is a most magnificent science book, devoted to the wonder and unity of the natural world...

Genetics

For The Younger Geneticist...

They Came from DNA by  Billy Aronson

Begin to understand evolution and the key to the mysteries he is investigating: the structure and function of DNA

For The Older Geneticist...

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker

Drawing on decades of research in the "sciences of human nature," Pinker attacks the notion that an infant's mind is a blank slate, arguing instead that human beings have an inherited universal structure shaped by the demands made upon the species for survival, albeit with plenty of room for cultural and individual variation...

The Cartoon Guide to Genetics by Larry Gonick

Illustrates, simplifies, and humor-coats the important principles of classical and modern genetics and their experimental bases, with amusing anecdotes about how the ancients tried to explain inheritance and sex determination

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D. Watson

The real story behind the deceptively simple outcome was messy, intense, and sometimes truly hilarious. James Watson attempted to record his first impressions as soon after the events of 1951-1953 as possible, with all their unpleasant realities and "spirit of adventure" intact...  

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley

Each chapter pries one gene out of its chromosome and focuses on its role in our development and adult life, but also goes further, exploring the implications of genetic research and our quickly changing social attitudes toward this information; genes associated with cancer, intelligence, sex, and more...  

also The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture by Matt Ridley

Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture...  

His Brother's Keeper: A Story from the Edge of Medicine by Edmund Blair Bolles

At the heart of this report of gene therapy and other regenerative medicine techniques lies a simple, heartbreaking question: "What would you do to save your brother's life?" When Stephen Heywood, a 29-year-old carpenter, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), his older brother, Jaime, launched his own research project to search for a cure...

The Way Life Works: The Science Lover's Illustrated Guide to How Life Grows, Develops, Reproduces, and Gets Along  by Mahlon Hoagland and Bert Dodson

This book is what happens when a biologist and artist share an interest in life from bacteria to humans, and collaborate on taking their knowledge public.  Superbly written, delightfully illustrated, and supremely informative...  

Inventions

For the would-be Inventor...

Mistakes That Worked by Charlotte Foltz Jones

Accidents May Happen: 50 Inventions Discovered by Mistake by Charlotte Foltz Jones

For the future engineer...

Bridges: Amazing Structures to Design, Build & Test by Ted Williams (or from Amazon)

Historical and technical information on the design and construction, plus hands-on experiments. From analysis of the arch, beam, and suspension systems to the "care and feeding" of structures and reflections on bridges of the future. Projects involve building, measurement, and observation, testing the strength of varied paper shapes or constructing a Popsicle-stick truss bridge or writing bridge poems...

Building Big by David Macauley

David Macaulay's hit PBS series Building Big: Bridges/Domes/Skyscrapers/Dams/Tunnels cannot take you as far as this book does into the wonders of the constructed world: dams, domes, skyscrapers, tunnels, and bridges. It's also a trip through time, transporting you, for instance, from Rome's Ponte Fabricio (built in 62 B.C.) to the 1930s Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to France's Ponte de Normandie across the Seine, which was the longest bridge on earth when completed in 1994...

Skyscrapers!: Super Structures to Design & Build by Ted Williams (or from Amazon)

Learn about each stage of skyscraper-construction from planning to "cladding," or exterior.  Brief history of the skyscraper precedes hands-on learning activities, including determining the best foundation and constructing a frame. Includes about the Sears Tower, Woolworth Building and Transamerica Pyramid...  Note: includes the World Trade Towers

For the ready-to-build engineer...

Mechatronics for the Evil Genius by Newton C. Braga

Build your own mechanical race car, combat robot, ionic motor, mechatronic head, light beam remote control, and 20 other entertaining learning projects that take you to the heart of mechatronics.  The "evil genius" format adds intrigue...

Physics!

The Youngest Physicist

Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Robert Cwiklik

For bewildered parents of relativity-involved children and for younger children, more history than science, but covers the basics of the theory of relativity

It's All Relative: Einstein's Theory of Relativity by Necia H. Apfel

Out of print; No math, but explains the concept in the clearest, most intuitive way. At the time, my 8 year old and I were thrilled reading it

Pre-teen and teen Physicists

Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics by Robert Gilmore

Told in the same way as Alice in Wonderland and a hint of Flatland, Gilmore guides us through the principles of Quantum mechanics in a truly lively and fun way

Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne, intro by Stephen Hawking

It'll suck you right in! Thorne's book is fantastic! It progresses from Einstein's start to the fundamental concepts of the subject we know today

The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition by Stephen Hawking

Helps nonscientists understand the questions being asked by scientists today. Among the topics gracefully covered are gravity, black holes, the Big Bang, the nature of time, and more

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking

It's no secret that many people who own A Brief History of Time have never finished it. Hawking's The Universe in a Nutshell aims to remedy the situation, with a plethora of friendly illustrations to help readers grok some of the most brain-bending ideas ever conceived...

The Cartoon Guide to Physics by Larry Gonick

"If you think a negative charge is something that shows up on your credit-card bill--if you imagine that Ohm's law dictates how long to meditate--if you believe that Newtonian mechanics will fix your car," here's the book for you

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene

Greene gives the non-specialist at least an illusion of understanding--or the sense of knowing what it is that you don't know

Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life by Leonard Mlodinow

Einstein's Dreams meets Tuesdays with Morrie in Leonard Mlodinow's touching memoir about his mentor, the brilliant physicist Richard Feynman. As a young physicist, Leonard Mlodinow looked for guidance from his mentor, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman...

The Physics Coloring Book by Richard Stuart & Lawrence Elson

For younger kids, try Color Me Physics...

The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss

Even those who have never watched an episode of Star Trek will be entertained and enlightened by theoretical physicist Krauss's adventurous investigation of interstellar flight, time travel, teleportation of objects and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Case Western Reserve professor Krauss maintains that Star Trek's writers were sometimes far ahead of scientists and famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking's foreword, endorsing the possibilities of faster-than-light travel and journeying back in time, supports that notion. On the other hand, Krauss also argues that the show is riddled with bloopers and huge improbabilities...

Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein

How better to learn the Special Theory of Relativity and the General Theory of Relativity than directly from their creator, Albert Einstein himself? Einstein describes the theories that made him famous, illuminating his case with numerous examples and a smattering of math (nothing more complex than high-school algebra)...

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Dr. Richard Feynman

The six easiest chapters from Feynman's celebrated Lectures on Physics...

Six Not-so-Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry, and Space-Time by Dr. Richard Feynman

Six additional focused, revolutionary lectures on Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which the legendary teacher and Nobel physicist Richard P. Feynman gave in the early 1960s to freshman students at Caltech

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Dr. Richard Feynman

Mr. Tompkins in Paperback by George Gamow

This classic work provides a clear explanation of the central concepts in modern physics--from atomic structure to relativity and quantum theory to fusion and fission--through the fantastic adventures of its bank clerk hero

A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo: A Guide to Particle Physics by Cindy Schwarz

This popular book introduces the ideas, terminology, and techniques of high-energy physics. Views of matter from the atom down to the quark are discussed historically, in language that is accessible to readers who have no physics background. If every physics textbook were like this, physics classrooms would be crowded

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