2007-10-20 How to engage children with physics

Physics has a poor reputation amongst the sciences - which is a shame, as if you get to grips with physics, it opens up all sorts of areas of knowledge.

Richard Hammond, with the enthusiasm so familiar from "Top Gear" and (more relevantly, in this case) "Brainiac", brings alive a wide range of aspects of physics in this book. In the first part, he provides a brief history of the development of the science. HISTORY? In a children's book? Well, I suppose everybody is doing it these days - but kudos for introducing the history of science to youngsters.

In the following parts, he looks at forces, matter and light (i.e. radiation, in effect). The text is in paragraph chunks - so should be engaging even for children who are used to instant entertainment - and the pages are visually rich and humorous.

Lots of the book is built around the sort of questions that are the bane of the average parent's life - "How do planes stay in the air?" "Why do balloons stick to the wall?" The science that is presented is accurate, and consistent with what children are likely to be taught in school. The book even introduces some of the mysteries of relativity - wow!

To present science accurately and interestingly is a real challenge, and this book has done an excellent job.