Friday, March 20, 2015

AsapSCIENCE, by Michael Moffit and Greg Brown

Perhaps you have seen the clever, informative videos posted on AsapSCIENCE's YouTube channel. If not, look it up.  If there's an everyday science question you've been wondering about, perhaps they'll have the answer you seek!  If you're away from your WiFi connection, pick up Michael Moffit and Greg Brown's new book, AsapSCIENCE: Answers to the World's Weirdest Questions, Most Persistent Rumors, and Unexplained Phenomena.

You have always wondered, I'm sure, whether the silent ones really are more deadly (you know what I'm talking about).  And the ten second rule?  Here's the definitive answer.  And while they may not forever and always settle the debate over whether the egg or the chicken came first, this is the best discussion of the question I've seen in print!
Admit it.  You've always wondered about this. . . .
I thoroughly enjoyed the wit and simplicity of Moffit and Brown's explanations, but at the same time did not feel like I was being talked down to.  AsapSCIENCE is definitely for the layperson, but it doesn't shy away from introducing technical terms and difficult concepts.  This is the most fun you'll ever have reading a science book!

Which leads me to my biggest complaint.  Many of these topics are questions more often posed by children.  (Grown-ups don't tend to be as curious about eating boogers and hiccups and brain freezes.)  For the most part, this is a great book for kids to explore these questions, but then they thrown in a few chapters about some very adult phenomena.  Granted, older teens will be curious about some of these topics, but that doesn't mean I want to see them in a book that otherwise seems to be aimed at kids.  It's not graphic (or pornographic), but the chapters on hangovers and sexual topics could have been left out, or left for a different book.

The fun illustrations and conversational tone bring real science to everyday life in a way that anyone can understand.  Pick up AsapSCIENCE and put your curiosity to rest on these everyday subjects.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

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