Hi! Kind of a weird question here, but I have a son (13 years old) who I'm trying to find books for. He doesn't like novels, or books with a story. His absolute favorite books have been What If, What If 2, and How To, all by Randall Munroe. He has also enjoyed How To Invent Everything, Human Errors, and Humble Pi. He also really likes all the DK Science encyclopedias, and the field guide to North American insects, although he seems to be interested in more of the first style of book more than the encyclopedia/field guide style book.
Does anybody have any books to recommend along those veins?
He was not interested in George's Secret Key to the Universe, or Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry. He is not interested in history — his interests are definitely in math/science.
by maquis_00
5 Comments
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs is pretty good depending on the type on science he’s interested in. In a similar vein, my husband just finished The World Before Us and wrote enjoyed it
John Gribbin wrote some short books that are broken down into sections explaining things.
Six Impossible Things
Seven Pillars of Science
Nine Musings on Time
Eight Improbable Possibilities
But How Do It Know by Clark Scott, and How to Lie with Statistics
All of David Macaulay’s books
Bridges: From My Side to Yours by Jan Adkins (AMAZING illustrations)
Transformed: How Everyday Things Are Made by Bill Slavin
It Looked Good on Paper: Bizarre Inventions, Design Disasters, and Engineering Follies ed. Bill Fawcett
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
How much has he learned in mathematics? When I was 10-11, I obsessively read and re-read Kjartan Poskitt’s Murderous Maths books, which taught me concepts and rules years before my school classes would get to them.
Code by Charles Petzold – it covers foundational concepts and through several chapters goes through building a simple computer from scratch using relays, switches, and lights