Popular Science Children's Review - Famously Foul Experiments

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Review - Famously Foul Experiments - Nick Arnold

There's nothing like getting your hands on to get a good feeling for science, and that's just what happens in Nick Arnold's latest addition to the Horrible Science series. In Famously Foul Experiments, the young reader is encouraged to try out over 20 experiments to learn some more about physics, biology and a touch of cosmology (yes, experimental cosmology - tell that to the universities). As usual in this series, the book is well illustrated throughout (and in colour), though only the cover goes to Arnold's usual collaborator Tony de Saulles, leaving the interior to Dave Smith. For the practically minded, the cover of the book has a nice, plastic, wipe-clean cover, though I suspect the pages will get a bit tatty - but then this isn't the sort of book to treasure and keep pristine.

There's quite a strong contrast with the companion Freak Food Experiments. That book seemed a little light on the science, but here there's a good strong dollup both of history of science and of practical stuff. Some of the topics are fairly predictable - light and magnetism, for example - but there's even the chance of having a go at genetics, "breeding" paper rats with different characteristics, and as I've already mention, cosmology with a balloon standing in for (you guessed it) the universe.

This is a very good book, and it seems a shame to complain about the opposite of the problem with its companion. Food Experiments was really very thin on science. In this book, the science is too deep to cope with in the small amount of space allowed to each experiment, so you can end up more baffled than when you started. It also means that a good number of the experiments are a tad indirect, and so lack impact. Like its companion it's also a touch thin, even for a children's book. However, as well as demonstrating just how hard this kind of thing is to do, it does have a fair amount of practical benefit and will keep the right kind of reader amused for ages.

Reviewed by Jo Reed

* Our age range recommendation is an estimated guide, but individual readers outside the range could still enjoy the book!

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