MythBusters: Don't Try This at Home [Paperback]

Discovery Channel (Author), Mary Packard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787983691 | ISBN-13: 978-0787983697 | Publication Date: February 10, 2006 | Edition: 1

It's a tough job separating truth from urban legend, but the MythBusters are here to serve. For example, is it true that if you step in quicksand , you'll be sucked down to your death? Only two men would be inventive - and adventurous - enough to try to find out: Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, the MythBusters. Each week, hosts Savage and Hyneman, both special effects experts, use modern science to put another three urban legends to the test on their popular TV show. In this book, you'll learn how they either "busted" or confirmed fifteen myths on their show, often with spectacular results. Here are just some of the urban legends in this book:

• Did a Ming Dynasty astronaut launch himself into space with a rocket?
• Can a swallowed octopus egg grow to full size inside a person's stomach?
• Is the daddy longlegs the world's most venomous spider?
• Will a sinking ship suck you down?
• How many balloons are needed to lift a small child off the ground?
• Does a duck's quack echo?

Mythbusters: Don't Try This at Home! gets to the bottom of these urban legends and more, and it lets you do your own mythbusting with fun experiments you can do safely at home.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are the Mythbusters starring in the eponymous Discovery Channel show and their images embellish the cover of this colorful paperback authored by popular science writer Packard. Fifteen intriguing episodes that challenge commonly held myths and urban legends have been excerpted from the broadcasts and incorporated here. Does running in the rain keep you drier than walking? Does a sinking ship pull swimmers down with it? Along with careful scientific scrutiny of these questions, lots of good-natured humor, witty props, and gadgets are employed to enthrall youthful readers. Each chapter includes a guide for safe "at home" experiments along with a brainbuster quiz challenging commonly held notions about the subject. Of course, answers are provided at the back, along with a glossary, an index, and a listing of web sites. The comic-book layout with its incandescent palette of reds, yellows, and brilliant blues should be graphically appealing to the visually oriented preadolescent population. Suitable for all public and junior high-school libraries.
—Rita Hoots, Woodland Coll., CA (Library Journal, March 15, 2006)

From the Back Cover

It’s a tough job separating truth from urban legend, but the MythBusters are here to serve. For example, is it true that if you step in quicksand , you’ll be sucked down to your death? Only two men would be inventive—and adventurous—enough to try to find out: Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, the MythBusters. Each week, hosts Savage and Hyneman, both special effects experts, use modern science to put another three urban legends to the test on their popular TV show. In this book, you’ll learn how they either “busted” or confirmed fifteen myths on their show, often with spectacular results. Here are just some of the urban legends in this book:

•   Did a Ming Dynasty astronaut launch himself into space with a rocket?
•   Can a swallowed octopus egg grow to  full size inside a person’s stomach?
•   Is the daddy longlegs the world’s most venomous spider?
• Will a sinking ship suck you down?
• How many balloons are needed to lift a small child off the ground?
• Does a duck’s quack echo?

Mythbusters: Don’t Try This at Home! gets to the bottom of these urban legends and more, and it lets you do your own mythbusting with fun experiments you can do safely at home.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (February 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787983691
• ISBN-13: 978-0787983697
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun book, October 25, 2006

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: MythBusters: Don't Try This at Home (Paperback)

In this great book, Adam and Jamie, the MythBusters, take aim fifteen myths. Each myth is given its own chapter, which includes pictures from the television shows, step-by-step information on how they tested the myth, and a conclusion. As an added bonus, each chapter contains a "Do try this at home" project, so that you can test aspects of the myth yourself, and a Brainbusters quiz.

This is a fun book, with lots of that great MythBusters sense of wackiness. Is it educational? I suppose so. Is it a lot of fun? It sure is.

In case you are interested, the fifteen chapters are: 1) Toy Car Race (is a toy car faster going downhill than a real car?), 2) Pea Project (does talking to your plant make it grow?), 3) Round Trip (does a goldfish learn?), 4) Octopus Pregnancy (can a tadpole survive in a human stomach?), 5) Daddy Longlegs (are daddy longlegs the deadliest spiders?), 6) Toothbrush Surprise (is storing your toothbrush near the toilet bad for your health?), 7) Up, Up and Away! (how many balloons does it take to lift a kid?), 8) Sinking Ship (does a sinking suck survivors down with it?, 9) Running in the Rain (if you run during when its raining, do you stay dryer?), 10) Does a Duck's Quack Echo? (well, does it?), 11) Ming Dynasty Astronaut (could a 16th century Chinese astrologer have blasted himself into orbit?), 12) All Fall Down (can people walking in step wreck a suspension bridge?), 13) Ancient Death Ray (could Archimedes have created a sun-powered death ray?), 14) Baghdad Battery (could the ancients have built batteries?), and 15) Killer Quicksand (just what does quicksand do to you?)

It's a fun book, buy it and enjoy!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Educational, March 6, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: MythBusters: Don't Try This at Home (Paperback)

This book is a great addition to your MythBusters collection( if you don't have a MythBusters collection, you should make one- this show rules!!!) This book combines the fun science and humor of the show with do-at-home experiments. If you are searching for a book that makes learning fun, look no more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Meant for youngsters, February 15, 2007

By 

Colonel Jenna (Overland Park, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MythBusters: Don't Try This at Home (Paperback)

I gave this to my rocket-scientist brother but it was my 4th grade nephew who ran off with the book. I would say that it is really designed for middle-school students? The nephew liked it.

Makes a great gift when enclosed with two dozen bottles of Diet Coke and six rolls of Mentos!