Customer Reviews

Reinvent the Wheel: Make Classic Inventions, Discover Your Problem-Solving Genius, and Take the Inventor's Challenge

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My sisters and I really loved this book. We thought the projects had simple enough directions that we could do them without getting frustrated--we especially liked making our own frisbee. It's a good combination of the history of the inventions and letting us build them ourselves!

This is not just a science book it is also a history book. You get to match your mind against the mind of the great inventors. You see how to make a thermometer, an igloo or a geodeisic dome. For some reason, science projects are supposed to be a sign that you are smart. Most of them are really dumb. This book has some cool ideas so that even if you have to wrap Play Dough around straws to show tectonic plates, at least it feels real because these are reconstructions of real inventions that people made and that changed the world.

The great inventions of the world were all born out of problems that needed solving. This book inspires budding inventor kids (the ones who hoard bits of string, cardboard and plastic) by telling the actual history of common inventions, and then giving kids simple instructions on how to duplicate them and, best of all, improve upon them. Combines history, science and problem-solving into one easy-to-read book for budding Edisons, Einsteins and Jobs-es. My ten year old daughter just spent the morning duplicating the Catapult experiment (using a plastic spoon, wooden skewers, a rubber band and a ball of paper (sitting in for the recommended marshmallow).

I love this book! My sixth grade students make the electric motor every year, and learn about Thomas Davenport in a fun way. Easy to read directions and great activities and explanations.

I found this book veryyyyy boring. I didn't do much with this book. I just wanted to see some stuff about inventions. Baddd idea. I hated this book. Only read it if you LOVE SCIENCE!!! Some people will like this book but I didn't.