This is a great book. I have learned an immense amount of information, and I'm only 10% of the way through the book! I wouldn't recommend this book for children, because much of the information in this book is very, very complex. I'm a college graduate, and sometimes it's taken me several days to get through 5 pages of the book.
...however, part of the reason why I've been going through this book so slowly, is due to some severe errors in the illustrations, leaving me to study them perhaps a bit too intensely, hoping -I- am the one not understanding things correctly, when in fact I am almost positive some of the illustrations are simply incorrect. One of them is impossible as a working machine the way it is written.
Here are two examples:
Page 23; there is a diagram of a complex lever system, using nail clippers as the example. I would argue that the handle is actually a FIRST class lever, just like the nail extractor shown on the previous page. However, the diagram of fulcrums, effort, and load suggest that the handle is actually a third-class lever. Well... maybe, depending on how you look at the system. If we focus solely on the handle, there is no doubt it would be considered a first-class lever, so with that in mind, I believe an explanation should be made about why Macaulay considers it a third-class lever, instead of a first-class one.
When you read/look at the diagram, you'll understand my point.
The second illustration I have a problem with, I don't believe there is any room for dispute over; page 38, a diagram of an analogue bicycle distance counter. The way that the system is drawn, it would simply either not work, or, it would work backwards, with the numbers going DOWN instead of increasing with distance. This is because the diagram shows a reduction gear within a gear ring, the gear ring being responsible for turning the first dial in the system. The illustration shows the reduction gear - which is within a gear ring; the gear ring being the part that moves the first dial - as moving in an OPPOSING direction as the gear ring. On the next page, there is a diagram of how a salad spinner works with the same principle, illustrating very clearly that a gear within gear ring will spin the SAME direction as the gear ring. A simple peek at a salad spinner will show what I'm talking about. Or, simply look at the diagram on page 39, which IS correct.
The way the distance counter is drawn, the machine would not work. If merely one extra gear was drawn between the reduction gear and the gear ring, it would reverse the directions of the force, and the system would work. As it's CURRENTLY drawn, however, the gear ring and the reduction ring would simply grind together, or the dials would run BACKWARDS, counting DOWN your distance instead of counting it UP, as it should.
I don't think I'm misunderstanding the illustration. If someone DOES think I do, by all means please comment on this review, as I would much prefer this to be an issue of me misunderstanding something, then the alternative, which is that the illustration is patently impossible.
Unfortunately, after thinking about this conundrum for about 2 days, I'm almost positive it's an incorrect illustration.
Now, I was a rather self-conscious child. Had I started reading this book, and not understood the illustration, I'd most likely think the book was over my head, and that I was not capable of understanding its contents. There are many precocious children out there who also suffer from low self-esteem, and are likely to undergo a similar interpretation; assuming THEY are the ones with the problem, and not the book.
...however, I TOTALLY recommend this book to anyone over the age of... probably 15 or so, unless the child is in AP/IB-program-type classes. This is a VERY complex book, and some of the explanations are not worded well, leaving the reader to study the illustrations intensely to understand the concepts involved, which brings me back to my main criticism of the book.
If I am wrong about these illustrations, please feel welcome to comment on this review. I would LOVE it to be the case that I am the one misunderstanding the illustration. BUT, I don't think that's the case.
Also, if someone knows how to contact Macaulay, that would also be a great reason to leave a comment on this review.
Thanks for reading this, and, I do hope you buy the book. The illustrations that are done correctly more than compensate for the ones that are done poorly/mistakenly, but it is something that I think is unforgivable from an editing standpoint, and could very well shut a child's interest for engineering right out. There's already a shortage of talented engineers in the world as it stands now, and I fear the inaccuracies in this book may add to the problem.
Lastly, I'll simply stress that this book is TOTALLY worth purchasing, but make sure that if bought for a child, you're there to explain the shlubs in editing the illustrations for publishing.
All the best, folks,
RJ
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