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The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists by Ken Denmead

Review by Chris Singer

About the author:

Ken Denmead is the editor of Geek Dad, a blog on Wired magazine’s website. A professional civil engineer, he lives near San Francisco with his two sons, who are both geeks in training.

About the book:

Fans of the New York Times bestselling Geek Dad and The Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun will flock to the 3.0 version, The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists. As Ken Denmead explains, most kids lack an understanding of science and an awareness of how it influences our everyday lives. What kids today need is a fun way to learn scientific concepts. This book will help scientists-in-the- making discover how our world works with creative project ideas, including how to:

• Grow crystals to power your Stargate and set your room aglow
• Extract your own DNA and decode your genes
• Build a MacGyver radio from nothing but cast-off electrical and office supplies

Chock-full of instructional illustrations throughout, The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists puts the fun back in science.

My take on the book:

Geek Dad has done it again with his third installment in the fantastic Geek Dad book series! Probably more than any other of the books, the activities in this one blew my mind. Extract your own DNA! Lighting junk food on fire to understand calories! Build a MacGyver radio! Man, I was pumped while reading this and was in awe of the potential for future fun to be had with my daughter (she’s a tad young for lots of these activities).

As I mentioned in past reviews, my daughter is a bit young still for these activities. All the same, I still look through the books every few months and see if there’s a way to adapt the activities for younger children. I haven’t really found anything yet, but I’m patiently pining for the days when my daughter and I or the entire family for that matter, can do these activities together.

Ken Denmead keeps raising the bar with each installment in this series. I can’t wait to see where the next one takes us (please tell me there’s going to be more!!).

If there’s a series of books I would recommend as a must-have for all dads, it would have to be the Geek Dad books. They’re creative and fun while being really educational at the same time. Check out my reviews of the other books in the series below:

* The Geek Dads Guide to Weekend Fun

* Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share