鈥淲HY doesn鈥檛 the Moon fall out of the sky?鈥� 鈥淲hy doesn鈥檛 the Earth stop
spinning?鈥� Children happily ask such teasers whereas adults, terrified of
revealing their ignorance, don鈥檛.
That鈥檚 probably why most grown-ups secretly love reading children鈥檚 books. In
the main, they鈥檙e not just fun to read. They also tackle some of the most
important and fundamental questions.
Answering children鈥檚 questions requires considerable skill, however. And
Russell Stannard certainly has this. Letters to Uncle Albert (Faber
& Faber, 拢4.99, ISBN 0 571 17508 2) is built around the same avuncular
character used in his previous books to explain Einstein鈥檚 science to young
people. In this book, aimed at eight-year-olds upwards, children write to Uncle
Albert, and their questions and pictures are reproduced in original form. How
will the world end? Where is the centre of the Universe? Why is the Moon white?
This book is a little gem. Each of the 60 or so questions is answered with
thought and care. And if your question isn鈥檛 included, you can write to Uncle
Albert鈥檚 Post Bag, providing the raw material for the next book.
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Terry Jennings鈥檚 101 Optical Illusions (Wayland, 拢7.99, ISBN 0
7500 1899 2) will probably appeal to everyone over six. His visual tricks and
experiments divide into three sections鈥攕ight, perception and movement.
Discover when your eyes fail to tell you the truth, how your brain interprets
what you see, and how it can be tricked into thinking that a series of still
pictures is actually moving.
While you must marshal pencil, paper, scissors and sticky tape to do some of
the book鈥檚 鈥渢ricks鈥�, many others, such as watching a ghost appear before your
eyes, require no props. The book was an immediate success with my son Owen, aged
six, who conscientiously studied every page in turn and then started all over
again from the beginning. His verdict: 鈥淎bsolutely brilliant, can I take it to
蝉肠丑辞辞濒?鈥�
Owen and his schoolmates can also get an ideal introduction to astronomy with
four books by Patrick Moore (Random House, 拢2.50 each). They cover The
Sun and Moon (ISBN 0 09 967911 6), The Planets (ISBN 0 09 967891
8), Comets and Shooting Stars (ISBN 0 09 967901 9) and The
Stars (ISBN 0 09 967881 0) and are beautifully illustrated with colourful
and realistic artwork by Paul Doherty. The text is simple but packed with
information鈥攖he best kind of nutrient for hungry young minds.
Moving on in astronomy and up in age group, Ellen, my eight-year-old,
recommends Stars and Planets by David Levy (Wayland, 拢9.99, ISBN 0
7500 1900 X). This is a large-format book that covers, spread by spread, the
members of the Solar System, stars, galaxies and telescopes. According to Ellen,
the pictures are great and 鈥渢here are lots of interesting facts to learn鈥�.
For a novel approach to understanding some of the confusions that can so
easily arise in science, try Gary Soucie鈥檚 Lenses and Prisms and Other
Scientific Things (Wiley, 拢7.99, ISBN 0 471 08626 6). With 40 鈥淲hat鈥檚
the difference?鈥� questions, Soucie deals with all manner of scientific odd
couples and their differences, such as mass and weight, fission and fusion, oil
and gasoline, elastic and plastic, cement and concrete, and RAM and ROM. The
text is straightforward, and the line drawings clear. But it is difficult, first
off, to see which age group the book is aimed at. My guess is the scientifically
literate teenager.
And finally, let me pay homage to the role that science fiction has played in
expanding our minds and encouraging us to think about our surroundings.
Space Stories by Mike Ashley (Robinson, 拢4.99, ISBN 1 85487 451 9) is
a collection of 25 classic tales from some of the world鈥檚 most imaginative
science fiction writers. The stories are arranged so the early-teen reader
journeys first into the Solar System and then into deep space. A closing chapter
on what really is out there offers valuable help to those needing to distinguish
fact from fiction.