With school right around the corner, there isn’t much time to beat the summer slump. But you can still impress your friends, classmates, and even teachers with interesting tidbits of knowledge—from facts about the life and adventures of explorer-scientist Alexander von Humboldt, to insight about the wonders of math, and even answers to everyday science questions that no one can seem to figure out. To prepare yourself for a new school year, check out our brainiest and most interesting books for back-to-school!
The Incredible yet True Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt: The Greatest Inventor-Naturalist-Scientist-Explorer Who Ever Lived by Volker Mehnert and Claudia Lieb
Before Darwin . . . before Lewis and Clark . . . there was Alexander von Humboldt.
Explorer.
Naturalist.
All-around genius.
Lost hero of science.
Alexander von Humboldt led one of the first major scientific expeditions into the South American rain forest and another into the wilds of Siberia.
In The Incredible yet True Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, meet the young man who, defying his mother’s wishes, became a daring explorer-scientist—and follow along as he makes his amazing discoveries. See nature through the eyes of a great early scientist!
It’s a Numberful World: How Math Is Hiding Everywhere by Eddie Woo
Why aren’t left-handers extinct?
What makes a rainbow round?
How is a pancreas . . . like a pendulum?
These may not look like math questions, but they are—because they all have to do with patterns. And mathematics, at heart, is the study of patterns. Award-winning math teacher, Eddie Woo sees patterns everywhere: in the “branches” of blood vessels and lightning, in the growth of a savings account and a sunflower, even in his morning cup of tea! It’s a Numberful World will change your mind about what math can be.
Ask A Science Teacher: 250 Answers to Questions You’ve Always Had About How Everyday Stuff Really Works by Larry Scheckel
What creates the wind?
Do fish sleep?
Why do we blink?
These are common phenomena, but a person rarely knows the answers. Do you?
Award-winning science teacher and longtime columnist for his local newspaper, Larry Scheckel comes to the rescue. Scheckel is a master explainer with a trove of knowledge. In Ask a Science Teacher, Scheckel collects 250 of his favorite Q&As. With refreshingly uncomplicated explanations, Ask a Science Teacher is sure to resolve the everyday mysteries you’ve always wondered about.
Know It All: 132 Head-Scratching Questions About the Science All Around Us by New Scientist and Mick O’Hare
When will Mount Everest cease to be the tallest mountain on the planet?
If a thermometer was in space, what would it read?
Why do some oranges have seeds, and some not?
Many people suffer some kind of back pain. Is it because humans haven’t yet perfected the art of walking upright?
New Scientist magazine’s beloved “Last Word” column is a rare forum for “un-Google-able” queries: Readers write in, and readers respond! Know It All collects 132 of the column’s very best Q&As. The often-wacky questions cover physics, chemistry, zoology and beyond.
How to Speak Science: Gravity, Relativity, and Other Ideas That Were Crazy Until Proven Brilliant by Bruce Benamran
In How to Speak Science, YouTube science guru Bruce Benamran takes us on a rollicking historical tour of the greatest discoveries and ideas that make today’s cutting–edge technologies possible. He guides us through the wildest hypotheses and most ingenious ideas of Galileo, Newton, Curie, Einstein, and science’s other greatest minds, reminding us that while they weren’t always exactly right, they were always curious. Accessible and witty, Benamran explains the fundamental ideas of the physical world: matter, life, the solar system, light, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, and much more.
