Scan barcode
A review by mairispaceship
Curiosity Guide by Kurzgesagt
5.0
I wanted to leave a review because nobody else has on Goodreads yet and I think this is a fantastic little book more folks should know about.
Kurzgesagt is one of those Youtube educators whose videos are focused on chemistry, biology, astrophysics, occasionally philosophy and just generally a whole host of "interesting things". I'm not exactly the target audience at 29, but I don't think "wanting to know more about the world" has an age limit. Which is basically how I feel about this book too.
The Curiosity Guide is a book that teaches people to be curious. It details a number of experiments you can perform, from identifying clouds in the sky, to recreating the composition of soil but using edible materials, to performing thought experiments and identifying biases. I even learned a really interesting way of counting binary up to 1023 on my fingers.
For sure the book is more geared towards a younger audience - I'd say 7 to 14 probably - but as I say, being curious and wanting to know more about the world doesn't stop at any age. I mostly read the theory of various things, and skipped doing the actual experiments (although I did look out the window to spot some clouds, and briefly considered making the edible soil just for a laugh), and I still got a lot out of it.
It's beautifully presented, thoughtfully written, and engaging from start to finish. At one point my partner looked over my shoulder and asked if it was for kids, to which I said "yeah probably, but look this..." and we both read through a few of the experiments together, utterly engrossed.
If you're looking for something fun and sciency for a young human, this is a great book. If you're looking for something fun and sciency for yourself, this is still a great book. It's not my usual Goodreads content, but I recommend.
Kurzgesagt is one of those Youtube educators whose videos are focused on chemistry, biology, astrophysics, occasionally philosophy and just generally a whole host of "interesting things". I'm not exactly the target audience at 29, but I don't think "wanting to know more about the world" has an age limit. Which is basically how I feel about this book too.
The Curiosity Guide is a book that teaches people to be curious. It details a number of experiments you can perform, from identifying clouds in the sky, to recreating the composition of soil but using edible materials, to performing thought experiments and identifying biases. I even learned a really interesting way of counting binary up to 1023 on my fingers.
For sure the book is more geared towards a younger audience - I'd say 7 to 14 probably - but as I say, being curious and wanting to know more about the world doesn't stop at any age. I mostly read the theory of various things, and skipped doing the actual experiments (although I did look out the window to spot some clouds, and briefly considered making the edible soil just for a laugh), and I still got a lot out of it.
It's beautifully presented, thoughtfully written, and engaging from start to finish. At one point my partner looked over my shoulder and asked if it was for kids, to which I said "yeah probably, but look this..." and we both read through a few of the experiments together, utterly engrossed.
If you're looking for something fun and sciency for a young human, this is a great book. If you're looking for something fun and sciency for yourself, this is still a great book. It's not my usual Goodreads content, but I recommend.