Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/01/best-1950s-kids-science-books.html
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Ah, so it’s your favorite old science books for kids, not your favorite science books for old kids.
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The Human Body is now at $800. People suck.
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I wish I had a like late 1980’s World Book Encyclopedia for my kids to look stuff up in. It feels so unsatisfying to send them to Wikipedia for stuff, even though it is up to date. They basically cost the same now as they did originally so not quite worth it. I feel like the bulk of my education before college was just from reading encyclopedia articles.
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If your local public library has a Friends of the Library group, check to see if they have an annual sale; lots of people donate old encyclopedias, which the library obviously can’t add to their collection, so they go on sale, usually for 20 bucks or thereabouts.
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The Golden Book of Chemistry made me want to be a chemist when I was in 5th grade. Amazing, and beautiful, book. I still have my copy.
I’d also add the How & Why books to the list. And the Mad Scientist Club books (fiction, but definitely on topic). And can’t forget The Amateur Scientist by C.L. Stong (classic columns from Scientific American, including how to build your own X-ray machine).
Here’s what a homemade X-ray machine looks like (wonderful graphic by the amazing Roger Hayward):
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Our modern science experiment books for kids are so lame in comparison. Not one of them will tell you how to cook your own eyeballs. Cowards.
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Just because one person asked $800 doesn’t mean that there aren’t dozens of others on the used book databases offering copies of The Human Body by Mitchell Wilson starting at $11.50. Amazon is the last place where I would try to find a used book. Sometimes eBay is OK especially since they require photos. The used book databases are often better. If you want it, it is out there.
James D. Keeline
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The Golden Book of Chemistry is impressive coming from a publisher best known for the Little Golden Books like The Poky Little Puppy. It is written and illustrated in a way that tries to convey a real understanding of chemistry. This is not mere chemical magic of the “mix A with B and see the color change” variety. I have a vintage copy of the book and the PDF along with other examples. This book is the best of the ones I have seen.
James D. Keeline
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I had all four of those books when I was a kid.
Plus several How and Why books, and the family had a Scientific American subscription where I followed Martin Gardner and C.L.Stong eagerly.
Which probably had at last a little to do with the fact that I’m about to retire from a career of several decades as an enginerd.
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We had an Encyclopedia Britannica from the 1920s-- and college textbooks from the 1960s. It’s so refreshing to be able to consult your parents books on “Modern Algebra” when you have a question on factoring quadratic equations.
“Mom! What’s a finite vector space?”
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Actually, I make the kids take out my “Dictionary of Mathematics” surprisingly frequently.
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I LOVED this book when I was 12… it was in my grade school library.
I was so envious when my friend’s Dad helped him make the cloud chamber…
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Around here, the bookcases specifically mention they don’t want encyclopedias. Most people aren’t interested, so the sales don’t want to deal with the leftovers.
About 1995 I did but a set of World Book, for $20. Though I had to go back to the sale later with a cart to bring them home.
I wanted to have them around, to thumb through, like I did as a kid.
But then someone with a ten year old daughter talked me out of them. I figured the daughter would benefit more than me.
But they didn’t keep them long, they tossed them when they moved.
I’ve seen sets since, but no way to get them home.
5 I did but a set of World Book,
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After a 32-year career in a public library, I can assure you that telling people what donations you won’t accept has very little impact on what actually gets dropped off.
Don’t get me started on all of the non-book items that come through the book drop.
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Yeah I poked around and found it for $35 in “very good” condition, which Is fine. I do think that “was $5, is $800” is gouging though.
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