Now we don’t usually do book reviews on Gaj-it.com, but when a corker of a read comes along that tells you how almost every bit of gadgetry in our lives works, we just had to get our hands on it. Cool Stuff Exploded: Get Inside Modern Technology, is the third installment of a visually stunning Cool Stuff series, and it doesn’t disappoint in both content and brilliant photography.
Aimed at more of a kids/teenager/young-at-heart market, Cool Stuff Exploded explores, explains and explodes modern technology. Mobile phones, robots, wide-screen TVs, even jet planes have now been integrated into our everyday world, but how do they actually function? This books provides all of the answers and also gives glimpses of the future predicting the mechanics for 3D TVs, bikes that can fly and electricity sourced from space.
This book stands out from most other “how do things work” books because of its layout which grabs you the second you pick it up. Instead of pages and pages of text to constantly send you to the fridge for a snack to keep your kids from fidgeting, each page is centered on photography which immediately draws your eye to the topic you’re interested in.
Alongside the numerous pictures are tightly-written bodies of text which get to the heart of whatever it’s supposed to explain. There are a number of fold-out pages as well which allows the reader to feel more of an interaction with the book, and delve into topics they’re particularly fascinated by. This formulae makes this easy-to-read book so involving that you’ll be through the 256 pages in a heartbeat and will be back on page 1 to start all over again because you can’t help it.
The book comes with a CD Rom, which we had to try out. Once you pop it into your computer, you’re suddenly able to interact with the book’s content in a way that just isn’t possible with the printed word alone. Kids can interact with the 3D animations that reveal what happens when you explode a gadget. Now what 12-year-old would be impressed with that?
As we’re coming into the festive season, deciding on what to give as gifts is again a chore we all have to face. This book, whilst being received as a pretty cool present, has the added bonus of sneakily teaching kids something without them even realising it.
Retailing at £19.99, there are a few sales on the market already, so check out our hunt for the best price.
Available at a discounted price from: Amazon, Pineapplefrog, Waterstones