Lindbergh's Artificial Heart

April 1, 2003
High school teacher Silverman, who created a Web site for his students that gained widespread popularity, returns with a second volume (after Einstein's Refrigerator) of strange-but-true tales. With humor (sometimes clearly informed by experience:"you should never, ever, mention the name Uranus in a high school classroom!"), he relates how the astronomer Sir John Herschel, in 1835, discovered signs of life on the moon; how Joshua L. Cohen gave away the invention that led to the creation of the battery-powered flashlight and the Eveready Corporation (he then went on to invent the Lionel train); and how, for his own science classes, Silverman makes a pickle to light up like a lightbulb by"electrocuting" it. ("Don't try this one at home," he warns). Science fans and trivia buffs alike will find lots of strange, entertaining anecdotes here in short, bite-size chunks.

July 1, 2003
Adult/High School-Trivia connoisseurs will enjoy these true but tall-sounding tales that are a cross between Ripley's Believe It or Not and Paul Harvey's the Rest of the Story (Bantam, 1984). The five sections have intriguing titles: "Uh, Oh!"; "The Creative Mind at Work"; "Hard to Believe"; "It All Comes with Being Human"; and "Hmmm," and include stories about hearsay phenomena, inventions and inventors, and human nature. Including famous personalities, as evidenced from the book's title, and more obscure history makers, this is fun recreational reading. The bulging bibliography also gives fuel for would-be inventors and teachers or students who need a nugget for a report or a nudge to explore.-Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2003
High school teacher Silverman, who created a Web site for his students that gained widespread popularity, returns with a second volume (after Einstein's Refrigerator) of strange-but-true tales. With humor (sometimes clearly informed by experience: "you should never, ever, mention the name Uranus in a high school classroom!"), he relates how the astronomer Sir John Herschel, in 1835, discovered signs of life on the moon; how Joshua L. Cohen gave away the invention that led to the creation of the battery-powered flashlight and the Eveready Corporation (he then went on to invent the Lionel train); and how, for his own science classes, Silverman makes a pickle to light up like a lightbulb by"electrocuting" it. ("Don't try this one at home," he warns). Science fans and trivia buffs alike will find lots of strange, entertaining anecdotes here in short, bite-size chunks.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.