No fluff or unnecessary fanfare here. How to Fossilize Your Hamster by Mick O'Hare takes you straight to the experiments—here's what you need, here's what to do and here's what to expect. The whole book is themed around a household so each experiment (e.g. Green Eggs and Cabbage) is meant for a specific location (e.g. The Kitchen).

It might be a while before I get around to trying ALL of them, but I'm already enjoying the few experiments I have done. ( )

This is a book of very simple, accessible activities that answer questions or demonstrate basic scientific principles using mostly items that the reader would have around the house. This would be a great book for a family that home schools. The experiments are described and explained so clearly that it is not really necessary even to do the activities. I didn't do any of them, just read the book, and I still think I learned some things. ( )

A nice bit of fun with real science sneaked in.

Plenty of material to entertain the kids, of any age.

Will be trying the others in the series. ( )

A collection of experiments to do at home, as a means of exploring both the scientific method and the world around you.

Loosely divided into rooms about the house the experiments cover a wide range of physics, chemistry and even biology without ever being dull or boring. Just like real science they are precisely focused and don't lead to much extrapolation of the world around them.

The details are clear, and the explanations provided coherent - if your results don't match the expected values then the explanation could be at fault. Be sure to repeat as suggested a few times.

The best feature of this book is definitely the insight into real science - repetition and testing of hypotheses which demonstrates the correctness of one theory over another.

All the experiments can be done very simply with commonly available materials, which you will either have to hand or are readily and cheaply bought - no particle accelerators! Most can be completed very quickly certainly within an hour or so.

The only experiment I've noticed from skimming through that isn't practical is unfortunately the title experiment - fossils form over 10000s of years and there isn't a nifty way to shortcut this.

Plenty of fun for supervised children, inquisitive teenagers and even adults still experiencing the wonder of the world around them.

Note: I've not actually conducted any of the experiments (yet) so I can't comment on whether they work as advertised, but the instructions seem clear. ( )

About: New Scientist writer O'Hare provides instructions explains a multitude of science experiments that can easily be done at home.

Pros: Very interesting, varied topics and experiments. Written in easy-to-understand language. My favorite topics included the best ways to get ketchup out of a bottle, how to test if talking on a cell phone affects your reaction time (it does), why hot water freezes faster than cold water, why your vision is blurry underwater, how to extract iron from cereal and DNA from yourself. Apparently, Alka-Seltzer can be used for several cool experiments.

Cons: No sources cited. A further reading section would've been nice ( )