Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: Strizh on 24/12/2005 00:29:04
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Hi! Would you help me to select a book on chemistry for 12 y o boy?
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The simple answer I think is: No!
There may be people on this list who are involved in school level science education who may know what it out there at present, but clearly none have come forward for this question.
One thing though that I would ask is what makes you think the 12 year old would read a chemistry book? I am not saying that there are not 12 year olds with an interest in chemistry, but what I am asking is whether you are trying to feed a natural curiosity the boy has about chemistry, or trying to introduce him to chemistry?
If it is the former, then what is his angle on chemistry, what kind of books does he read at present on the subject?
If the latter then what are his other interests? What kind of book would interest him – it may be very different to the kind of book that might have interested me, you, or someone else at age 12. If he is the kind of person who likes to have heroes, then maybe a biography about a particular chemist, and then have his curiosity lead him on from there. Maybe find a book on the history of chemistry, something that shows how advancements in chemistry have changed society. It all depends upon what you think he is going to read, because there is no point in buying the best book in the world if it doesn't arouse his interest.
If this is just to help him with his school work, then maybe ask the school what they might think would be appropriate, since you might wish to make sure that it fits in with the curriculum they are using.
Sorry that I can't be of more help. But I am very concious that I am neither a chemist nor an educationalist, and so am wholly the wrong person to be answering this question, but am doing so only because no-one else has had a go at giving you anything better.
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The boy is interested in chemistry. His level is very high. I'm searching for a book that can not only inform him but make him more advanced in interesting PROBLEMS and QESTIONS.
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I'm not sure what a 12 year old would make of it, and whether it's actually more interesting if you already have an understanding of the chemistry involved, but Michael Faraday's "Chemical History of a Candle" is very good. It's a set of lecture transcripts from a children's lecture series (in the 19th century).
It might make a good read for a bright 12 year old if you could provide a standard high-school level textbook (probably GCSE standard) to look at to get the modern explanation of the phenomena Faraday describes.
I know I've bought it from Amazon in the past.
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If he's really bright he's probably done quite a lot of his own reading by now.
Get him to the public library (or a good university bookshop) try to make sure its a big central library that has some quality textbooks in it and let him decide what he wants for himself. I was reading degree standard chemistry text books when I was 12. I have recently decided to update my inorganic and organic chemistry reading and went to a really good university bookshop in Oxford and had a look at the books on offer the books I chose were.
Inorganic Chemistry by Shriver and Atkins published by Oxford university press £32.99
Organic Chemistry by Clayden Greeves Warren and Wothers published by Oxford university press £33.99
It is important to get a good grounding in Inorganic Chemistry before tackling the Organic
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Search amazon for the following.
The Joy of Chemistry: The Amazing Science of Familiar Things
He should be able to find something interesting in it, its not a boring text book, contains practical experiments to conduct. A good sized and cheap book.
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I am 13 i can understand most of it but you might want to wait a while i had a headache afterwards
- Big T
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ive been reading up on science (especially physics) recently and have learnt a lot, however i wonder if it will actually do me any good. Im 15 and about to do my GCSE exams and ive allready read some quite advanced books and do a lot of research on the internet (i love wikipedia) about interesting topics that have been popping up in this forum. I wonder, though, if this is going to make my science life at college a bit boring because i think that a large part of it will be revision. Soul surfer, you said you read degree level books at 12. That is amazing but did it truly help you studying that early?
Thanks
Harry
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A great book for kids is:
The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Chemistry
authors include: Jane Wertheim, Chris Oxlade, and Corinne Stockley.
its a great book, check it out
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Are you looking for a referance book or something you actually want to read like a school text book?
"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas." -Joseph Stalin
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As it's nearly two months since the question was asked I suspect Strizh has probably got the book for her/his/the 12 y o boy...I wonder what book was obtained
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