STEM – BookBunnies

Caramel reviews Robot by Roger Bridgman

Caramel loves everything about robots, and he loves books about facts. Today, therefore, he wanted to share with our readers a book on robots that he has read: Robot, written by Roger Bridgman. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: Caramel, here we are, ready to talk about a whole book about robots!

Caramel: Robots! Yay!

S: I know you like robots.

C: That’s an understatement. I love them!

S: I know! You reviewed a two-book series about a robot and her travels (The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown), and you told us that then too. So let us get started. What do you want to tell us about this book?

C: This is a book about robots and tons of good facts about them.

S: Tell me one.

C: Let’s see. Did you know that there is a robot that looks like a shark and researchers use it to study sharks? It helps them “film sharks without disturbing their natural behavior”.

S: That’s pretty cool.

C: And did you know that they have a robot that can climb up on walls and actually walk on the ceiling?

S: That’s cool, too. Kind of like ants and bugs and flies.

C: Yes.

Caramel is reading Robot by Roger Bridgman and learning about robots that can help around the home. — Caramel is reading *Robot* by Roger Bridgman and learning about robots that can help around the home.

S: So there are a lot of different types of robots in this book, right?

C: Yes. There are robots that can help around the home. Then there is a two-page spread on robots that move, one on robots that sense. And another on artificial intelligence. There is a section on robots in the industry and in space and under water.

S: That is pretty cool.

C: There is also a section on fictional robots and robots in art. Like C3PO from Star Wars. But they also have a mistake there! They put a picture of a Dalek, from the Doctor Who universe, but Dalek are not robots. They do say they are mutants, but they should not have put them in a book on robots!

S: I guess people make robot Dalek to play with, though, right?

C: Yes. I even saw a remote-control Dalek once. So maybe that is why they put a picture in the book.

S: I suppose that makes sense.

C: They also have sections on machines with feelings, which is kind of like that Wild Robot I read about.

S: That is interesting! I’ve always thought the feeling part is quite hard to implement. But also, this is a relatively old book, right? It was first published in 2004. A lot must have changed since then, I’d presume.

C: Yep, I think so. In fact we should probably put here that video about robots which behave like animals. That seemed really new!

S: I agree. That video is brand new, only two weeks old now. So here it is:

“Biophysicist Reacts to Animal Inspired Robotics”, YouTube.

C: I like this video a lot! We should see it again.

S: Sure. Let us finish the review first. I know you knew a lot about robots already. What did you learn from this book Caramel?

C: Well, you are right that I knew a lot of things about robots before, so I knew a lot of the things in the book. But I did not know about the shark-shaped robot. And there were just so many different robots! It is a pretty awesome book and I liked it very much.

S: I can see that! I have been observing you looking carefully at the pages of the book over and over again. You have read it all already, but you still enjoy looking at it.

C: Yes. I like robots! And I told you; these are cool robots!

S: That’s wonderful Caramel. So what three words would you use to describe this book?

C: Factful, colorful, and robotful. There are a lot of facts, a lot of colorful pictures, and lots of robots!

S: I cannot argue with that reasoning! Okay, then let us wrap this review up. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading and reviewing Robot by Roger Bridgman, and he looks forward to learning more and more about robots as he grows up. — Caramel loved reading and reviewing *Robot* by Roger Bridgman, and he looks forward to learning more and more about robots as he grows up.

Caramel reviews How Things Work by T. J. Resler

Caramel loves reading books about real things, and he especially loves learning about how things work. Today’s book, from National Geographic Kids, is just up his alley: How Things Work by T. J. Resler. As usual Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.

Sprinkles: So Caramel you got your nose into another big book about real things!

Caramel: Yes, exactly.

S: Tell me what this book is about.

C: It’s about how things work, as you can tell by the cover.

S: Yes. What kinds of things though?

C: Things like hoverbikes and hoverboards. Tablets, bionic arms, thermoses, and invisibility cloaks! Tractor beams…

S: Wait, invisibility cloaks? Tractor beams? Are those things real?

C: No, they are just theoretical. And they are not really invisibility cloaks but cloaking devices.

S: Hmm, so the book is about inventions, both real and fantastical, right?

C: Yes. They are really cool.

S: And I thought the chapter titles were quite fun. Can you tell us some of them?

C: There is one called “Beaming Up”. And another called “Home Where The Fridge Is”. There is “School of Cool”, and “Extreme Fun”, and some others.

S: Which is your favorite thing that you read about in this book?

C: My favorite is in the chapter called “Caught in the Tractor!” There is a picture of an alien ship in a section called “Think Big”.

Caramel is reading "Caught in the tractor!" in How Things Work by T. J. Resler. — Caramel is reading “Caught in the tractor!” in *How Things Work* by T. J. Resler.

S: Is that a real alien ship? I did not know we had alien visitors!

C: No it’s just a picture. An artist’s imagination.

S: Hmm, so what do you like about this particular page?

C: The picture of the alien ship is cool. But the section is about tractor beams, something we see a lot in Star Trek. Apparently a gigawatt in laser energy would totally vaporize a baseball. That’s basically a phaser, like in Star Trek.

S: Okay, how is that related to tractor beams?

C: It would be able to move the thing, but then it would also totally vaporize it too.

S: So there is a lot in this book about Star Trek science?

C: Not exactly, but I like Star Trek so I am telling you things about Star Trek in the book. There are also a lot of real things.

S: Like what?

C: Like fridges, space ships, microwave ovens, thermoses, and photocopy machines. And we learn about Elon Musk. He is an engineer and apparently he read a whole encyclopedia when he was a child.

S: Hmm, do you ever read an encyclopedia Caramel?

C: No, not really.

S: Well, we do often check out Wikipedia, and that is kind of like an encyclopedia, right?

C: I guess so. But I like reading real books with pictures, and learning about how things work.

S: And this book has a lot of pictures. Every one of its two hundred pages has at least one picture and there are pages which have only pictures. So it is a great book to read if you like to see what you are reading about.

C: Yes, there is a full-page picture of a dog drinking from the toilet bowl. The dog says “hmm, that’s the stuff!”

S: So the book is also quite funny, it sounds like.

C: Well kind of, but I like it more for the facts.

S: Okay, so tell me three words or phrases to describe this book.

C: Full of facts, colorful pictures, useful.

S: Great! This is a good place to wrap up this review. What do you want to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny adventures!

Caramel loved reading and looking at the pictures in How Things Work by T. J. Resler. — Caramel loved reading and looking at the pictures in *How Things Work* by T. J. Resler.

Caramel reviews Cars on Mars by Alexandra Siy

Readers of the book bunnies blog know that Caramel loves nonfiction books where he can learn about real things. See for example his review of a book on samurai, another on knights and castles, another on elements and the periodic table, yet another on dinosaurs, and finally another on engineering. Today Caramel shares his thoughts on a neat book by Alexandra Siy: Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet. As always, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Caramel reviews Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy. — Caramel reviews *Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet* by Alexandra Siy.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, tell us about this book.

Caramel: It’s about rovers.

S: What is a rover?

C: They are vehicles that go on Mars or other planets. When humans can’t go there themselves, they send the rovers to the planet to explore. They rove it.

S: Hmm, the dictionary definition of roving is “travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander”. So I guess these vehicles go around a planet just exploring and recording and measuring and so on, right?

C: Yep, basically.

Caramel is reading Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy. — Caramel is reading *Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet* by Alexandra Siy.

S: So this book is about the rovers on Mars. Why is that important?

C: Because we want to know what is on Mars. It apparently has tons of iron.

S: Is that why it is called the red planet?

C: Yes. Iron is red.

S: Apparently Romans called it Mars because red reminded them of blood and war and Mars was their god of war. And Greeks called it Ares because Ares was their god of war. But today we are still very interested in Mars. Why do you think this is so?

C: It’s a planet that is kind of like earth in many ways and it is one of the closest. And maybe we can use the iron in there.

S: There is a lot of iron on earth too, so we do not really need to go to Mars for it, but it is of course interesting to learn about other planets, especially one so close to ours! and for many years people thought there were other living things on Mars. Have you heard of Orson Welles and his radio play about the Martian Invasion?

C: No I did not know about that! It sounds very interesting. Can we listen to it?

S: Yes, after we are done with this post, we will definitely listen to this recording. So let us get back to our book. What else would you like to tell us about it?

C: The book has many pictures of Mars and the rovers. There is Spirit and then there is Opportunity. And the book ends with this:

Although they found proof of past water on Mars (mission accomplished!), Spirit and Opportunity keep on keepin’ on. Noone knows when or where they will finally stop. But Steve and everyone else who is part of this far-out road trip hope that some day there will be tire tracks and footprints, side by side, on Mars.

S: That ends on a really positive note. But we now know that Spirit did not go on for too much longer and stopped communicating in 2010. Opportunity did go on for a lot longer, till 2018. So this book is a snapshot of the life stories of these two rovers.

C: Right. And you can learn a lot about Mars and space travel and making vehicles that can go around on other planets when you read it.

S: That sounds like a good read to me. And you can check out this NASA page to learn more about the newer rovers and more generally about NASA’s Mars program. What do you want to say last?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!

Caramel enjoyed reading Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy with a Martian friend. Can you see this little alien? — Caramel enjoyed reading *Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet* by Alexandra Siy with a Martian friend. Can you see this little alien?

Caramel reviews Engineering: An Illustrated History from Ancient Craft to Modern Technology, edited by Tom Jackson

Caramel loves to read and review books which are about real things, see his reviews of books on samurai, dinosaurs, knights and castles, and dental health . He also loves building and making things. So it was only natural that when he discovered Engineering: An Illustrated History from Ancient Craft to Modern Technology, edited by Tom Jackson, in the book bunnies’ home library, he had to read it immediately. Below he shares some of his thoughts on this reference text. Sprinkles is taking notes as usual and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: How should we start this review Caramel?

Caramel: You just did!

S: Yeah, I did, didn’t I? So what next? What do you want to say about this book?

C: It’s a good book. If you are a bunny who wants to be an engineer when you grow up, this might be the book for you.

S: Why do you say that?

C: The book has a bunch of engineering examples.

S: Yes, the back cover advertises “100 achievements that changed history”. So there are 100 different engineering-related entries in the book, going more or less in chronological order. That means they are listed from the oldest to the newest. Can you tell us a few of your favorites?

C: 65 is Jet Power and it is one of my favorites. But my favorite in the whole book is 73: SR-71 Blackbird.

S: What is that?

C: It’s a spy plane.

S: What does that mean?

C: It means they spy on the enemy. It says it is radar-absorbing, which makes it harder to detect. I also like 82: Stealth Plane, a lot.

Caramel is pointing at one of his favorite entries in *Engineering: An Illustrated History from Ancient Craft to Modern Technology*: Stealth Planes.

C: And there is 75: Apollo Spacecraft. The NASA program for it was launched in 1961, it says.

S: And there is more information on it on Wikipedia in case others are interested. So each of these entries is about one page, right?

C: Yes. Exactly one page. And there are pictures and I like looking at them.

S: Then there is text, describing the entry, and telling some of its history, right?

C: Yes.

S: So what is the first entry?

C: Let me see. First there is some stuff about engineering and applied science. Then they start with 1: Stone Technology. And 2 is Taming Fire. 3 is The First Boats.

S: Wow! It goes way back! So how far back does it go?

C: It goes way back. Let me read the beginning of 1 to you:

“Engineering with stone technology is older than the human race. Distant ancestors of homo sapiens (modern humans) began making and using stone tools as long as 3.3 million years ago.”

S: That is a long time ago. To compare, do you remember how long ago the dinosaurs went extinct?

C: About sixty-five million years ago. I already reviewed a book about them!

S: So dinosaurs were around even earlier.

C: That’s for sure.

S: So what is the last achievement they list in the book?

C: 100 is Solar Power. Then there is a long section called Engineering 101: The Basics.

S: What’s in that section?

C: There is a part named Imponderables where they ask questions like: “Will space planes change transportation?”, “What will graphene do for us?”, “Will we run out of raw materials?”, “Can engineering solve climate change?”, “Can screens replace paper?”

S: Very interesting questions. The one about screens and paper is about books and reading, I think. We still love reading paper books, right?

C: Yes. This book for instance. It has lots of colorful pictures I can look at.

S: Screens could have colored pictures, too, of course, but holding a book in your paws is a neat experience. So are we done with the review?

C: Yes. Stay tuned for more Book Bunnies adventures!

Caramel really enjoys reading sections from Engineering: An Illustrated History from Ancient Craft to Modern Technology, edited by Tom Jackson.