Books with author James Olstein

Full of weird and wacky facts and retro-inspired illustrations, Amazing Inventions is the perfect, fun introduction to everything from robots to nanoscience. Prepare to laugh, marvel, and learn. Did you know that the ancient Egyptians may have used kites to help build their pyramids? That robots have a hard time learning karate? Or that Australian nanoscientists have manufactured a garment that you can clean by just holding it up to the light? Covering everything from sneakers made of spider silk to glow-in-the dark cats, this amazing collection introduces kids to inventions made from the natural world, inventions created by accident, green inventions, and just-plain-strange inventions. Plus, it offers some cool ideas on what the future may hold.

Full of weird and wacky facts and retro-inspired illustrations, Spectacular Space is an out-of-this-world introduction to the universe beyond Earth. Prepare to laugh, marvel, and learn. Aspiring astronauts will love discovering wonderful trivia about outer space, from the first flower grown out there, to the tallest mountain in the solar system, to the fact that Saturn could float in water! There are fun tidbits about tortoises orbiting the Moon, Martian rocks here on Earth, and lightning bolts one and a half times as long as our galaxy! Also, you’ll laugh out loud when you see the funny illustrations of Einstein surfing a gravitational wave and pizza floating through space!

Due to the lack of gravity it's impossible for someone to cry in space. The largest photo ever taken was by NASA at 1.5 billion pixels. Odd Science: Spectacular Space is filled with weird and wacky facts that you've never heard before. Read about the first flower grown in space, wonder at the tallest mountain in the solar system and tell your friends that Saturn could float in water! There are facts about tortoises orbiting the moon, facts about Martian rocks here on Earth and facts about lightening bolts one and a half times as long as our galaxy! James Olstein beautifully illustrates these odd facts in a retro-inspired, quirky style. His designs aren't meant to be taken literally, but you'll laugh-out-load when you see Einstein surfing on a gravitational wave and pizza floating through space! Prepare to laugh, marvel and learn. Being a geek has never been so cool.

Full of weird and wacky facts and retro-inspired illustrations, Human Body is a fun introduction to everything from the strength of human hair to the storage capacity of the brain. The human body is wild and strange—and these fascinating facts explore everything kids want to know, from the energy we create, to the bones that hold us up, to the bacteria that live inside us. Find out the real reason that ice cream gives us brain freeze, the true speed of a sneeze, and delightfully icky information about how much snot we produce in a day. There are even world records revealing the shortest, tallest, and fastest humans that ever lived!

Scientists found that male cockatoos in Australia make their own drumsticks and their own music. Each bird plays it's own different rhythm at its own different speed to attract a mate. Scientists in Tokyo have trained pigeons to distinguish between art style. They can tell the difference between works by Picasso and Monet. Odd Science: Incredible Creatures is filled with weird and wacky facts that you've never heard before. Read about the dinosaur that used camouflage, wonder at the penguins that `propose' to each other with rocks and tell your friends that the dodo was actually quite smart! There are facts about sharks that listen to Death Metal, facts about a hummingbird's diet and facts about strange creatures like `ghost' octopuses. James Olstein beautifully illustrates these odd facts in a retro-inspired, quirky style. His designs aren't meant to be taken literally, but you'll laugh-out-load when you see a spider relaxing on a pool float and dinosaurs playing with a ball! Prepare to laugh, marvel and learn. Being a geek has never been so cool.

Can we correctly predict the flip of a fair coin more than half the time — or the decay of a single radioactive atom? Our intuition, based on a lifetime of experience, tells us that we cannot, as these are classic examples of what are known to be 50-50 guesses.But mathematics is filled with counterintuitive results — and this book discusses some surprising and entertaining examples. It is possible to devise experiments in which a flipped coin lands heads completely at random half the time, but we can also correctly predict when it will land heads more than half the time. The Fate of Schrodinger's Cat shows how high-school algebra and basic probability theory, with the invaluable assistance of computer simulations, can be used to investigate both the intuitive and the counterintuitive.This book explores fascinating and controversial questions involving prediction, decision-making, and statistical analysis in a number of diverse areas, ranging from whether there is such a thing as a 'hot hand' in shooting a basketball, to how we can successfully predict, more than half the time, the decay of the radioactive atom that determines the fate of Schrodinger's Cat.

A full head of human hair is strong enough to support up to 12 tons in weight. Microglia are brain cells that trim/eat long synapses of material that no longer functions throughout the brain. Scientists have used the video game Pac-Man to explain Odd Science: Stupendous Body is filled with weird and wacky facts that you've never heard before. Read about how ice cream gives you brain freeze, wonder at how much information your brain can process and tell your friends that a whole tonne of air is always pressing down on you. There are facts about breathing underwater, facts about pineapple 'eating' you (while you eat it) and facts about how music makes you feel good. James Olstein beautifully illustrates these odd facts in a retro-inspired, quirky style. His designs aren't meant to be taken literally, but you'll laugh-out-load when you see a fish swimming in a brain and an elephant on someone's head! Prepare to laugh, marvel and learn. Being a geek has never been so cool.

Can we correctly predict the flip of a fair coin more than half the time — or the decay of a single radioactive atom? Our intuition, based on a lifetime of experience, tells us that we cannot, as these are classic examples of what are known to be 50–50 guesses.But mathematics is filled with counterintuitive results — and this book discusses some surprising and entertaining examples. It is possible to devise experiments in which a flipped coin lands heads completely at random half the time, but we can also correctly predict when it will land heads more than half the time. The Fate of Schrodinger's Cat shows how high-school algebra and basic probability theory, with the invaluable assistance of computer simulations, can be used to investigate both the intuitive and the counterintuitive.This book explores fascinating and controversial questions involving prediction, decision-making, and statistical analysis in a number of diverse areas, ranging from whether there is such a thing as a "hot hand" in shooting a basketball, to how we can successfully predict, more than half the time, the decay of the radioactive atom that determines the fate of Schrodinger's Cat.

Full of weird and wacky facts and retro-inspired illustrations, Incredible Creatures is the fun introduction to everything from the most microscopic creepy crawlies to the biggest dinosaurs ever. Prepare to laugh, marvel, and learn. The animal world is full of remarkable things, including elephants that purr like cats, sharks that like to listen to heavy metal, and Egyptian plover birds that clean the teeth of crocodiles in exchange for food. With loads of information on animals’ colors, perception, speed, and strength, Incredible Creatures explores monkey business, bird bathrooms, snappy sounds, claws and effect, and even the cuddly pets we love best.