Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183593 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781402732232
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

A disapointment
The cover is misleading. It shows an interesting artwork but the text is trivial in ideas. The approach is to consider a mechanical linkage, cam, crank etc., and then give detailed instructions on making boring and trivial example. The frustrating aspect is that photographs of interesting but complex pieces are scattered through the book. I expect that he author felt that explaining the basic mechanisms was the major point. What is omitted is combining multiple mechanisms and creating something other than a simple toy for a six year old. The result is an unbridged gap between the art that is occasionally illustrated and the bulk of the text. The first 71 pages could have been covered in fewer than seven pages with no loss. The first interesting photographs are on pages 72 and 73. This construct looks as if it utilizes at least half dozen mechanisms. I am sure that there are a number of interesting problems in the design and construction of this item. What would have been interesting would be details of the working parts with some discussion of the choices and problems. The object is not to suggest that the reader would duplicate this artwork but to give the reader some idea of the decisions, issues and problems in a real complex construction. As an example, This construct uses three pulleys at the base. Pulleys are finally discussed on pages 112-115. Is the third pulley a driven pulley, an idler, called a rider by the author, or both? The photograph raises dozens of interesting questions but the answers are not in this book. What you will find is that the great majority of the book is construction details on projects that almost no one would want to build and very little help on real projects.

Expected more
I have mixed feelings about this book. I wanted to like it because I liked the author's prior book and I expected this to be a continuation. The cover art suggested more complex movements than the book describes. Books by Rodney Peppe and the author's prior work are more useful than this book. The examples tend to be of the rather simple, single movement kind. For example, put a ball on a stick, put a pivot point in the middle of the stick, push the lower end of the stick back and forth and watch the ball move back and forth. The book does cover simple movements well. Another example, you can make a cardboard profile of a face, make the jaw with a pivot point and a long lever, then move the lever up and down to open/close the mouth.
Possibly, the book was intended for a very young audience, or the author wished to get something out without giving away his "secrets." There is anecdotal wisdom here instead of descriptions about combining various mechanical movements, and no descriptions of what the more complex objects actually do. The author talks about a piece with a clockwork motor which runs for a minute or so, but doesn't say what it is doing during that minute. Perhaps nothing?
I think I have a different definition of what kinetic art is than the author. I would suggest a visit the Cabaret Mechanical Theater website and accessing some of the links for examples of kinetic/mechanical works, many in wood.

A homeschool gem
This book is great for exactly the same reason that the other two reviewers *didn't* like it. It is written for kids. And very well written at that. It has simple explanations and do-able projects (there are some more advanced ones as well). Kinetic toys have great potential for introducing many subjects: wind toys--> environmental science, kinetics--> physics, design--> art and art history, movements--> mechanical design, vocabulary etc. And the author realizes that potential. He introduces vocabulary, explains mechanical principles, discusses design variations and leaves ample room for creativity, as well as showcasing other artists' work. A rich resource which will serve as a jumping-off point for many learning experiences in our home. And a bunch of fun projects to boot.

This book would be good for anyone who wants to teach themselves some of the basic principles of kinetics/mechanical design. There are probably more advanced books out there for non-beginners. But this is an excellent beginner's book.