Covering over 100 gadgets, whether you're looking to improve your golf game, fix your PC and fill it with free software, measure a room using your phone or even alter your state of mind without drink or drugs, The Useful Book of Gadgets, Gizmos & Apps has something for everyone.

What student—or teacher—can resist the chance to experiment with Rocket Launchers, Drinking Birds, Dropper Poppers, Boomwhackers, Flying Pigs, and more? The 54 experiments in Using Physics Gadgets and Gizmos, Grades 9–12, encourage your high school students to explore a variety of phenomena involved with pressure and force, thermodynamics, energy, light and color, resonance, buoyancy, two-dimensional motion, angular momentum, magnetism, and electromagnetic induction. The authors say there are three good reasons to buy this book: 1. To improve your students’ thinking skills and problem-solving abilities 2. To acquire easy-to-perform experiments that engage students in the topic 3. To make your physics lessons waaaaay more cool The phenomenon-based learning (PBL) approach used by the authors—two Finnish teachers and a U.S. professor—is as educational as the experiments are attention-grabbing. Instead of putting the theory before the application, PBL encourages students to first experience how the gadgets work and then grow curious enough to find out why. Students engage in the activities not as a task to be completed but as exploration and discovery. The idea is to help your students go beyond simply memorizing physics facts. Using Physics Gadgets and Gizmos can help them learn broader concepts, useful critical-thinking skills, and science and engineering practices (as defined by the Next Generation Science Standards). And—thanks to those Boomwhackers and Flying Pigs—both your students and you will have some serious fun. For more information about hands-on materials for Using Physical Science Gadgets and Gizmos books, visit Arbor Scientific at http://www.arborsci.com/nsta-hs-kits

From e-readers to cameras and audio recorders to the iPad, Jason provides insight into what these devices can do, how much they cost, and how librarians can use them to enhance their facilities and service.

Unleash Your Inner Mechanical Mastermind Welcome to the wondrous world of Thomas Willeford, aka Lord Archibald "Feathers" Featherstone, in which he shares his closely guarded secrets of Steampunkery. Filled with do-it-yourself projects, Steampunk Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos: A Maker's Guide to Creating Modern Artifacts shows you how to build exquisite, ingenious contraptions on a budget. Learn from Lord Featherstone as he distills his wealth of hard-learned skills, describes how to use the readily available tools of the modern mad scientist, and expounds on the art and philosophy of scavenging unique components and raw materials. The perfect companion for the hobbyist and advanced machinist alike, this inventive volume will guide you through the creation of your very own infernal devices. Get steamed with these provocative projects: Aetheric ray deflector solid brass goggles Calibrated indicator gauges Ferromagnetic self-scribing automated encyclopedia (or, the Steampunk book drive) High voltage electro-static cannon (or, the lamp gun) Tesla-pod chrono-static insulating field generator (or, the mobile device enclosure) Altitude mask with integrated respiratory augmentation Armoured pith helmet Mark I superior replacement arm with integrated Gatling gun attachment Visit the companion website, www.mhprofessional.com/steampunk, for videos, images, and more bonus content! Make Great Stuff! TAB, an imprint of McGraw-Hill Professional, is a leading publisher of DIY technology books for makers, hackers, and electronics hobbyists.

The picture book biography of ingenious American inventor Leo Fender, creator of the world’s most iconic Fender electric guitars. For readers who love Iggy Peck, Architect. Leo Fender loved to thinker and tinker and take things apart and put them back together again. When he lost an eye in a childhood accident, he refused to think of himself as broken. With a new pair of magnifying glasses, Leo got back to doing what he loved, fixing machines big and small—even broken instruments. His inventions—which included the Telecaster and the Stratocaster—would inspire the rock ’n’ roll generation and go on to amplify the talents of legendary guitarists Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Bonnie Raitt, among others. Fender’s brilliant engineering vision connected science and art forever. Christy Ottaviano Books

Provides instructions for making 75 contraptions that demonstrate friction, gravity, energy, motion, and other principles of physics and explains how to think like an inventor