Courtesy of Beaverdale Books

Reviewed by Julie Goodrich

By Ken Denmead

Gotham Books

05/03/2011

$18

240 pp

Geek Dads, this is your Bible! One of the delights in the current generation of young fathers is the joys of sharing all the wonderfully weird, geeky things that sprang up back in the '70s and '80s. Add to that all the cool technology we have today, and even better, the knowledge to hack it, change it, mix it up — and now entertaining children is more complex and much more fun than ever before. Take full advantage of the surprisingly easy, sometimes hilarious projects and games in this book, not only to become your kids' hero, but to have fun doing it!

From the creator of wickedly funny blog "GeekDad" on Wired.com, Ken Denead, engineer and digital-age Dad, follows up his first book about games, activities and novelties with this sequel, which includes fun for the whole family. Among the can't-miss projects are: making your own robots, hacking your electronic toys, making dry ice ice cream and even a homemade backyard zip-line.

The best part about the book and its activities are the themes of science and knowledge, do-it-yourself and make-it-better, make mistakes and love it anyway. Ultimately, this book will not only provide hours of entertainment for everyone involved, but it will encourage them, children especially, to look at the world around them in new ways, to open up to new ideas and really understand and appreciate science, technology and all those things that get taken for granted. It's really a great way to show, instead of tell, kids that you really can do anything. CV