Hunkin's Experiments

This book contains about 200 simple experiments, mainly using only domestic materials, classified under Biology, Clothes, Electrical, Food, Hobbies, Light, Materials, Maths, Miscellaneous, Objects, Office, Science and Sound. The cover bears the subtitle ‘Hundreds of absurd experiments for all ages from 8-80’, which is about right. The experiments are clearly illustrated and explained. They range from the innocuous – How to grow carrot leaves, walk through a postcard, mindread with hands – to the irritating – how to make a door into a sawdust trap, get someone’s feet wet, make a musical bed.

Permission of a responsible adult before trying any of them is rightly called for. Those that require additional care and those that do not always work are marked. There is one announced fake, which will never work, but the reader is not told which one it is – s/he must read through the book to find it. Your reviewer thinks he has.