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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Very good Oct 19, 2009
I love science, and I like when I find books that cross science and pop culture. Sometimes they allow the pop to overtake the science, but that was not the case with this book. Very easy to read, very informative.
0 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Eh, pretty boring! Feb 17, 2009
I bought this book for my dad who is a physics teacher and he seemed to like it, but I flipped through it and it is so boring that I think you'd have to be into physics to really enjoy it.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Only for those with more than a little knowledge of science. Oct 08, 2008
Be sure you, personally, have a look through this book to see if it is what you want before buying it. Not recommended for readers younger than 16-18. It will be most enjoyed by college-level science students and young scientists and technically oriented "young" adults.
This book does not "teach" science in a straight forward way. Generally, examples of science are taken from episodes of The Simpsons, an amount of explaination is added, and the author usually leaves good hints for those who want to look for further science-oriented information. However, for me, the book seemed to be more of an appreciation of The Simpsons than a teaching tool for science.
If you are looking for a book to interest young children in serious science, this is not a good pick.
1 of 5 found the following review helpful:
not for children Jul 18, 2008
I made the mistake of buying this book for a grandchild who likes The Simpsons and science. It is definitely not a good choice for children unless you know one who already has a B.S. degree. The writing level and style are not going to interest children. I'm quite sure the author didn't intend it to be for children.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Simpsons Simplified Science Jan 21, 2008
Over the course of nearly 20 years, it's easier to ask what the Simpsons have NOT touched upon. It's the witty, wide ranging and educated way the writers take on the world that has kept the show on the air, and allowed the show to become the basis for studies of religion, philosophy and now science. When working with an animated show you are luckily outside the realm of the real world, so everything is back to normal at the beginning of the next episode. At the same time you can take science and have some fun with it, shrinking people, entering the third dimension and have comets disintegrate in pollution laden air. However, thanks to brainy Lisa, there usually is a baseline of true science even when we enter the realm of science fiction. Paul Halpern takes this baseline truth as a launching point to discuss varied scientific topics. While never delving too deep into the science or causing the reader's eyes to glaze over, he does a competent job in explaining a wide variety of science topics using examples from the show to help illustrate his point. He will often attribute the storyline points on science the subject of artistic license or exaggeration (as exampled by the Cartoon Laws of Physics he references) but he never calls the writers dumb, nor does he call the reader dumb because he or she comes to the book believing that toilets swirl the opposite direction depending on whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere. Rather he instead approaches the topics with a "well popular culture may have you think this is true because of A, B or C, but the fact is that is incorrect, and here's why." Nothing he writes about goes too deeply into the science topics - you probably would get deeper science in some Wikipedia articles, but for the layman that is good. He feeds you spoon sized lessons for the average reader to digest. You laugh with the Simpsons, and you also learn a little. Even Homer might enjoy this book.
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