I can't think of a better book for young kids who love pulleys and other mechanical gadgets. This is not just about science (though it's lurking in the wings), nor about push-button machines which seem to do everything by magic.

Each double-spread forms one scene, showing the character describing his actions, and including notes on the actions of the various mechanisms he has set up to get up, get dressed, and catapult himself to the shops...yes, the gadgets ARE the plot, and for the kids who really love this stuff, they're probably the "love interest" as well!

If your house wasn't already festooned with strange string pulleys and gadgets, it soon will be -- the illustrations are detailed and attractive, in big, clear spreads flooded with color.

The perpetrator of all this Newtonian motion is "Harry Newton", who provides a brief speech-bubble narration to accompany the pictures. He won't tell you where to find the screwdrivers though...

Many books that were well received when originally published ultimately fail the test of time and seem hopelessly outdated, or even silly to future generations. Occasionally, a book seen as a solid effort when it was written is found later to be the definitive work on the subject. The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science by Edwin Arthur Burtt is such a book.

Burtt investigates the origins of the modern scientific world view, a view that today appears to be ancient but is, in fact, only a few centuries old. The concepts that we use to describe the modern world -- mass, velocity, energy, time etc -- form the substratum of so many modern ideas that their very ubiquity has made it hard to imagine that any other view ever existed. With these ideas woven into all of our thought how does one separate these ideas from all others in order to better appreciate and understand them? Burtt attacks this problem by tracing the evolution of modern scientific concepts from their origins in Copernicus and Kepler through to their highest development in Isaac Newton.

It may come as a surprise that Copernicus and Kepler were not motivated by empirical evidence. In fact, the empirical evidence was stacked against their view that the sun, not the earth, was at the center of the planetary system. Anyone could see how solid the earth felt and how steady it was. If it were moving then its motion could be felt. The idea that something as large and solid as the earth could be flung through space was obviously ridiculous.

Nor were they motivated by a desire for greater accuracy since the Ptolemaic system that they would soon replace was every bit as accurate as their sun centered system with regards to predicting eclipses and positions of the planets in the sky.

Their motivation was essentially a desire for a mathematically elegant way to express planetary motion, a simpler way that could reduce the dozens of epicycles to a comparatively small number of circles. For these men, mathematics was not the key to nature, mathematics was nature and the simpler mathematical expressions that they found were true because nature was parsimonious and would not accomplish by complicated means (the epicycles) what could be accomplished more simply with circular orbits. A mathematical nature would reduce the phenomena much as a mathematician would reduce complex equations to a smaller number of simple equations.

Kepler's shock upon discovering that the planets did not orbit in circles, but in ellipses was genuine. The smooth constant motion of the planets was thought by Kepler to reflect the constancy of God himself. Only when Kepler discovered that equal areas were swept out by the planets in equal times was his faith restored in the mathematical universe that was held together by God.

In Galileo we see the beginnings of dualism. On one hand Galileo the empiricist laughs at his colleagues who refuse to look through his telescope and see the evidence of moons orbiting Jupiter. On the other hand we see the doctrine of primary and secondary qualities in which we do not perceive the world as it is, but rather as it affects our senses. This doctrine calls into question the validity of the senses which, presumably, are the source for Galileo's (and our) knowledge of the real world. With sense data either limited or distorted and hence, of questionable reliability, mathematical demonstration becomes the way past the senses to the ultimate nature of things. Descartes further mechanizes the senses and pushes consciousness farther away from reality thereby producing a full blown dualism in which man becomes a spirit trapped in a machine.

When we finally arrive at Newton, by way of Gilbert and Boyle, we have a new universe where the number of causes is reduced from the Aristotelian four, to only two. The formal cause has become mathematics which matter must obey in exacting detail. The efficient and substantial causes merge into a mechanical force compelling a passive matter to follow precise trajectories. Gone completely is the final cause as matter becomes the sole occupant of a universe whose future is completely determined by its past. The biological concept of goal directed action has no place in the billiard ball universe of unconscious motion. The irony is that one of man's greatest intellectual achievements, the formulation of the laws of motion, becomes a means to degrade man's intellectual status by reducing man's mind to matter in motion.

The above is a gross oversimplification of Burtt's work and cannot begin to convey the richness of his research and the clarity of his presentation. Burtt uses extensive quotes to show the reasoning used by the great mathematicians and physicists at the dawn of the Enlightenment and clearly demonstrates the shift in thinking that occurs over two centuries.

The only drawback to Burtt's work is that it was written nearly seventy years ago and the effects of these ideas on post-Newtonian thought are not covered. The author, in the revised 1932 edition, expressed regret that he could not incorporate these later developments into his revision of the original 1924 work. I too, feel regret that Burtt did not get around to another revision where he might shed some light on the effects of these ideas on quantum mechanics and relativity.

Anyone interested in the development of the modern philosophy of science will enjoy this intellectual journey through the minds of some of mankind's finest thinkers, those men who made possible the remarkable world that we live in today.

The book is an excellent one for beginners and advanced researchers and provides good fundamentals for mixed mode simulation.

The book is presented in five parts Part 1 reviews the social and historical context of British politics Part 11 explains the complexities of the govermental systems Part 111 & 1V explore the issues involved in citizens participation and part representation in the systems of gevernment Part V gives an overview of the methods adopted by society to control and contain its citizens Part V1 is concerned to illucidate the rational related to the construction of policy Part V11 summaries the new politics required as Britian develops closer links with Europe

My children and I read this story together...it is fabulous. The main character Newton is very adorable and the drawings are beautiful. They loved the story and guessed the punchline, but that only added to their enjoyment! It is now a firm favourtie and will be on my shopping list for all my nieces and nephews for Christmas.

O.K. O.K. Marryat's books tend to be full of unlikely circumstances and coincidences and sappy, happy endings. On the other hand, his novels are naval action adventures of the Napoleanic age written by a man who was actually a captain in the nineteenth century British navy, albeit somewhat after the Napoleanic Wars. As long as you sit back and enjoy the story, the adventures and misadventures of Newton Forster are just plain fun. And, remember, this book was written more than a century before Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey had even been thought of.

My kids loved Itsy and the Theory of Relativity, but Newton's Laws tickled them more, and it explains things they encounter every day, heavy objects needing more push than light ones, objects falling downward, forces. The kids laughed at the story and enjoyed it, but now I keep pointing out things to reinforce the ideas in the book.

Not Damaged Goods will aid both parents and children in discussing the effects of parental divorce on the children, from infants to adults. From divorce issues faced by different age groups to stories and exercises for kids and parents to share, Not Damaged Goods is filled with practical advice.

The mastermind of Sir Isaac Newton yields results just as brilliant when studying Bible prophecy as when he turned his attention to the physical universe! There is in this book a consistency of interpretation in all the details of the prophecies of Daniel and of Revelation that I have not seen in any of the works of modern-day scholars. Isaac Newton seems to be completely true to the message of the Bible when providing his own thoughts on the Antichrist, the Beast, the Woman called "Babylon", and the "Great Tribulation". The integrity of Newton's scholarship and skills of exegesis give the reader a distinct impression that, unlike most writers on end-times prophecy today, when faced with a detail of interpretation that conflicted with his existing views, Newton would have gladly given up his prejudices in exchange for something better: the Truth. He presents an excellent example--perhaps the best I have read--of what is known as Premillennial Historicism. This is essentially the same view held by H. Grattan Guinness, E.B. Elliott, Matthew Henry, and Charles Spurgeon. In my opinion every pastor or teacher who preaches or teaches on the subject of the Last Things should have a copy of "Observations..." on his or her desk.

I read this book to my five and nine year old and they both loved it. A well written story that is told from Newton's early childhood and on to his adult years in a way that will help young readers remember the facts of his life.

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