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Mad Scientists' Club #1
The Mad Scientists' Club
60th Anniversary Edition. A strange sea monster suddenly appears on the lake … a fortune is unearthed from an old cannon … a valuable dinosaur egg is stolen. Who’s responsible? Those seven junior geniuses — and their wild ideas!
"Every time you Mad Scientists get mixed up in something, it means trouble!" cries the mayor of Mammoth Falls.
Watch out as the seven junior geniuses of the Mad Scientists’ Club turn the town upside down.
"Every time you Mad Scientists get mixed up in something, it means trouble!" cries the mayor of Mammoth Falls.
Watch out as the seven junior geniuses of the Mad Scientists’ Club turn the town upside down.
217 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
108 people are currently reading
2661 people want to read
About the author
Bertrand R. Brinley
20 books37 followersBertrand R. Brinley was born in Hudson, New York in 1917. He had a peripatetic childhood, living in Hudson, Lansdowne, Pennsylvania; West Newbury, Massachusetts; Evanston, Illinois; and Hollywood, California, to name just a few of the places. When he lived in Hollywood in the Twenties, he pitched pennies with Jackie Cooper, who became a child star, and sold newspapers to Charlie Chase, the silent comedy star, at the corner of Western Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard.
He attended high school in West Newbury in the same building in which I went to first grade, many years later. My father lived at what the family called "the Farm." It was indeed a farm; but, it was also home on and off for a variety of intellectuals during the Depression and a young man who was later to achieve great literary fame, John Cheever. We often visited the farm when we lived in West Newbury, and I remember the large library in one room.
West Newbury contributed a good many place names and several of the characters to the Mad Scientists' Club stories. My father graduated in 1935 and went West again to Stanford University, where he studied History, English, and Speech and Drama. During his years at Stanford, he worked at the Peninsula Creamery in Palo Alto, which is still in operation.
He was recruited by Harry Bridges' waterfront union to fight in Spain for the republican side in the civil war (Bridges' union was a Communist front organization). He and a colleague went along with the deal because they wanted a free trip to Europe: they planned to jump ship in Biarritz and tour through France. Alas, his father got wind of the caper and had my father's passport pulled. I remember my father telling me about a visit from a union recruiter one day while he was working at the Creamery who wanted to know if he was still going to join up.
It was in Palo Alto that my father met my mother at the Palo Alto Community Playhouse. He was the assistant director. Here is an excerpt from his resume: "Assisted in direction of major productions...directed workshop productions, handled publicity and season ticket campaigns...Appeared in major roles in ..ten productions. Typical productions: Winterset, Pygmalion, High Tor, The Importance of Being Earnest.. Stage Door, You Can't Take it With You, Our Town, Ah, Wilderness."
After they were married, they moved to Southern California, where he worked for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a systems analyst. Never far from the theater, he co-founded the Lockheed Players, producing and directing The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Blackmere's Fan, and Springtime for Henry.
In 1944 he entered the Army, which became his career and made his family international travelers. The service first took us to Germany and Austria, and later to Japan and Panama. Another excerpt from his resume gives a flavor of a long-lost time in our history: "...Assigned as Special Services Officer, Third U.S. Army in Munich and Heidelberg...Escorted USO shows. Directed Troop Entertainment Program for U.S. Occupied Zone, Germany...Organized road circuit of twenty-one show units and ninety-five dance bands..Arranged talent exchange with Bal Tabarin and Folies Bergeres in Paris, and the Palladium in London...Wrote and directed seven musical productions for troop entertainment...utilizing both soldier and professional talent, twenty-girl ballet, and concert orchestra."
Among his assignments were running The Stardust Club -- a nightclub for soldiers in Heidelberg, managing a resort hotel for Allied officers in Kitzbuhl, Austria, and serving as an aide to the commanding general of the Third Army in Vienna. In the latter assignment we lived in the Vienna Woods in a house that was built with straw instead of lathe to hold the coat of exterior stucco. It was our house of straw.
After returning to the States, he worked in public relations for the Salvation Army while we lived in West Newbury. He re-entered the Army during the K
He attended high school in West Newbury in the same building in which I went to first grade, many years later. My father lived at what the family called "the Farm." It was indeed a farm; but, it was also home on and off for a variety of intellectuals during the Depression and a young man who was later to achieve great literary fame, John Cheever. We often visited the farm when we lived in West Newbury, and I remember the large library in one room.
West Newbury contributed a good many place names and several of the characters to the Mad Scientists' Club stories. My father graduated in 1935 and went West again to Stanford University, where he studied History, English, and Speech and Drama. During his years at Stanford, he worked at the Peninsula Creamery in Palo Alto, which is still in operation.
He was recruited by Harry Bridges' waterfront union to fight in Spain for the republican side in the civil war (Bridges' union was a Communist front organization). He and a colleague went along with the deal because they wanted a free trip to Europe: they planned to jump ship in Biarritz and tour through France. Alas, his father got wind of the caper and had my father's passport pulled. I remember my father telling me about a visit from a union recruiter one day while he was working at the Creamery who wanted to know if he was still going to join up.
It was in Palo Alto that my father met my mother at the Palo Alto Community Playhouse. He was the assistant director. Here is an excerpt from his resume: "Assisted in direction of major productions...directed workshop productions, handled publicity and season ticket campaigns...Appeared in major roles in ..ten productions. Typical productions: Winterset, Pygmalion, High Tor, The Importance of Being Earnest.. Stage Door, You Can't Take it With You, Our Town, Ah, Wilderness."
After they were married, they moved to Southern California, where he worked for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a systems analyst. Never far from the theater, he co-founded the Lockheed Players, producing and directing The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Blackmere's Fan, and Springtime for Henry.
In 1944 he entered the Army, which became his career and made his family international travelers. The service first took us to Germany and Austria, and later to Japan and Panama. Another excerpt from his resume gives a flavor of a long-lost time in our history: "...Assigned as Special Services Officer, Third U.S. Army in Munich and Heidelberg...Escorted USO shows. Directed Troop Entertainment Program for U.S. Occupied Zone, Germany...Organized road circuit of twenty-one show units and ninety-five dance bands..Arranged talent exchange with Bal Tabarin and Folies Bergeres in Paris, and the Palladium in London...Wrote and directed seven musical productions for troop entertainment...utilizing both soldier and professional talent, twenty-girl ballet, and concert orchestra."
Among his assignments were running The Stardust Club -- a nightclub for soldiers in Heidelberg, managing a resort hotel for Allied officers in Kitzbuhl, Austria, and serving as an aide to the commanding general of the Third Army in Vienna. In the latter assignment we lived in the Vienna Woods in a house that was built with straw instead of lathe to hold the coat of exterior stucco. It was our house of straw.
After returning to the States, he worked in public relations for the Salvation Army while we lived in West Newbury. He re-entered the Army during the K
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
July 30, 2016
A gem. Almost unknown; but one of the most hilarious and memorable laugh-out-loud books you could ask for. It's never mentioned by anyone; it's never recommended, placed on book lists or chosen by reading-groups. This just might be because it's a series of books which represents a 'philosophy-of-parenting' which has fallen out of favor. That's my suspicion, anyway.
I mean, just think about it. These stories are about kids who are unmonitored; who are allowed to just go off on summer afternoons and hang out on their own; and do whatever they want.... because they are trusted by their folks. Today, this is the last thing parents want to hear. No one in today's control-freak, micro-managing America wants to imagine that children can be trusted like this.
Books for very young children ('Little Prince' or 'Giving Tree') are in abundance on Goodreads. They're sweet and harmless. There's also a new genre called 'YA' ('young adult'). But guess what? They're all very sanitary, careful, cautious, and timid. Antiseptic. Content-supervised and Content-controlled. They always instruct youngsters on the 'correct' thing to do, the 'sensitive' thing to do, the 'courteous' thing to do...blah blah blah.
'Mad Scientists' is different. Instead of caution, the author praises problem-solving, solidarity, daring, and initiative. It's a book written for kids illustrating how NOT to follow the rules. Its a book which shows that rules are made to be flouted.
These stories are from a time when today's endless complexities and anxieties just weren't around. Its a book that deals with kids just..having fun. I say, there need to be a LOT MORE books like this.
The gang of boys in Brinley's tales are pre-teens; somewhere between 11 and 14. This is a strange interval in a boy's matriculation, when they need to figure out a lot of things about life (and its also a time when adults have the least relevant advice to offer). This is the space Brinley plays in: the theme of personal responsibility.
Teens NEED to create a few genuine catastrophes in order to learn the weight of 'cause' vs 'effect'. 'Intention' vs 'outcome'. 'Actions' vs 'harm'. They need to learn the ins-and-outs of friendship and loyalty and paying-one's-dues.
The 'Mad Scientists Club' (this is the name carved on their clubhouse door) demonstrate these themes grandly. These young scamps are precisely in that age where you learn how to make a mess and how you clean it up afterwards. By yourself!
The crazy scenarios which afflict these affable 'troublemakers' reminds us--should remind everyone-- that this process can be fun. Making mistakes and learning from them. The best way --nay, the ONLY way--to shape character.
Far cry from today, huh? Yeah. Today, we don't let kids have 'secret clubs', 'hideouts', codewords, or 'mysterious friends'. We don't let them play with equipment or tools. They must not 'wreck' anything of ours. They're certainly not allowed to 'gallivant all over creation' (love that phrase).
Modern parents are rule-mongers and control freaks. When our kids want to play, we take them to 'Sesame Place' and we monitor their nutrition and we deck them in flashing sneakers and put them in helmets and on leashes. We place them in soccer, swim class, softball, karate, dance, gymnastics.
The result? Modern kids have no idea what real 'freedom' means. We never give it to them. They turn out to be vegetables.
But Brinley's kids show the other way it can be done. This boy's club makes their own fun. They don't 'ask for permission' to do stuff--they just do it! They embrace wildness, zaniness, and unpredictability. The outcome? Well, they aren't brought up on charges from the Department of Homeland Security, for the trouble they cause. That's for sure. This is a part of small town-Americana we've let slip away.
Just one example: in one of the adventures undertaken by the Mad Scientists, they build their own hot-air balloon (using scraps from a local junkyard) and they enter it in the town's annual homemade hot-air balloon race. With no adult supervision at all. Once aloft, (!!) they engaged in an air-battle with their arch-foes and fire potato-cannons and slingshots back'n'forth in mid-air. Finally, they manage to send the enemy gang's balloon into the lake! Can you stand it? I can't friggin' stand it, can you?
This book reminds us that children used to be perfectly capable of taking care of themselves if we let them...if we weren't all scared out of our wits by molesters and semi-automatic weaps and drugs and porn and stalkers and computers, we'd still remember the kind of America found in this hilarious read. It's to our shame that we can't.
I mean, just think about it. These stories are about kids who are unmonitored; who are allowed to just go off on summer afternoons and hang out on their own; and do whatever they want.... because they are trusted by their folks. Today, this is the last thing parents want to hear. No one in today's control-freak, micro-managing America wants to imagine that children can be trusted like this.
Books for very young children ('Little Prince' or 'Giving Tree') are in abundance on Goodreads. They're sweet and harmless. There's also a new genre called 'YA' ('young adult'). But guess what? They're all very sanitary, careful, cautious, and timid. Antiseptic. Content-supervised and Content-controlled. They always instruct youngsters on the 'correct' thing to do, the 'sensitive' thing to do, the 'courteous' thing to do...blah blah blah.
'Mad Scientists' is different. Instead of caution, the author praises problem-solving, solidarity, daring, and initiative. It's a book written for kids illustrating how NOT to follow the rules. Its a book which shows that rules are made to be flouted.
These stories are from a time when today's endless complexities and anxieties just weren't around. Its a book that deals with kids just..having fun. I say, there need to be a LOT MORE books like this.
The gang of boys in Brinley's tales are pre-teens; somewhere between 11 and 14. This is a strange interval in a boy's matriculation, when they need to figure out a lot of things about life (and its also a time when adults have the least relevant advice to offer). This is the space Brinley plays in: the theme of personal responsibility.
Teens NEED to create a few genuine catastrophes in order to learn the weight of 'cause' vs 'effect'. 'Intention' vs 'outcome'. 'Actions' vs 'harm'. They need to learn the ins-and-outs of friendship and loyalty and paying-one's-dues.
The 'Mad Scientists Club' (this is the name carved on their clubhouse door) demonstrate these themes grandly. These young scamps are precisely in that age where you learn how to make a mess and how you clean it up afterwards. By yourself!
The crazy scenarios which afflict these affable 'troublemakers' reminds us--should remind everyone-- that this process can be fun. Making mistakes and learning from them. The best way --nay, the ONLY way--to shape character.
Far cry from today, huh? Yeah. Today, we don't let kids have 'secret clubs', 'hideouts', codewords, or 'mysterious friends'. We don't let them play with equipment or tools. They must not 'wreck' anything of ours. They're certainly not allowed to 'gallivant all over creation' (love that phrase).
Modern parents are rule-mongers and control freaks. When our kids want to play, we take them to 'Sesame Place' and we monitor their nutrition and we deck them in flashing sneakers and put them in helmets and on leashes. We place them in soccer, swim class, softball, karate, dance, gymnastics.
The result? Modern kids have no idea what real 'freedom' means. We never give it to them. They turn out to be vegetables.
But Brinley's kids show the other way it can be done. This boy's club makes their own fun. They don't 'ask for permission' to do stuff--they just do it! They embrace wildness, zaniness, and unpredictability. The outcome? Well, they aren't brought up on charges from the Department of Homeland Security, for the trouble they cause. That's for sure. This is a part of small town-Americana we've let slip away.
Just one example: in one of the adventures undertaken by the Mad Scientists, they build their own hot-air balloon (using scraps from a local junkyard) and they enter it in the town's annual homemade hot-air balloon race. With no adult supervision at all. Once aloft, (!!) they engaged in an air-battle with their arch-foes and fire potato-cannons and slingshots back'n'forth in mid-air. Finally, they manage to send the enemy gang's balloon into the lake! Can you stand it? I can't friggin' stand it, can you?
This book reminds us that children used to be perfectly capable of taking care of themselves if we let them...if we weren't all scared out of our wits by molesters and semi-automatic weaps and drugs and porn and stalkers and computers, we'd still remember the kind of America found in this hilarious read. It's to our shame that we can't.
May 14, 2018
The "mad scientists" here are a lot more Scooby Doo than HG Wells. They're like, if the Scooby Doo villains were kids playing pranks rather than adults after cash. We'll cover this sheet in luminescent paint and pretend it's a ghost! We'll make a lake monster out of this raft and some stuff from the junkyard!
They're small town boys trying to have fun, mostly, although there is a definite strand of mean-spiritedness that I didn't care for. Especially one story, where the boys put a mannequin in a jetpack atop a monument and pretend it is a person threatening suicide, I did not like at all. I'm sure the situation was not amusing to all the emergency services personnel who were called out. In several stories the kids waste the time of the police, fire department, even the air force and never seem to get in trouble, which I found implausible. It's not specified how old the boys are, but old enough to have girlfriends and stay out at night, so old enough to know better.
I found it mildly entertaining, but probably not enough to look for more by this author. Although for this sort of boys' hijinks genre he is a better writer than average.
They're small town boys trying to have fun, mostly, although there is a definite strand of mean-spiritedness that I didn't care for. Especially one story, where the boys put a mannequin in a jetpack atop a monument and pretend it is a person threatening suicide, I did not like at all. I'm sure the situation was not amusing to all the emergency services personnel who were called out. In several stories the kids waste the time of the police, fire department, even the air force and never seem to get in trouble, which I found implausible. It's not specified how old the boys are, but old enough to have girlfriends and stay out at night, so old enough to know better.
I found it mildly entertaining, but probably not enough to look for more by this author. Although for this sort of boys' hijinks genre he is a better writer than average.
December 1, 2015
I first read this book in elementary school back in the early 1970's. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorites. In 2004, I picked up the hard-cover reprint published by Purple House Press. That summer I re-read the book with my son. It was a marvelous way to share the magic of reading. Now he loves these stories as much as I did when I was his age.
In my humble opinion, this is Bernard Brinley's finest work. A definite children's classic.
In my humble opinion, this is Bernard Brinley's finest work. A definite children's classic.
March 8, 2008
The ultimate pre-teen boys' adventure series, The Mad Scientists Club details the exploits of a group of boys intensely interested in electronics, radio transmitters, physics, aviation, etc. From a seemingly limitless supply of equipment they construct elaborate pranks, experiments, and rescue devices to astound, confuse, vex, impress, and otherwise impress their fellow townsfolk. Before there was Make magazine there was The Mad Scientists Club.
October 28, 2019
I can't believe I didn't have this on my shelves. It's an old favorite of mine & my kids liked it, too. It's a bunch of short stories with young boys (10-14? certainly no older) getting into 'good' trouble. They cross a few lines occasionally, but they're good-hearted & full of zest. For instance, in one story they make up their own balloon & participate in a race. Through their industrious use of junk, a good knowledge of the science behind the balloon, & the help of Zeke, a friendly junkman, they win the race against the rich kids & the adults. That's pretty typical.
The stories are somewhat dated. Kids are allowed to roam without much (any?) parental supervision pretty much like when I was a kid. Mine remarked on this 30 years ago, when they were 5-10 years old, so I imagine kids today with think it's fictional, unfortunately.
The stories are somewhat dated. Kids are allowed to roam without much (any?) parental supervision pretty much like when I was a kid. Mine remarked on this 30 years ago, when they were 5-10 years old, so I imagine kids today with think it's fictional, unfortunately.
April 6, 2017
This one is a very tricky book to review. I'm going to do a detailed review at Plumfield and Paideia where I show photos of specific sections. The science in this book is irresistible. It's absolutely enchanting to a science minded reader, and a boy in particular. The bad behavior, however, spoils some of the fun. I really wish these boys were more respectful, more sensible, and more worthy of recommendation.
June 17, 2017
This book wound up surprising me. I wasn’t liking it too well at first. It seemed like it was about a bunch of boys who used their STEM skills to prank their fellow townsfolk. While they definitely did their fair share of that, they also did some pretty amazing things.
This book was written at a time when unsupervised free time was a thing. I think it could potentially be very inspirational for boys. It shows the good, as well as the fun, that can be done when you have some knowledge in science, technology, engineering and math. I’m trying to get my son to read it. I’m hoping it’s not too old fashioned to be relatable to modern-day kids.
This book was written at a time when unsupervised free time was a thing. I think it could potentially be very inspirational for boys. It shows the good, as well as the fun, that can be done when you have some knowledge in science, technology, engineering and math. I’m trying to get my son to read it. I’m hoping it’s not too old fashioned to be relatable to modern-day kids.
October 7, 2017
Some of the science is a bit outdated. And of course there are no girls (not even a token girl, thank goodness). And these 'boys' (mostly about 14 years old, I think) do disrespect other people's property and stuff.
Minor quibbles, really. They also prove themselves to be good kids who can be trusted not to do any real harm, so I felt comfortable laughing at the funny bits.
But, I'm not an adventurous boy. Without enough characterization to know the boys apart (the fat one, the youngest, the inventor is about all I got), and without any thoughtfulness/ depth/ resonance/ substance, I, personally, just don't feel charmed.
For fans of Encyclopedia Brown and Danny Dunn.
Minor quibbles, really. They also prove themselves to be good kids who can be trusted not to do any real harm, so I felt comfortable laughing at the funny bits.
But, I'm not an adventurous boy. Without enough characterization to know the boys apart (the fat one, the youngest, the inventor is about all I got), and without any thoughtfulness/ depth/ resonance/ substance, I, personally, just don't feel charmed.
For fans of Encyclopedia Brown and Danny Dunn.
July 25, 2025
Stories about boys who want to be scientists
I think I was 13 or 14 years old when I first read Bertrand R. Brinley's The Mad Scientists' Club. It quickly became one of my favorite books, and I reread it many times. (It helps that it's short.) It's in the tradition of books of stories about mischief-making boys, like Stalky & Co. These particular boys call themselves The Mad Scientists' Club, and the mischief they get up to usually involves high-tech (1960's incarnations) tricks like radio-controlled motors, etc. It's all very wholesome -- there aren't even any fart jokes (or if there are, I don't remember). The most risqué we get is loud burping.
And the stories are actually good. Each of the boys has a definite and distinct personality, and they do sometimes worthwhile and always fun things.
But, yeah, it's about boys. The only girl is one Daphne Muldoon, who is the sweetheart of one of the boys. (Gay relationships, you ask? In 1965? Don't you know that's illegal? Probably even more illegal to write about in a book intended for children than to do...) There was a market for boys' stories, and there was a market for girls' stories, and they were MILES apart. Girls could and did read the boys' stories, but at the cost of lack of representation. (The reverse, boys reading girls' books, was a much bigger taboo.)
I think the copy we had at home was the 1965 Scholastic paperback. A few days ago I was somehow reminded of it, so I thought I would get a copy and see if it was as good as I remembered. It is! This time I read it on kindle. This edition is based on a 40th Anniversary edition and has an Introduction by Sheridan Brinley, son of Bertrand Brinley. More interesting, I discovered that there are three more Mad Scientists' Club books that I haven't read. I will certainly read some of these.
Blog review.
I think I was 13 or 14 years old when I first read Bertrand R. Brinley's The Mad Scientists' Club. It quickly became one of my favorite books, and I reread it many times. (It helps that it's short.) It's in the tradition of books of stories about mischief-making boys, like Stalky & Co. These particular boys call themselves The Mad Scientists' Club, and the mischief they get up to usually involves high-tech (1960's incarnations) tricks like radio-controlled motors, etc. It's all very wholesome -- there aren't even any fart jokes (or if there are, I don't remember). The most risqué we get is loud burping.
And the stories are actually good. Each of the boys has a definite and distinct personality, and they do sometimes worthwhile and always fun things.
But, yeah, it's about boys. The only girl is one Daphne Muldoon, who is the sweetheart of one of the boys. (Gay relationships, you ask? In 1965? Don't you know that's illegal? Probably even more illegal to write about in a book intended for children than to do...) There was a market for boys' stories, and there was a market for girls' stories, and they were MILES apart. Girls could and did read the boys' stories, but at the cost of lack of representation. (The reverse, boys reading girls' books, was a much bigger taboo.)
I think the copy we had at home was the 1965 Scholastic paperback. A few days ago I was somehow reminded of it, so I thought I would get a copy and see if it was as good as I remembered. It is! This time I read it on kindle. This edition is based on a 40th Anniversary edition and has an Introduction by Sheridan Brinley, son of Bertrand Brinley. More interesting, I discovered that there are three more Mad Scientists' Club books that I haven't read. I will certainly read some of these.
Blog review.
October 18, 2015
I read the sequel, The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists’ Club in grade school. It’s pretty much what the title says: a bunch of kids start a club to do science stuff, and much of it is practical jokes. They have a ham radio that they use to coordinate, and a junk yard to scavenge strange parts from.
In this book, they impersonate ghosts, send a mannequin flying over a local celebration, and start a myth about a sea monster in the local lake. It’s all almost doable, even by the sixties-era technology they would have had access to.
It’s also amazing for what’s left out. They take a rope hand-over-hand across a chasm, and that’s barely worth commenting on. They spend most of their time without adult supervision. They—and other kids—enter a balloon race. There they have adults watching—from the ground.
These kids are going to be real cranks when they get older and have kids and grandkids of their own. “Why, when I was a kid, we used to dig all day for dinosaur eggs, search for lost treasure, and hide away in a clubhouse planning ways to prank adults.”
Which is, of course, what we did.
In this book, they impersonate ghosts, send a mannequin flying over a local celebration, and start a myth about a sea monster in the local lake. It’s all almost doable, even by the sixties-era technology they would have had access to.
It’s also amazing for what’s left out. They take a rope hand-over-hand across a chasm, and that’s barely worth commenting on. They spend most of their time without adult supervision. They—and other kids—enter a balloon race. There they have adults watching—from the ground.
These kids are going to be real cranks when they get older and have kids and grandkids of their own. “Why, when I was a kid, we used to dig all day for dinosaur eggs, search for lost treasure, and hide away in a clubhouse planning ways to prank adults.”
Which is, of course, what we did.
November 10, 2018
This was simply a great childhood book for any inquisitive kid who likes science, haunted houses, dinosaurs, flying machines, etc. I read this book in about seventh or eighth grade and actually a couple of times since. I believe this book helped me on my career to being a rocket scientist but it also gave me many ideas as I was growing up. Brinley managed to capture the perfect mid-west US town and the guys in the book were great caricatures of fun loving, science minded boys with a bit of good natured mischief up their sleeves. Then Brinley took this setting and boys and produced a series of wonderful stories capturing so many things that so many boys growing up find so intriguing. I bought a copy recently for a nephew and he was enraptured by it. The follow ups while good never really reached the level of this first book but were fun in their own right. It will always hold a special memory of growing up back in the '60s.
June 30, 2013
A favorite from grade school reading days that I found while book collecting and recently reread. I so wished I could be in a club like this one that had exciting adventures (and good clean fun) and used their wits to stay/get out of trouble. Reading it as an adult, this book is a great example of kids using their intelligence, humor, physical abilities to interact with each other and explore their world...things that seem lacking today (don't I sound old).
October 24, 2007
I re-read this book a few years ago and these stories really hold up. They are just as fun and clever the second time around.
July 22, 2013
A book that every boy (and girl) should be given for one of the summers of their pre-teen years. The stories are funny, very creative, and most impressively, make the reader truly feel that they could build the contraptions and emulate the Mad Scientists' hijinks. 20 years after reading it for the first time, I still pick it up and find the characters as fresh and rewarding as ever.
September 2, 2017
Re-reading this one out-loud to my son. And when I say re-reading, I mean not only that I've read it before, but that my son has read it before. We both like it that much. :)
February 20, 2019
My coworker and I were discussing some of our favorite childhood books on Saturday. I work at a public library. She asked me if I had been into Encyclopedia Brown. I said definitely and I still read them sometimes. That's when she mentioned this series. I had never heard of it, so she looked it up and found it available on Kindle Unlimited. I downloaded book 1 and started right away.
This is just a fun book to chill out to when you don't feel like reading anything heavy. It's a mix of Encyclopedia Brown, Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, and all of those kids as sleuth kind of books I grew up with. They aren't always the problem solvers though...sometimes they are the ones causing the mischief! Humorous and fun for those times when you really want to take it easy. Each book has several different stories included, like the Encycolpedia Brown Series. I would have LOVED these as a kid. I enjoy them as an adult!
This is just a fun book to chill out to when you don't feel like reading anything heavy. It's a mix of Encyclopedia Brown, Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, and all of those kids as sleuth kind of books I grew up with. They aren't always the problem solvers though...sometimes they are the ones causing the mischief! Humorous and fun for those times when you really want to take it easy. Each book has several different stories included, like the Encycolpedia Brown Series. I would have LOVED these as a kid. I enjoy them as an adult!
December 23, 2019
Pas lagi nostalgia ngeliatin buku-buku lawas di olshop (*ngga, aku ga beli apa-apa kok ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ )) tiba-tiba nemu buku ini, yang dulu dibaca pas masih sekolah (☆ω☆) ternyata diterbitkan sampe 3 volume ya... seingetku dulu aku baca yang ini dan vol.2-nya aja~
Di tengah-tengah seri Lima Sekawan dan Detektif Cilik dan novel anak-anak yang serupa, kisah sekumpulan bocah yang ngaku 'ilmuwan' ini memberikan rasa yang berbeda, karena kalau yang lainnya "memberikan solusi atas masalah" maka Klub Ilmuwan Edan ini malah "membuat masalah yang ga jelas solusinya" ｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾟ｡ Seru-seru-koplak~
Di tengah-tengah seri Lima Sekawan dan Detektif Cilik dan novel anak-anak yang serupa, kisah sekumpulan bocah yang ngaku 'ilmuwan' ini memberikan rasa yang berbeda, karena kalau yang lainnya "memberikan solusi atas masalah" maka Klub Ilmuwan Edan ini malah "membuat masalah yang ga jelas solusinya" ｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾟ｡ Seru-seru-koplak~
May 31, 2024
I read this to my kids ages 5, 7, 9, and 10. They all enjoyed it. Each chapter is a new adventure and it reminds me a bit of Encyclopedia Brown books. Overall the kids always looked forward to reading the next chapter but it definitely wasn’t high end literature.
May 26, 2022
3.5 stars. A fun romp. Not as endearing as Homer Price. My son enjoyed the pranks and adventures enough to want to read others in the series. If it were just me, I wouldn’t go on.
June 26, 2022
Science and imagination mixed well!
August 6, 2025
3/5 ⭐️from me, 5/5 ⭐️from my kids. I lost interest, but my boys loved this and want to continue the series. I would describe it as Boxcar Children meets original Hardy Boys.
July 31, 2024
2024 reads, #38. I recently had an opportunity to re-read one of my favorite childhood books, Bertrand Brinley’s The Mad Scientists’ Club, so I thought, hey, why not? This novel is a great reminder that, even though when we look back in history and think of the kids of a certain decade primarily enjoying children’s projects of that decade, the pop culture making up a kid’s daily life actually stretches back 20 or 30 years before their birth, in that so many of a kid’s regular books, movies and TV shows enter their lives through things like garage sales, the public library, afternoon syndicated television and more; and that’s why it was one of my favorites as a pre-teen in the late 1970s, even though it was originally published in 1965, after first being published serially in the official Boy Scouts magazine Boys’ Life a few years before that. (One thing I had forgotten until re-reading it this week, in fact, is that the club of the book’s title is technically supposed to be a Boy Scouts Explorer post, which for those who don’t know is a looser organization by the BSA specifically for late teens, with posts based around specific subjects and often co-sponsored by a local business; I, for example, was in one in the early ‘80s for learning the computer programming language FORTRAN, which we did on the mainframe of our post’s sponsor, defense contractor McDonnell Douglas [where my dad worked at the time].)
It’s essentially a Mid-Century-Modernist’s wet dream, funny and clever stories about a group of teenage boys who are totally educated and up to speed on all the latest consumer electronics of their post-war age (think ham radios, motion-controlled cameras, soldering your own circuits and other 1950s Boy Scouty-like stuff), and use it all to keep themselves entertained in their sleepy small town of Mammoth Falls, adopting a healthy disrespect for stupidity (especially in authority figures) and essentially acting as a group of genteel merry pranksters, gently sticking it to the Man simply for their own amusement through such hijinx as (just to mention the very first story of the collection) building a remote-controlled papier mâché sea monster after some local goon drunkenly proclaimed one day that he’d spotted one in the local lagoon, then milking it all summer to get their town a bunch of media attention and eventually make their blowhard mayor look like an idiot.
That’s a huge selling point of these books, and what made them such a favorite of mine when around ten years old; I loved that the boys were so smart and original, and I loved that they used these smarts and originality in the name of fomenting chaos and worshipping Discordia, an early commitment to subversion that would eventually lead me as an adult to the Church of the SubGenius, the Illuminatus! Trilogy, the work of Cory Doctorow and other such transgressive cultural milestones. If you’ve never heard of these somewhat obscure children’s books, you can think of them in that spirit, gentle enough for a Boy Scouts magazine in the early ‘60s but while embracing all the smartypants cleverness of Mid-Century Modernism at its best. Long out of print, it was actually Brinley’s son who nobly found a contemporary publisher for them in the early 2000s; so now not only are the two original story collections easily available, but the standalone novel Brinley wrote about these characters (little-read because of the original publisher going bankrupt just a few months later), and a formerly unseen second novel that would’ve been published by that press if they hadn’t gone out of business. All of them are real crackers, so I recommend them strongly if you somehow got all the way through childhood without hearing of them before.
It’s essentially a Mid-Century-Modernist’s wet dream, funny and clever stories about a group of teenage boys who are totally educated and up to speed on all the latest consumer electronics of their post-war age (think ham radios, motion-controlled cameras, soldering your own circuits and other 1950s Boy Scouty-like stuff), and use it all to keep themselves entertained in their sleepy small town of Mammoth Falls, adopting a healthy disrespect for stupidity (especially in authority figures) and essentially acting as a group of genteel merry pranksters, gently sticking it to the Man simply for their own amusement through such hijinx as (just to mention the very first story of the collection) building a remote-controlled papier mâché sea monster after some local goon drunkenly proclaimed one day that he’d spotted one in the local lagoon, then milking it all summer to get their town a bunch of media attention and eventually make their blowhard mayor look like an idiot.
That’s a huge selling point of these books, and what made them such a favorite of mine when around ten years old; I loved that the boys were so smart and original, and I loved that they used these smarts and originality in the name of fomenting chaos and worshipping Discordia, an early commitment to subversion that would eventually lead me as an adult to the Church of the SubGenius, the Illuminatus! Trilogy, the work of Cory Doctorow and other such transgressive cultural milestones. If you’ve never heard of these somewhat obscure children’s books, you can think of them in that spirit, gentle enough for a Boy Scouts magazine in the early ‘60s but while embracing all the smartypants cleverness of Mid-Century Modernism at its best. Long out of print, it was actually Brinley’s son who nobly found a contemporary publisher for them in the early 2000s; so now not only are the two original story collections easily available, but the standalone novel Brinley wrote about these characters (little-read because of the original publisher going bankrupt just a few months later), and a formerly unseen second novel that would’ve been published by that press if they hadn’t gone out of business. All of them are real crackers, so I recommend them strongly if you somehow got all the way through childhood without hearing of them before.
May 25, 2021
Just as good as I remembered from childhood. So excited to learn there are four books since I thought there were only two!
May 28, 2015
I sometimes like to read children's books because a) Some of them have more creativity and are better written than adult novels and b) I like to see how these classic hold up. I think it is fair to say anyone's favourite children's books will always be the ones they fondly remember as a child. Some of them hold up on rereading and some don't. I was coming at THIS book having never heard of it before but the glowing reviews made me think I would love it. So this review is by an adult that wasn't reliving a fond childhood memory which all of the others seem to be doing. My final verdict is I don't put this up there with the classics I read as a child (which I freely admit might be because I read them as a child :) such as the Great Brain series or Lloyd Alexander's books, but I see the appeal of this book.
What I love about this is how it is a very unique kind of story in that the boys are very proactive in the stories, and they use their wizardry of science and technology to help out or pull a prank. For example, there is a story of the boys creating a haunted house and fooling their rival Harmon and the Mayor when many stories would take the approach of the boys figuring out how someone else made the house haunted. The main character Henry is a nice device, super smart and always up to stir up a little trouble. The stories have a good pace to them and each one has a unique idea and unique "science" involved in the plot.
What I wasn't as thrilled about was some of the storytelling itself. One main complaint is that it is written in first person but it is inconsistent who that first person is. One story he is called Rod and one story he is Charles and most stories he never gets named. I am not sure why Brinley did this but it makes little sense and it is a missed opportunity to develop a consistent character (like the Great Brain books did having it told through the younger brother's eyes). I was also irritated by how the Mayor hates the club so much. In the last chapter he acts as if they are thugs and doesn't want their help in finding a downed pilot. But why does he hate them? They are a group of smart boys who, in earlier chapter, either helped the town out or did a harmless prank that nobody connected them to. Why? Well the author wanted him to be the antagonist so he hates them because the author says so. That's lazy writing. At least the other antagonist, Harmon, is given enough of a back story we understand why he is their rival. I also thought the characters could have been given more characterization - it took a long time before one stood out from the other (with the exception of Henry who drives the stories).
These stories are at their best when the boys are using science to help out - the Night rescue is a particularly strong one - and the science is explained well - The Great Gas Bag Race. And weakest when the science is not explained well - The Great Egg. I am on the fence that half of these stories (The Strange Sea Monster of Strawberry Lake; The Unidentified Flying Man of Mammoth Falls; the Voice in the Chimney) are driven by the boys wanting to pull a prank since it seems to conflict with their good nature BUT I will admit it is realistic young boys would have this mischievous side to them so it makes them more human and less like little perfect creations.
Overall, these are solid stories from a different time but they are still interesting, if imperfect reads, today.
What I love about this is how it is a very unique kind of story in that the boys are very proactive in the stories, and they use their wizardry of science and technology to help out or pull a prank. For example, there is a story of the boys creating a haunted house and fooling their rival Harmon and the Mayor when many stories would take the approach of the boys figuring out how someone else made the house haunted. The main character Henry is a nice device, super smart and always up to stir up a little trouble. The stories have a good pace to them and each one has a unique idea and unique "science" involved in the plot.
What I wasn't as thrilled about was some of the storytelling itself. One main complaint is that it is written in first person but it is inconsistent who that first person is. One story he is called Rod and one story he is Charles and most stories he never gets named. I am not sure why Brinley did this but it makes little sense and it is a missed opportunity to develop a consistent character (like the Great Brain books did having it told through the younger brother's eyes). I was also irritated by how the Mayor hates the club so much. In the last chapter he acts as if they are thugs and doesn't want their help in finding a downed pilot. But why does he hate them? They are a group of smart boys who, in earlier chapter, either helped the town out or did a harmless prank that nobody connected them to. Why? Well the author wanted him to be the antagonist so he hates them because the author says so. That's lazy writing. At least the other antagonist, Harmon, is given enough of a back story we understand why he is their rival. I also thought the characters could have been given more characterization - it took a long time before one stood out from the other (with the exception of Henry who drives the stories).
These stories are at their best when the boys are using science to help out - the Night rescue is a particularly strong one - and the science is explained well - The Great Gas Bag Race. And weakest when the science is not explained well - The Great Egg. I am on the fence that half of these stories (The Strange Sea Monster of Strawberry Lake; The Unidentified Flying Man of Mammoth Falls; the Voice in the Chimney) are driven by the boys wanting to pull a prank since it seems to conflict with their good nature BUT I will admit it is realistic young boys would have this mischievous side to them so it makes them more human and less like little perfect creations.
Overall, these are solid stories from a different time but they are still interesting, if imperfect reads, today.
September 21, 2011
If your kid is the curious, science-minded type who gets into trouble because of it, like I was (am), you need to get them (and yourself) all of Bertrand Brinley's long out-of-print, but now reprinted hard-cover editions (published by Purple House Press) of all the "Mad Scientists' Club" books, and Brinley's two other books as well.
I discovered them on my own at school when I was 7 years old, and they're the best type of kid's book (I took a "Children's Lit" course in college) - when I bought the reprints (thanks, Chip!) I enjoyed them as much as I did from 7 years old through high school.
The best Children's Lit books are ones that work for all ages, where a 6-7 year old "early-reader" like myself, or I'd guess 11-13 year old "normal" kid will love the stories - they're somewhat like a Hardy Boys book but much more fun, with real science behind crazy adventures. By high school I enjoyed the Real but Goofy Science, and today I enjoy the writing style, excellent story telling without the "formula" of the Hardy Boys and "adult" things I get now but not when I was young. So they're a fun read for all ages.
I've given copies of them to fellow geek / enginerd pals, who then read/give them to their kids. It's too bad more weren't written, since these are true classics, but Brinley died right when they finally started selling.
I'd rank these as the "Where the Wild Things Are" for kids 5-6th grade and up. And if your kids don't like them, and you like goofy adventures about science-based pranks gone wrong, and madcap results, you'll love these books yourself. The illustrations are spot-on perfect in a unique style, much like the original "Alice in Wonderland" or "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" stuff. It's a very 1950's style and shows "nerdy, outsider" kids as being very hip and fun.
Half-Kidding Warning: I did the "fake UFO" siting prank, and blew up a tree, and faked a "Loch Ness Monster" in a nearby lake, like in the books... so you might want to keep an eye on any kid who really takes to the stories. I still like to do the "UFO" thing even as an adult, but blowing stuff up was pretty stupid... but being "stupid" is part of being a kid I believe, and why I'm still a pyromanic and prankster, but with ethics and safety in mind being a reluctant adult.
Don't let that joking warning put you off - if your kids decide to learn how to make a remote-controlled submergeable "monster", they'll probably take to science courses in high school and then go on to do wonderous things in their life / career. And likely have a good sense of humor about it all.
Timeless classics all. Recommended!
I discovered them on my own at school when I was 7 years old, and they're the best type of kid's book (I took a "Children's Lit" course in college) - when I bought the reprints (thanks, Chip!) I enjoyed them as much as I did from 7 years old through high school.
The best Children's Lit books are ones that work for all ages, where a 6-7 year old "early-reader" like myself, or I'd guess 11-13 year old "normal" kid will love the stories - they're somewhat like a Hardy Boys book but much more fun, with real science behind crazy adventures. By high school I enjoyed the Real but Goofy Science, and today I enjoy the writing style, excellent story telling without the "formula" of the Hardy Boys and "adult" things I get now but not when I was young. So they're a fun read for all ages.
I've given copies of them to fellow geek / enginerd pals, who then read/give them to their kids. It's too bad more weren't written, since these are true classics, but Brinley died right when they finally started selling.
I'd rank these as the "Where the Wild Things Are" for kids 5-6th grade and up. And if your kids don't like them, and you like goofy adventures about science-based pranks gone wrong, and madcap results, you'll love these books yourself. The illustrations are spot-on perfect in a unique style, much like the original "Alice in Wonderland" or "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" stuff. It's a very 1950's style and shows "nerdy, outsider" kids as being very hip and fun.
Half-Kidding Warning: I did the "fake UFO" siting prank, and blew up a tree, and faked a "Loch Ness Monster" in a nearby lake, like in the books... so you might want to keep an eye on any kid who really takes to the stories. I still like to do the "UFO" thing even as an adult, but blowing stuff up was pretty stupid... but being "stupid" is part of being a kid I believe, and why I'm still a pyromanic and prankster, but with ethics and safety in mind being a reluctant adult.
Don't let that joking warning put you off - if your kids decide to learn how to make a remote-controlled submergeable "monster", they'll probably take to science courses in high school and then go on to do wonderous things in their life / career. And likely have a good sense of humor about it all.
Timeless classics all. Recommended!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2013
This is another of those "books I remember reading when I was a kid" that I wanted to share with my son for "reading together." Before we started, I re-read part of Chapter 1, and wasn't sure that it would hold his attention. Not a lot of action and the setting, something like the mid-20th century world of Homer Price, I wasn't sure would interest him. Boy, was I wrong! The idea of a bunch of boys, on their own, with no adult supervision (parents never mentioned!) figuring out ways to have fun, challenge themselves, and 'put on over' on gullible or self-important adults has a real resonance, in any age.
The chapters are a series of self-contained stories; The 'Unidentified Flying Man of Mammoth Falls' is the gem of the collection. We laughed out loud at several moments, and it was neat the way one adult, a Colonel from the nearby Air Force base, saw through the boy's hijinks, but let them get away with it because he knew the boys were just having fun and showing a heck of a l lot more ingenuity and initiative them 99% of the rest of us.
The biggest fault in the book to me was the choice of names, which are so similar that it is hard to keep everyone straight. The narrative is a little confusing as well. You'll be rolling along thinking the story is being told in 3rd person, and then all of a sudden 1st person will appear. It's odd, but does nothing to take away from the stories.
By no means great literature, but four stars for the fact that to boys of a certain age, these 'boys stories' resonate very strongly and the genius of these books is the author's perception of this.
The chapters are a series of self-contained stories; The 'Unidentified Flying Man of Mammoth Falls' is the gem of the collection. We laughed out loud at several moments, and it was neat the way one adult, a Colonel from the nearby Air Force base, saw through the boy's hijinks, but let them get away with it because he knew the boys were just having fun and showing a heck of a l lot more ingenuity and initiative them 99% of the rest of us.
The biggest fault in the book to me was the choice of names, which are so similar that it is hard to keep everyone straight. The narrative is a little confusing as well. You'll be rolling along thinking the story is being told in 3rd person, and then all of a sudden 1st person will appear. It's odd, but does nothing to take away from the stories.
By no means great literature, but four stars for the fact that to boys of a certain age, these 'boys stories' resonate very strongly and the genius of these books is the author's perception of this.
May 28, 2009
This is the best kids book ever. It probably appeals to boys more than girls though. In a way it saddens me when I re-read it. I don't think our kids today have as much freedom as these did (or my generation). I remember staying out until dark, riding my bike EVERYWHERE, clubhouses on vacant lots...Or maybe it's responsibility. Kids today have freedom but little responsibility. I'm getting off my soap box now. but this is a cool book and it will make your kids fall in love with science. I imagine the Mythbusters grew up like this- or maybe their dads did!!
February 9, 2021
A zany and fun collection of short stories. Difficult to find but a must have for any current or future scientist or engineer!
Re-read: Just as good as I remember. I'm so glad that Purple House Press republished this series and with the original illustrations. The stories range from funny to serious but there's always some zany, science fun to be had while the Mad Scientists' Club outwits the local adults.
Re-read: Just as good as I remember. I'm so glad that Purple House Press republished this series and with the original illustrations. The stories range from funny to serious but there's always some zany, science fun to be had while the Mad Scientists' Club outwits the local adults.
February 3, 2023
5th? reread
hysterical as always. ridiculous, easy read that reminds me of my childhood devouring these books lol. definitely some aspects that haven't aged super well, but overall i really enjoyed it.
june 2021
iconic. just very wholesome + heartwarming + hysterical. will never be tired of reading about the antics of the mad scientists of mammoth falls. :)
hysterical as always. ridiculous, easy read that reminds me of my childhood devouring these books lol. definitely some aspects that haven't aged super well, but overall i really enjoyed it.
june 2021
iconic. just very wholesome + heartwarming + hysterical. will never be tired of reading about the antics of the mad scientists of mammoth falls. :)
December 23, 2009
When I read this in sixth grade, I thought that my father must have lived a childhood something like this, and I experienced an early from of nostalgia for something I'd never known. There is timeless magic in this story.
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