The Element in the Room: Science-y Stuff Staring You in the Face

by Helen Arney, Steve Mould

'Made me go Hydrogen Argon, Hydrogen Argon, Hydrogen Argon.' Rufus HoundAs featured in Best stocking-filler books of 2017 - The Guardian'Witty and clever writing, every topic is engaging, fun and in some cases laugh-out-loud funny...there are too many highlights to mention' - How it Works

Why is it impossible to spin your right foot clockwise while you draw a 6 with your right hand? Can you extract DNA from a strawberry daiquiri? Would you make love like a praying mantis? Should you book a holiday on Earth 2.0? The Element in the Room will take you on a rib-tickling, experiment-fuelled adventure to explain everyday science that is staring you in the face. If you are sci-curious, pi-curious or just the-end-is-nigh-curious then this is the book for you.Steve Mould and Helen Arney are two thirds of science comedy phenomenon Festival of the Spoken Nerd. As a trio they have appeared on QI, created their own experimental* comedy show 'Domestic Science' for Radio 4, toured their stand-up science shows to over 50,000 nerds (and non-nerds) and accumulated millions of views on YouTube.'These nerds are the real deal' - Ben Goldacre, author of BAD SCIENCE 'They make science fun and understandable which is a great combo.' Sandi Toksvig'MIND BLOWN.' Tim Harford'Science was never such hilarious explosive fun.' Richard Herring'This book is 37% better than mine. But it took 100% more nerds to write it.' Matt Parker (the other third of Spoken Nerd)

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Humor

218 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 5, 2017

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitled, “Science-y Stuff Staring you in the Face,” this is a really fun read about everyday science. My thirteen year old son absolutely adored this book, but it is certainly one that will appeal to a wide range of ages and for both nerds, and, indeed, anyone curious about the world that we live in. The book is separated into seven different sections – Body Stuff, Food Stuff, Brain Stuff, Element Stuff, Experiment Stuff, Universe Stuff and Future Stuff. There are plenty of illustrations and the book is laid out so that it is a joy to dip into as well as to read from cover to cover.

As well as lots of explanations for everyday science, there are lots of easy experiments to try out. For example, there is the Aristotle illusion, where rolling an object (such as a ball of paper) if you have crossed fingers, makes it seem as though you have two objects, rather than one. Or how to actually discover whether your breakfast cereal is fortified with iron or not… Overall, lots of fun and this book has enabled my son to constantly give me scientific facts that I didn’t know. I am not sure I really needed to know them, but it is good to see him enthused about a book and learning something along the way. So, if you are a little bit of a science nerd, you will probably enjoy reading this.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two thirds of the excellent science performance group Festival of the Spoken Nerd have produced an extremely entertaining 'find out more about science by messing around with stuff' book. (The remaining member of the group, Matt Parker, has his own book.)

This is a fun, rambling, joy of a title - Helen Arney and Steve Mould are present as distinct characters, writing individual segments (they even have their own, differently labelled footnotes) which take us through everyday experiences of science in our lives, from the mystery of noodles turning turmeric red, to optical illusions, to a whole host of experiments you can do yourself, including their infamous (and risky) rotating wastebasket vortex inferno.

Although not specifically a book for teenagers, it will certainly go down well with that market as well as adults who like science as entertainment. If it had been too heavily 'Gee, whiz, wow, BANG!' - always a danger with a science show approach to writing books - it could have trivialised the content too much, but there is always enough explanation to give us a feel for the science behind the phenomena that we experience in the book.

I found the humour a little relentless - it works on stage with an audience, but when reading a book, you perhaps want to be treated a little more gently. There were also a couple of factual oddities: in talking about compact fluorescents we are told 'there is no alternative for energy-saving bulbs' - erm, how about the LED bulbs that are making them redundant? And we're told Henry Ford invented the motor car. Really? Plus the very final segment is a bit odd and didn't quite work. But these are minor issues.

What we're left with is a highly entertaining book that provides page-turning science fun - although there are lots of experiments to do, you can still enjoy it by simply reading it. It would be great to dip into while commuting, or to brighten up a rainy Sunday afternoon. Whether you are reading an exploration of the natural radiation we encounter using units of bananas (apparently bananas are slightly radioactive), seeing striking optical illusions or discovering the names that some chemical elements nearly got but missed, you are likely to find out something new and have a better time than ought to be possible from a popular science book.

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 2017 so some aspects a little dated now in 2024. Dam you science and human knowledge, how dare you keep progressing

[Mihai-Andrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Rory Parle · Rating 3 out of 5]

After finishing this book I still have no idea who it's aimed at. From the tone, and the level of much of the science, I would have thought it was for kids, except that a lot of the humour is very much not for kids. I'm not very familiar with Helen Arney but I know Steve Mould has plenty of interesting material on his YouTube channel, so I was disappointed with how much space was given over here to retreading the same ground that any science enthusiast has read about a hundred times already.

In summary, it needed more using noodles as a pH indicator, and less redundant explanation of the heat death of the universe.

[Hanna Kylin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's definitely readable, just not as funny as I expected from these authors.

The selection of science is a bit slim but all right, main focus is on physics with a bit of chemistry thrown in for good measure. However the jokes are not really landing. As I read the audiobook, the authors had the best possible chance to nail the jokes, and I feel I should have liked this more, however my sensation was that they tried too hard.

The home experiments seem fun and I'm gonna try some of them with the kids.

[Gaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took a little while because its non fiction and makes think about complex topics so it was hard to read in bed but it was well worth it. Fun and entertaining look at science, the history of science, with some safe experiments you can do at home.

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny science-y stuff, what more can you need? I recommend the Podcast of Unnecessary Detail as well! Science stuff you can do at home to impress people (and yourself), whilst also being able to easily understand the actual science behind it all. I actually listened to the audiobook even though I am the physical book. But it means I can look back again at my favourite bits and try some experimenting. Obviously the fire stuff.

[Tim Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of Festival of the Spoken Nerd (and if you’re not, you should be) then you’ll have heard all of this before. It’s also (as others have said) not suitable for kids. So, I’m not sure who should be buying this book. Hence 3 stars.

[Naomi Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun little read.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

As charming and funny - and informative - as seeing the Nerds in person, even without Matt! Great stuff

[PRL · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone already familiar with the Festival of the Spoken Nerd (FOTSN) this book will require no introduction. For everyone else, you're in for a treat.

Written by two thirds of the FOTSN team this book is a lighthearted (but still serious) look at aspects of science that surround your everyday life, whether it be quantifying radioactivity doses with bananas, assessing the safety of mercury amalgam fillings with respect to a tuna sandwich, experiments with energy saving lightbulbs, or dating advice (disguised as measuring pH values with turmeric coated ramen noodles).

There's something for everyone in this book, be they geek, nerd or just a little sci-curious.

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scienza (più o meno...) in casa

Helen Arney e Steve Mould, assieme a Matt Parker che però in quanto matematico non ha partecipato alla stesura di questo libro, formano il gruppo di science standup comedian "Festival of the Spoken Nerd". In questo libro parlano (più o meno...) di esperimenti scientifici visti in stile appunto da show. Alcuni di questi esperimenti sono in effetti replicabili in casa, altri direi proprio di no. Personalmente trovo più divertente lo stile "ha ha only serious" di xkcd, ma anche qui ho trovato punti che mi hanno fatto sorridere.

[Miss K · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book for giving you a little knowledge about a lot of geeky sciency stuff. It's the kind of book you can dip in and out of, and it doesn't have to be read straight through from beginning to end.

This is a great introduction to many different branches of science but it doesn't have too much information, so at no point do you feel lost in techical jargon.

[Mira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I'm a friend and fan of one of the very brainy and funny authors so yes I'm biased. I really enjoyed this trip through a million and one epic scientific notions explained in an amusing and engaging manner. Looking forward to showing of my new found knowledge at my first static party.

[Emily Linacre · Rating 4 out of 5]

super entertaining read! i love a funny footnote and this book was full of them. i wish my brain would've permanently absorbed more of the information, because while i read the whole thing, i can't really tell you what it was about... but that's my problem, not yours. def recommend :)

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book, filled with nuggets of info about a great many subjects, and including experiments to be attempted to help with understanding those nuggets. All served up with a dash of humor and engaging narrative.

[Boneist · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this; lots of interesting facts told in a clear, fun way.

I would have liked it to have been longer, though!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to try some of these experiments...

[Ankit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun little book that reads more like a collection of blogs. It contains a wide collection of scientific tidbits about our bodies and things around us. Fun weekend read.

[Stuart Haining · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 4%. A humorous and enjoyable take on everything science - could gets kids interested by bringing difficult subjects to life through dangerous try-it-at-home experiments!

[Stefani Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is such a fun book about science to read =)) especially for kids

[Piers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably chucklesome mix of experiments to do at home and general musing about interesting bits of science.