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The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts
That Monday afternoon, in high-school gyms across America, kids were battling for the only glory American culture seems to want to dispense to the young these sports glory. But at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California, in a gear-cluttered classroom, a different type of “cool” was brewing. A physics teacher with a dream – the first public high-school teacher ever to win a MacArthur Genius Award -- had rounded up a band of high-I.Q. students who wanted to put their technical know-how to work. If you asked these brainiacs what the stakes were that first week of their project, they’d have told you it was all about winning a robotics competition – building the ultimate robot and prevailing in a machine-to-machine contest in front of 25,000 screaming fans at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
But for their mentor, Amir Abo-Shaeer, much more hung in the balance.
The fact was, Amir had in mind a different vision for education, one based not on rote learning -- on absorbing facts and figures -- but on active creation . In his mind’s eye, he saw an even more robust academy within Dos Pueblos that would make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) cool again, and he knew he was poised on the edge of making that dream a reality. All he needed to get the necessary funding was one flashy win – a triumph that would firmly put his Engineering Academy at Dos Pueblos on the map. He imagined that one day there would be a nation filled with such academies, and a new popular veneration for STEM – a “new cool” – that would return America to its former innovative glory.
It was a dream shared by Dean Kamen, a modern-day inventing wizard – often-called “the Edison of his time” – who’d concocted the very same FIRST Robotics Competition that had lured the kids at Dos Pueblos. Kamen had created FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) nearly twenty years prior. And now, with a participant alumni base approaching a million strong, he felt that awareness was about to hit critical mass.
But before the Dos Pueblos D’Penguineers could do their part in bringing a new cool to America, they’d have to vanquish an intimidating lineup of “super-teams”– high-school technology goliaths that hailed from engineering hot spots such as Silicon Valley, Massachusetts’ Route 128 technology corridor, and Michigan’s auto-design belt. Some of these teams were so good that winning wasn’t just hoped for every year, it was expected.
In The New Cool, Neal Bascomb manages to make even those who know little about – or are vaguely suspicious of – technology care passionately about a team of kids questing after a different kind of glory. In these kids’ heartaches and headaches – and yes, high-five triumphs -- we glimpse the path not just to a new way of educating our youth but of honoring the crucial skills a society needs to prosper. A new cool.
But for their mentor, Amir Abo-Shaeer, much more hung in the balance.
The fact was, Amir had in mind a different vision for education, one based not on rote learning -- on absorbing facts and figures -- but on active creation . In his mind’s eye, he saw an even more robust academy within Dos Pueblos that would make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) cool again, and he knew he was poised on the edge of making that dream a reality. All he needed to get the necessary funding was one flashy win – a triumph that would firmly put his Engineering Academy at Dos Pueblos on the map. He imagined that one day there would be a nation filled with such academies, and a new popular veneration for STEM – a “new cool” – that would return America to its former innovative glory.
It was a dream shared by Dean Kamen, a modern-day inventing wizard – often-called “the Edison of his time” – who’d concocted the very same FIRST Robotics Competition that had lured the kids at Dos Pueblos. Kamen had created FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) nearly twenty years prior. And now, with a participant alumni base approaching a million strong, he felt that awareness was about to hit critical mass.
But before the Dos Pueblos D’Penguineers could do their part in bringing a new cool to America, they’d have to vanquish an intimidating lineup of “super-teams”– high-school technology goliaths that hailed from engineering hot spots such as Silicon Valley, Massachusetts’ Route 128 technology corridor, and Michigan’s auto-design belt. Some of these teams were so good that winning wasn’t just hoped for every year, it was expected.
In The New Cool, Neal Bascomb manages to make even those who know little about – or are vaguely suspicious of – technology care passionately about a team of kids questing after a different kind of glory. In these kids’ heartaches and headaches – and yes, high-five triumphs -- we glimpse the path not just to a new way of educating our youth but of honoring the crucial skills a society needs to prosper. A new cool.
337 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
32 people are currently reading
418 people want to read
About the author
Neal Bascomb
19 books455 followersNeal Bascomb is a national award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of a number of books, all non-fiction narratives, all focused on inspiring stories of adventure or achievement. His work has been translated into over 18 languages, featured in several documentaries, and optioned for major film and television projects.
Born in Colorado and raised in St. Louis, he is the product of public school and lots of time playing hockey. He earned a double degree in Economics and English Literature at Miami University (Ohio), lived in Europe for several years as a journalist (London, Dublin, and Paris), and worked as an editor at St. Martin’s Press (New York). In 2000, he started writing books full time.
His first book HIGHER was selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writer award and was featured in a History Channel documentary. His second THE PERFECT MILE was a New York Times bestseller and frequently ranks as one of the top books on running. His third RED MUTINY won the United States Maritime Literature Award and critical acclaim around the world. His fourth HUNTING EICHMANN was an international bestseller and led to a young adult edition called NAZI HUNTERS that was the 2014 winner of the YALSA Award, Sydney Taylor Book Award (Gold Medal), among numerous others. His fifth book THE NEW COOL was optioned by major producer Scott Rudin for film. His sixth ONE MORE STEP, focused on the first man with cerebral palsy to climb Kilimanjaro and finish the Kona Ironman, was a New York Times bestseller as well.
An avid hiker, skier, and coffee drinker, he is happily settled in Seattle, Washington with his family.
Born in Colorado and raised in St. Louis, he is the product of public school and lots of time playing hockey. He earned a double degree in Economics and English Literature at Miami University (Ohio), lived in Europe for several years as a journalist (London, Dublin, and Paris), and worked as an editor at St. Martin’s Press (New York). In 2000, he started writing books full time.
His first book HIGHER was selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writer award and was featured in a History Channel documentary. His second THE PERFECT MILE was a New York Times bestseller and frequently ranks as one of the top books on running. His third RED MUTINY won the United States Maritime Literature Award and critical acclaim around the world. His fourth HUNTING EICHMANN was an international bestseller and led to a young adult edition called NAZI HUNTERS that was the 2014 winner of the YALSA Award, Sydney Taylor Book Award (Gold Medal), among numerous others. His fifth book THE NEW COOL was optioned by major producer Scott Rudin for film. His sixth ONE MORE STEP, focused on the first man with cerebral palsy to climb Kilimanjaro and finish the Kona Ironman, was a New York Times bestseller as well.
An avid hiker, skier, and coffee drinker, he is happily settled in Seattle, Washington with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
August 13, 2017
This book is very interesting, but it is long and has some dull moments. It has amazing insights into the robotics and the stress for the build period, and some interesting events that make robotics look very interesting.
The book is fairly long but it makes up for it with enthusiasm and awesome team moments. The back stories with some of the kids were awesome, and the chapter with insight into some of the other teams also made for a nice touch.
The book is fairly long but it makes up for it with enthusiasm and awesome team moments. The back stories with some of the kids were awesome, and the chapter with insight into some of the other teams also made for a nice touch.
December 26, 2013
I suppose there are two ways in which you could read this book. You could read it as a FIRST Robotics outsider, just trying to figure out what this FIRST phenomenon is - and on that level, I can easily recommend it. It does an excellent job of capturing the excitement of the competition, the incredible amount of hard work that goes into creating a top tier robot, and the "nuts and bolts" of an event - what considerations go into creating a robot, what are the team members doing all the time, etc.
Or, you could read the book as an insider looking to get ideas on how you might organize your own FIRST team - and on that level, I'm a little more hesitant. The students and mentors in this book positively kill themselves, to the point that important parts of their lives outside of robots are plainly suffering. I can personally vouch that the students on our own team (#4294!) worked extremely hard as well... I don't know. We are an easily distracted people, and it could be said that whole-heart dedication to a project is a great experience for a high school student to have before launching them into the "real world", a good antidote to the cultural climate of distraction. But if proper balance is also something to be learned... eeesh, all things in their place.
Or, you could read the book as an insider looking to get ideas on how you might organize your own FIRST team - and on that level, I'm a little more hesitant. The students and mentors in this book positively kill themselves, to the point that important parts of their lives outside of robots are plainly suffering. I can personally vouch that the students on our own team (#4294!) worked extremely hard as well... I don't know. We are an easily distracted people, and it could be said that whole-heart dedication to a project is a great experience for a high school student to have before launching them into the "real world", a good antidote to the cultural climate of distraction. But if proper balance is also something to be learned... eeesh, all things in their place.
April 4, 2020
As a former member of a FIRST robotics team, I strongly recommend to everyone who is interested in robotics and competitions to read it. This non-fiction book gives vivid descriptions of everything that occurs during the initial build stages to the final competition stage of the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). Included with the description are member interactions with other team members and mentors.
The story centers around a robotics team named the D'Penguineers in Goleta, California from the Dos Pueblos Senior High School. Starting with the FRC's 6 week build period, description of all of the issues the D'Penguineers faced while building the robot and how they fixed their issues through the period; including the long hours necessary to build this. After this, the robotics competitions start and each competition was explained with detail on every aspect of it; ranging from the issues to the matches itself. In order for the team to make the championships, they need to endure these challenges and win a regional competition. There were also multiple teams discussed in the book, however, they were not described as deeply as the D'Penguineers.
The book revolves around the teammates, which are all seniors of the high school. They come from the same class and is doing this as their senior final project. At this point in the book, they also described their actions and what they do. If you are a robotics team member (or really just anyone working together to finish something on a set deadline), you could relate to them through how they are under lots of pressure to complete a final project. The only thing I would change (if anything) would be to add more dialogue into the book, however, I feel that this way is a unique way of describing a few months of work in under 350 pages.
Part of the ease of reading this book came from its' very straight forward format/narration style. It was simply each week of work, plus competitions added on the talking of other members in other teams. The goal was simply to win and get as far as possible to the final FIRST Championship.
Even with the book being different from other books I read; as in the style and topic, this book is still worth reading! It reminds me of another book I read long ago, called Spare Parts, in which a high school team built underwater robots for a mainly college-level competition. They both described the struggles that they needed to overcome before getting a favorable result at competitions. There weren't too many controversial parts of the book, with maybe the exception of spending lots of time doing this and nothing else. The amount of time they spent might seem unhealthy to many, especially the long nights they endured. Generally, the main point of this book is to stress the importance of working well together especially in times of stress.
Even if you are not part of a robotics team, this book could be understood with little use of a search engine. Everyone should read this book, regardless of their gender or age. This book appeals to a wide range of ages as there are from teenaged students to adult mentors. If you ever wondered what exactly happens during one of these competition seasons, you must read this book!
The story centers around a robotics team named the D'Penguineers in Goleta, California from the Dos Pueblos Senior High School. Starting with the FRC's 6 week build period, description of all of the issues the D'Penguineers faced while building the robot and how they fixed their issues through the period; including the long hours necessary to build this. After this, the robotics competitions start and each competition was explained with detail on every aspect of it; ranging from the issues to the matches itself. In order for the team to make the championships, they need to endure these challenges and win a regional competition. There were also multiple teams discussed in the book, however, they were not described as deeply as the D'Penguineers.
The book revolves around the teammates, which are all seniors of the high school. They come from the same class and is doing this as their senior final project. At this point in the book, they also described their actions and what they do. If you are a robotics team member (or really just anyone working together to finish something on a set deadline), you could relate to them through how they are under lots of pressure to complete a final project. The only thing I would change (if anything) would be to add more dialogue into the book, however, I feel that this way is a unique way of describing a few months of work in under 350 pages.
Part of the ease of reading this book came from its' very straight forward format/narration style. It was simply each week of work, plus competitions added on the talking of other members in other teams. The goal was simply to win and get as far as possible to the final FIRST Championship.
Even with the book being different from other books I read; as in the style and topic, this book is still worth reading! It reminds me of another book I read long ago, called Spare Parts, in which a high school team built underwater robots for a mainly college-level competition. They both described the struggles that they needed to overcome before getting a favorable result at competitions. There weren't too many controversial parts of the book, with maybe the exception of spending lots of time doing this and nothing else. The amount of time they spent might seem unhealthy to many, especially the long nights they endured. Generally, the main point of this book is to stress the importance of working well together especially in times of stress.
Even if you are not part of a robotics team, this book could be understood with little use of a search engine. Everyone should read this book, regardless of their gender or age. This book appeals to a wide range of ages as there are from teenaged students to adult mentors. If you ever wondered what exactly happens during one of these competition seasons, you must read this book!
August 20, 2017
At first I was not fully enjoying this book, as it took off slowly and seemed to be a book that would only appeal to and make sense to those with robotics knowledge. But as I continued reading, I found the book was about far more than robotics. It was about a team, and watching the team grow. It was about individuals who were complete rookies and knew nothing coming in to the season, but came out with far more than a medal. About students who had their own lives, but learned how to balance all the work and really give the team their full energy. It was easy to root for team 1717. Like in any good book, I grew attached to the characters. However, these characters are real, and that means something to me. They are real, and at the time of these events they were my age, and just like me. This book taught me a lot about robotics (which was really fun and interesting once I got into it - I really do think I learned a lot and can't wait to try it myself), but more importantly, it inspired me and taught me about growth, work ethic, teamwork, and just trying your damn best. And yes, it made me feel cool.
September 20, 2018
Loved it! Not what I was expecting.
I was looking for an audiobook about programming robots. This is the closest I found in the library's app.
This book won't teach you how to program a robot. It might help inspire you to. It worked for me.
I have two big takeaways from this book.
1) I have much more appreciation for the effort that FIRST Robotics takes. I knew people like my nephew Garvey and my friend George were very serious about robotics in High School. I had no idea the level of commitment some of these teams, the parents of the team members and the mentors have for this competition. To listen to the weeks upon weeks of evenings, late nights and weekends spent building, coding, and testing the robot was impressive.
2) I had no idea how much of a personal mission FIRST was for Dean Kamen. He's clearly inspired some amazing people, including the mentors profiled in this book. Love the mission of getting this program in every High School. Sounds like there could be much worse things than that.
I was looking for an audiobook about programming robots. This is the closest I found in the library's app.
This book won't teach you how to program a robot. It might help inspire you to. It worked for me.
I have two big takeaways from this book.
1) I have much more appreciation for the effort that FIRST Robotics takes. I knew people like my nephew Garvey and my friend George were very serious about robotics in High School. I had no idea the level of commitment some of these teams, the parents of the team members and the mentors have for this competition. To listen to the weeks upon weeks of evenings, late nights and weekends spent building, coding, and testing the robot was impressive.
2) I had no idea how much of a personal mission FIRST was for Dean Kamen. He's clearly inspired some amazing people, including the mentors profiled in this book. Love the mission of getting this program in every High School. Sounds like there could be much worse things than that.
July 31, 2023
The author tells a story about the FIRST robotics movement and competitions by following a particular team outside of Santa Barbara California. I found the first half of the book fairly interesting. The details of some of the competition sort of gets old and I lost interesting.
I'm an engineer and a programmer. I built model rockets and electronics and programmed multiple computer platforms when I was in high school 35+ years ago. I remember winning a state chemistry competition my senior year and was proud that it was announced at the school, but never would have compared what I was doing to sports, which I also played. I think athletic sports are different than Robotics competitions and math competitions. These are different and always will be. In real-life, most people will find the academic side more aligned with their careers than sports. Enjoy the sports while you can.
I'm an engineer and a programmer. I built model rockets and electronics and programmed multiple computer platforms when I was in high school 35+ years ago. I remember winning a state chemistry competition my senior year and was proud that it was announced at the school, but never would have compared what I was doing to sports, which I also played. I think athletic sports are different than Robotics competitions and math competitions. These are different and always will be. In real-life, most people will find the academic side more aligned with their careers than sports. Enjoy the sports while you can.
April 3, 2024
This book was amazing! I really enjoyed reading and learning all about the work that teachers, mentors, and students put into making their robots. I also enjoyed reading about what is involved in competing in the FIRST robotic competitions. My son, who is a freshman in high school, has already competed in 3 competitions so far. He has a 3 day competition coming up this week. My son absolutely loves being on his robotics team. He is always excited to go to robotics after school. He is really enjoying the FIRST robotics competition experience. Many thanks to the founder of FIRST robotics, Dean Kamen, who made this possible for any boy or girl to have this great opportunity!
September 18, 2018
A good introduction to the FIRST program and how challenging as well as rewarding it can be. I do feel like it was an interesting read but the author tended to either veer off target a few times or spend more time in chapters when it wasn’t needed.
May 22, 2019
Shameless propaganda and more entertaining than the videos I watched of the competition.
September 4, 2021
4.5 Stars. It was good but I probably wouldn't read it again. This is an unusual book because I think a movie would actually be better than the book. I found myself wanting to be at the competition watching or in the building room participating. I'm really wondering if seventh grader would enjoy.
May 28, 2011
I won this book on Goodreads Giveaways and I am so glad that I did. It was an eye-opener to see a whole world of science and engineering competition that may help our country regain some of the footing we've lost in the world of technology and STEM academics. I am new to the world of robotics competitions; when we lived on Oahu, I'd heard of a high school in Waialua (Waialua Robotics) who did really well at a national FIRST event, but I didn't know much more than that. I find the whole project fascinating and I'm a little bit sad that the first FIRST competition took place after I left high school, which is probably why I'd never really heard much about it before. So I hope that our girls might have an opportunity to participate in events like these, and even more so, I hope that they want to.
The story itself was very compelling and filled with tension and a flurry of action. For a chronicle of one team's journey, the detail was very impressive. The author mentions at the end of the book that he had a very thorough group of researchers who shadowed three different teams, while he eventually ended up focusing primarily on team 1717. I am not an engineer, and I appreciated that the book was written in a very plain, understandable way and was not filled with overly complicated engineering terms, formulas, or jargon. I really enjoyed the story and found myself getting caught up in the excitement of the arduous journey, cheering when the team won and sad when the team lost. I really appreciated the effort that went into such a project and I applaud the work that Amir Abo-Shaeer is doing to advance engineering studies in the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. I also applaud Dean Kamen's work in making science fun and exciting by creating these competitions. These are but two of the forces behind the teams that come together for these events, but in this book, it is clear that the students, coaches, teachers, mentors, parents and sponsors who bring these robots to life are all essential along the way. Overall, I thought that this was a very engaging story and an important one to tell. I am very glad that I won this book!
interesting quotes:
"...Americans aren't good at math because they hate and don't understand fractions. 'Which is weird because we're the ones who don't use decimals,' Max said. Amir explained, 'It's self-loathing.'" (p. 89)
"Most teachers had an attitude, Gabe said, that boiled down to the following: 'You're the student. I'm the teacher. I'm smarter than you. Now listen to me.' In contrast, Amir never spoke down to him, and he always made it clear why they were learning what they were learning, even if it was 'because it's on the AP test and that's the reason.'" (p. 109)
"The only thing cool about the Hulk is his magic pants -- no matter how big he gets, his pants don't rip." (p. 124)
"I don't know if it's that robotics is cool, but whenever you do something so intensely and go all out, it's pretty much cool, no matter what it is." (p. 296)
new words: regolith
The story itself was very compelling and filled with tension and a flurry of action. For a chronicle of one team's journey, the detail was very impressive. The author mentions at the end of the book that he had a very thorough group of researchers who shadowed three different teams, while he eventually ended up focusing primarily on team 1717. I am not an engineer, and I appreciated that the book was written in a very plain, understandable way and was not filled with overly complicated engineering terms, formulas, or jargon. I really enjoyed the story and found myself getting caught up in the excitement of the arduous journey, cheering when the team won and sad when the team lost. I really appreciated the effort that went into such a project and I applaud the work that Amir Abo-Shaeer is doing to advance engineering studies in the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. I also applaud Dean Kamen's work in making science fun and exciting by creating these competitions. These are but two of the forces behind the teams that come together for these events, but in this book, it is clear that the students, coaches, teachers, mentors, parents and sponsors who bring these robots to life are all essential along the way. Overall, I thought that this was a very engaging story and an important one to tell. I am very glad that I won this book!
interesting quotes:
"...Americans aren't good at math because they hate and don't understand fractions. 'Which is weird because we're the ones who don't use decimals,' Max said. Amir explained, 'It's self-loathing.'" (p. 89)
"Most teachers had an attitude, Gabe said, that boiled down to the following: 'You're the student. I'm the teacher. I'm smarter than you. Now listen to me.' In contrast, Amir never spoke down to him, and he always made it clear why they were learning what they were learning, even if it was 'because it's on the AP test and that's the reason.'" (p. 109)
"The only thing cool about the Hulk is his magic pants -- no matter how big he gets, his pants don't rip." (p. 124)
"I don't know if it's that robotics is cool, but whenever you do something so intensely and go all out, it's pretty much cool, no matter what it is." (p. 296)
new words: regolith
November 23, 2016
The book, “The New Cool” by Neal Bascomb is about a group of high school students that are aspiring to win the 2009 FIRST competition. FIRST is a competition where they build robots to successfully complete a challenge or game. From the start of the process, Dos pueblos High had their backs against the wall because of chemistry problems, and they had many more problems as well. Also, there are other teams across the country with much more experience than them. With the odds stacked against them, they have to overcome obstacles like if their robot would work right, or if they could get a long. The team get through two sectional finals, one is Los Angeles, and the other in Sacramento. Although they lost in the finals of the L.A. sectional, they made it to the final FIRST competition.
In this book there were many parts that I liked, but there were some parts I didn’t. Neal Bascomb did a good job adding tension and making what could be a boring topic existing. I liked the book overall because STEM is an interesting topic,and adding those extra bits really gave it a push in the right direction. A message I got from this story is; it is possible to overcome adversity and problems to achieve something great. The book is teaching about the fact that the word is not perfect, and people won’t like each other, but will still have to work with together and leave their rivalries outside. “What? I didn’t say ‘nerds’ and point at you. I said ‘nerds and you flipped your head. If I said ‘badasses’ then you should look up, but not nerds” (Bascomb 61).This is one example of the chemistry problems they have.This situation is not seen in many books. Many books have everyone that works together are good friends. I believe this is a good message.
I really enjoyed this book, there was a good theme, and there was lots of drama for a topic like STEM. You could feel the tension and the pressure that the students and teachers had with the deadline approaching. Also, there were chapters dedicated to showing the other teams, and you could see the teamwork and how problem-less they were, which really added some excitement, because, as the reader, I didn’t think Dos Pueblos could ever make it as far as they did with how well the other teams were doing.
I talked about many of the strengths of the book including tension and excitement added, but the book has some weaknesses. One weakness, although not big, is the audience appeal. I feel like the audience, from the first few pages, is limited. Many if not all the people that are reading this book are into STEM and robotics. I feel like anyone can like this book, and the first few pages don’t show the real excitement of the story. This is one weakness, and it does not affect the book.
I would recommend this book to everyone, robotics expert or not. “The New Cool” by Neal Bascomb is very exciting, and has good messages littered throughout the whole story. I enjoyed reading this book.
In this book there were many parts that I liked, but there were some parts I didn’t. Neal Bascomb did a good job adding tension and making what could be a boring topic existing. I liked the book overall because STEM is an interesting topic,and adding those extra bits really gave it a push in the right direction. A message I got from this story is; it is possible to overcome adversity and problems to achieve something great. The book is teaching about the fact that the word is not perfect, and people won’t like each other, but will still have to work with together and leave their rivalries outside. “What? I didn’t say ‘nerds’ and point at you. I said ‘nerds and you flipped your head. If I said ‘badasses’ then you should look up, but not nerds” (Bascomb 61).This is one example of the chemistry problems they have.This situation is not seen in many books. Many books have everyone that works together are good friends. I believe this is a good message.
I really enjoyed this book, there was a good theme, and there was lots of drama for a topic like STEM. You could feel the tension and the pressure that the students and teachers had with the deadline approaching. Also, there were chapters dedicated to showing the other teams, and you could see the teamwork and how problem-less they were, which really added some excitement, because, as the reader, I didn’t think Dos Pueblos could ever make it as far as they did with how well the other teams were doing.
I talked about many of the strengths of the book including tension and excitement added, but the book has some weaknesses. One weakness, although not big, is the audience appeal. I feel like the audience, from the first few pages, is limited. Many if not all the people that are reading this book are into STEM and robotics. I feel like anyone can like this book, and the first few pages don’t show the real excitement of the story. This is one weakness, and it does not affect the book.
I would recommend this book to everyone, robotics expert or not. “The New Cool” by Neal Bascomb is very exciting, and has good messages littered throughout the whole story. I enjoyed reading this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2018
The New Cool by Neal Bascomb
This book contains a story of a robotics team attempting to change the world, from their mentor Amir trying to revolutionize education, to the members, simply trying to make it as far as they can in competition. The story focuses on the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Robotics team, participating in the 2009 FRC challenge Lunacy, where robots drive on a slippery field made of regolith, designed to simulate conditions on the moon, and attempt to shoot balls into the opposing teams’ trailers. The team tries a variety of ideas, but faces difficulties with each one, forcing them to think of a way through. Also, the story shows the interactions between characters, showing how each team member interacted under pressure, from competitions to overnight meetings.
Some of my favorite parts happen during the meetings, rather than the competitions, because they shows the interactive nature of this competition, where everything is designed and programmed by the team, rather than being simply assembled from stock parts and out-of-the-box code. It also exemplifies the massive commitment the team has to make in order to achieve their goals, working overtime and even burning themselves out just to finish their respective part of the robot. This then in turn exemplifies the idea of survival, not as a physical battle for life, but as an intellectual conflict, fighting to have the best ideas and endure the greatest difficulties in order to see them become reality. Throughout the book, the team members face conflicts over their respective portion of the robot, whether it be problems in the code or a mechanism failing to work. This then leads to stress between members, creating an internal team conflict over the best way to solve a problem, with some arguing to alter the design while others argue to continue on their path. The style of the book is very similar to a log rather than a cohesive storyline, leading to a somewhat jagged progression as the book jumps from event to event, but it provides a personal association with the team and their experiences, defining major moments as specific dates rather than an abstract point in an analog series of events.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) or anyone interested in robotics as a whole because the book captures the experience of being on a FIRST Robotics Team, describing the lofty highs and the devastating lows of the challenge. This book shows the hardships of building a robot, highlighting the physical and emotional conflicts which plague the competition. Overall, this book captures the essence of a robotics team, the good, the bad, everything.
This book contains a story of a robotics team attempting to change the world, from their mentor Amir trying to revolutionize education, to the members, simply trying to make it as far as they can in competition. The story focuses on the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Robotics team, participating in the 2009 FRC challenge Lunacy, where robots drive on a slippery field made of regolith, designed to simulate conditions on the moon, and attempt to shoot balls into the opposing teams’ trailers. The team tries a variety of ideas, but faces difficulties with each one, forcing them to think of a way through. Also, the story shows the interactions between characters, showing how each team member interacted under pressure, from competitions to overnight meetings.
Some of my favorite parts happen during the meetings, rather than the competitions, because they shows the interactive nature of this competition, where everything is designed and programmed by the team, rather than being simply assembled from stock parts and out-of-the-box code. It also exemplifies the massive commitment the team has to make in order to achieve their goals, working overtime and even burning themselves out just to finish their respective part of the robot. This then in turn exemplifies the idea of survival, not as a physical battle for life, but as an intellectual conflict, fighting to have the best ideas and endure the greatest difficulties in order to see them become reality. Throughout the book, the team members face conflicts over their respective portion of the robot, whether it be problems in the code or a mechanism failing to work. This then leads to stress between members, creating an internal team conflict over the best way to solve a problem, with some arguing to alter the design while others argue to continue on their path. The style of the book is very similar to a log rather than a cohesive storyline, leading to a somewhat jagged progression as the book jumps from event to event, but it provides a personal association with the team and their experiences, defining major moments as specific dates rather than an abstract point in an analog series of events.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) or anyone interested in robotics as a whole because the book captures the experience of being on a FIRST Robotics Team, describing the lofty highs and the devastating lows of the challenge. This book shows the hardships of building a robot, highlighting the physical and emotional conflicts which plague the competition. Overall, this book captures the essence of a robotics team, the good, the bad, everything.
May 16, 2011
First of all, THANKS to Goodreads, Crown Publishers, and Neal Bascomb for the free Goodreads copy of this book. I can honestly say that I never would have read it had it not shown up mysteriously on my doorstep. Needless to say, I'm glad it did and I'm very glad I read it.
My one word review of this book would simply read: AWESOME! However, not oven that overly generalized term does it justice. First of all, and like I mentioned before, this isn't the type of book I generally read. But one thing kept going through my mind as I read The New Cool, and that was, "I can't believe how much I'm into this!" Bascomb has a writing style that flows from page to page and before you know it you've read twenty pages. The subject matter might not seem that interesting to those who don't have an interest in robotics competitions and science classes, but the whole purpose of the competition--the very implication of the book's name--is to show that science is, in fact, very cool.
The New Cool follows an aspiring team of youth from the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy as they build a robot for the national FIRST robotics competition. Bascomb takes you through the ups and downs, stresses and victories of the six week building period introducing you to unforgettable people who worked hard to make their dream become a reality. The great thing is all the people you read about are real! You can even go to the Dos Pueblos website and see pictures of them. That for me took an awesome story, one that had already gripped my interest, and made it come alive.
Bascomb describes the building process and explains how the Dos Pueblos robot comes together. I had a visual in my mind from the descriptions in the book. When I finally saw the robot in a picture, I was amazed to see how close my mental image of it was. Kudos to Bascomb's attention to detail. Additionally, I was really pulling for the team as I read. Bascomb did an excellent job of making the individual characters come to life and I think he does a great job of making the readers really care for them.
Finally, the main protagonist of this story is FIRST. Where was this competition when I was in high school? I feel like Dean Kamen (the founder of FIRST) is doing a great service to our country by helping to bring science to the forefront. If you want to know more about him and the competition, read this book.
This read was well worth the time and late nights spent reading it. I'm excited to read more by Neal Bascomb in the future.
My one word review of this book would simply read: AWESOME! However, not oven that overly generalized term does it justice. First of all, and like I mentioned before, this isn't the type of book I generally read. But one thing kept going through my mind as I read The New Cool, and that was, "I can't believe how much I'm into this!" Bascomb has a writing style that flows from page to page and before you know it you've read twenty pages. The subject matter might not seem that interesting to those who don't have an interest in robotics competitions and science classes, but the whole purpose of the competition--the very implication of the book's name--is to show that science is, in fact, very cool.
The New Cool follows an aspiring team of youth from the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy as they build a robot for the national FIRST robotics competition. Bascomb takes you through the ups and downs, stresses and victories of the six week building period introducing you to unforgettable people who worked hard to make their dream become a reality. The great thing is all the people you read about are real! You can even go to the Dos Pueblos website and see pictures of them. That for me took an awesome story, one that had already gripped my interest, and made it come alive.
Bascomb describes the building process and explains how the Dos Pueblos robot comes together. I had a visual in my mind from the descriptions in the book. When I finally saw the robot in a picture, I was amazed to see how close my mental image of it was. Kudos to Bascomb's attention to detail. Additionally, I was really pulling for the team as I read. Bascomb did an excellent job of making the individual characters come to life and I think he does a great job of making the readers really care for them.
Finally, the main protagonist of this story is FIRST. Where was this competition when I was in high school? I feel like Dean Kamen (the founder of FIRST) is doing a great service to our country by helping to bring science to the forefront. If you want to know more about him and the competition, read this book.
This read was well worth the time and late nights spent reading it. I'm excited to read more by Neal Bascomb in the future.
April 10, 2011
Reading this book the month of the 2011 FIRST championships was good timing. I liked the organization of the book according to the time of the season. I liked reading about how the team became a powerhouse with a partially rookie team. (The teacher and mentors weren't new to FIRST.) I liked the description of the students and how they grew over the season along with the physical environment. I liked how the author introduced the reader to technical concepts in passing. I liked the focus on one team with interludes on others.
I think the book could have used a glossary of the technical words (like potentiometer) and not just the FIRST game words. If someone hasn't been exposed to the word before, it is easy to forget what "pot" stands for let alone what potentiometer means. I would have loved to see some pictures in the book. The only picture I saw was in the glossary - of the game field. Sharing this and including a picture of the environment would make it easier to visualize. Same for the Championship; it's hard to picture the scale for someone not involved with FIRST. I've described both a regional and robot to people and then they come and are shocked at how large everything is. I've never been to a Championship, but I'm sure I can't imagine that.
My only other complaint, is one I had about a math movie many years ago. By focusing on an extreme case, it makes it look like FIRST Robotics Competition is almost unattainable without working overnight and pushing to the physical breaking point. This is unhealthy and not something people thinking of starting a team should be worried about. Many teams do just fine without overnight sessions.
Overall, I did enjoy the book and think it is a great story.
I think the book could have used a glossary of the technical words (like potentiometer) and not just the FIRST game words. If someone hasn't been exposed to the word before, it is easy to forget what "pot" stands for let alone what potentiometer means. I would have loved to see some pictures in the book. The only picture I saw was in the glossary - of the game field. Sharing this and including a picture of the environment would make it easier to visualize. Same for the Championship; it's hard to picture the scale for someone not involved with FIRST. I've described both a regional and robot to people and then they come and are shocked at how large everything is. I've never been to a Championship, but I'm sure I can't imagine that.
My only other complaint, is one I had about a math movie many years ago. By focusing on an extreme case, it makes it look like FIRST Robotics Competition is almost unattainable without working overnight and pushing to the physical breaking point. This is unhealthy and not something people thinking of starting a team should be worried about. Many teams do just fine without overnight sessions.
Overall, I did enjoy the book and think it is a great story.
May 3, 2011
The New Cool by Neal Bascomb.
Written within is a clever story about the Amir and his attempt to change the lives of children at a key place in their education. The book was well written and read easily with professional skill. The voice is clean and smooth.
I found the flow of the book irregular as it frequently jumped a narrative POV from one focused character to the next. If I wasn't expecting it, as I wasn't frequently at the beginning, then it was a bit confusing. However later in the book I became familiar with the pattern and have to admit it was done well and added to the stories interest. Other readers may find this style more natural than I did.
I won't spoil the story for you, but as the title and jacket copy explain this story is about how Amir fought to create a New Cool. Learning and problem solving became key to his students as they prepared their graduating projects to compete in the FIRST contest. Where teams prepared robots in advance to compete a puzzle contest and defeat other teams robots.
The read was interesting and educational. It was eye opening and I found particular interest in it because I've heard of the competition before. The book makes for a good casual read that’s easy to read in bits. It isn't however gripping and I felt it too easy to put down. For those who share interest in technology and problem solving you'll find a good read and an enlightening story in The New Cool by Neal Bascomb.
Book provided for review by Goodreads First Reader program.
Written within is a clever story about the Amir and his attempt to change the lives of children at a key place in their education. The book was well written and read easily with professional skill. The voice is clean and smooth.
I found the flow of the book irregular as it frequently jumped a narrative POV from one focused character to the next. If I wasn't expecting it, as I wasn't frequently at the beginning, then it was a bit confusing. However later in the book I became familiar with the pattern and have to admit it was done well and added to the stories interest. Other readers may find this style more natural than I did.
I won't spoil the story for you, but as the title and jacket copy explain this story is about how Amir fought to create a New Cool. Learning and problem solving became key to his students as they prepared their graduating projects to compete in the FIRST contest. Where teams prepared robots in advance to compete a puzzle contest and defeat other teams robots.
The read was interesting and educational. It was eye opening and I found particular interest in it because I've heard of the competition before. The book makes for a good casual read that’s easy to read in bits. It isn't however gripping and I felt it too easy to put down. For those who share interest in technology and problem solving you'll find a good read and an enlightening story in The New Cool by Neal Bascomb.
Book provided for review by Goodreads First Reader program.
May 27, 2011
I read the book called “The New Cool” by Neal Bascomb. It is about a FIRST robotics team. FIRST is an organization that was founded by Dean Kamen. FIRST holds an annual robot competition where teams and their robots fight on a field. They usually play a game that is simple, but it is a challenge to build the robot for the job. The book focuses on the Dos Pueblos High School’s engineering academy’s team. It tells about their journey to the competition in the season of 2009 which the game was called “Lunacy” where teams were to shoot objects into the other team’s trailer and score as many points as possible while on a very slippy surface. This was to simulate the surface of the moon.
The book took place in Santa Barbara, California, at the Dos Pueblos High School during the 2009 FRC season. There are also many different conflicts in this story. First, and the most obvious one, is the team vs. team conflict. The second one is the conflict amongst the team. The team is very diverse and the teammates have very different backgrounds. Third, is the conflict of the team leader, Amir Abo-Shaeer, and himself. Amir is constantly under pressure and he tries to get the team to work together. He also is making many decisions that he has to determine if they are the best for the team.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the FRC competition and/or is a part of a team in the organization. It gets you thinking of some good ideas of how to work together. I myself am part of a FRC team and I highly enjoyed this book. It reminded me of how much fun I had building the robot.
The book took place in Santa Barbara, California, at the Dos Pueblos High School during the 2009 FRC season. There are also many different conflicts in this story. First, and the most obvious one, is the team vs. team conflict. The second one is the conflict amongst the team. The team is very diverse and the teammates have very different backgrounds. Third, is the conflict of the team leader, Amir Abo-Shaeer, and himself. Amir is constantly under pressure and he tries to get the team to work together. He also is making many decisions that he has to determine if they are the best for the team.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the FRC competition and/or is a part of a team in the organization. It gets you thinking of some good ideas of how to work together. I myself am part of a FRC team and I highly enjoyed this book. It reminded me of how much fun I had building the robot.
January 1, 2012
As a FIRST robotics participant (I cosponsor the club at my school), I felt obligated to read this book. Often I found myself wondering if Dean Kamen had asked Neal Bascomb to write this book. It may be that my mixed feelings about the robotics program itself bled into my reading of the book, but I just did not find it that well written. I was at some of the events described in the book and I found them awkward and goofy rather than cool and inspiring (as the author apparently found them). However, I admit that the other robotics folk at the events do seem to be loving it - so maybe it is just me that does not find the whole engineering-as-a-sport thing appealing.
The book did give me some interesting background on the competition and on Dean Kamen, but the writer jumped around from back-stories to mind-numbing minutiae about the build season to competition excitement in a way that felt thrown together. I was wondering how he managed to follow a winning team from the start, but I did see in the credits that he had assistants and was actually following four different teams through the build season and then chose to only write about the most interesting, successful team.
Yes, I think engineering and all the STEM stuff is underappreciated and way more exciting that most people know. But, no - I don't think a mock sport is really the way to fix the lack of interest in STEM careers. I guess it doesn't hurt though, right? The kids I sponsor seem to really enjoy it, I just think they were going to be STEM majors anyway...
The book did give me some interesting background on the competition and on Dean Kamen, but the writer jumped around from back-stories to mind-numbing minutiae about the build season to competition excitement in a way that felt thrown together. I was wondering how he managed to follow a winning team from the start, but I did see in the credits that he had assistants and was actually following four different teams through the build season and then chose to only write about the most interesting, successful team.
Yes, I think engineering and all the STEM stuff is underappreciated and way more exciting that most people know. But, no - I don't think a mock sport is really the way to fix the lack of interest in STEM careers. I guess it doesn't hurt though, right? The kids I sponsor seem to really enjoy it, I just think they were going to be STEM majors anyway...
April 6, 2011
"But the PenguinBot was stalked relentlessly by the opposing alliance, allowing Kevin only a couple more shots. Something was wrong with the Ape too. Its hoppwer was full of balls, but they didn't release when thier driver had lined up their robot for an easy dump. Only Turk and CHS's shooter kept thier alliance ahead while the Wildhats kept scoring.
"The D'Penguieers won 64-60" (263)
This quotation reveals the thing that I most dislike about this book and the thing that I like best about it. My main issue is about the writer's style. Instead of describing a scene in detail, he tends to tell the reader what is happening and then move on. This happens when he talks about how the team won. He also reduces many of the matches to the scores, ignoring the story behind that score. However, it also captures some of the excitement involved in the tournament at the end of the robotics season. All of the teams are frantically trying to win and the book does a good job of talking about this.
This book was a fairly good read for me becuase I am already very interested in robotics, but it might not be for another person. The issues with Bascomb's style (lack of description and repetivitve sentence structure) can be very annoying and also make it harder for the reader to engage with the story unless they already know what Bascomb is talking about.
"The D'Penguieers won 64-60" (263)
This quotation reveals the thing that I most dislike about this book and the thing that I like best about it. My main issue is about the writer's style. Instead of describing a scene in detail, he tends to tell the reader what is happening and then move on. This happens when he talks about how the team won. He also reduces many of the matches to the scores, ignoring the story behind that score. However, it also captures some of the excitement involved in the tournament at the end of the robotics season. All of the teams are frantically trying to win and the book does a good job of talking about this.
This book was a fairly good read for me becuase I am already very interested in robotics, but it might not be for another person. The issues with Bascomb's style (lack of description and repetivitve sentence structure) can be very annoying and also make it harder for the reader to engage with the story unless they already know what Bascomb is talking about.
Read
July 28, 2011This was great!! Author Neal Bascombe follows high school science and engineering teacher Amir Abo-Shaeer as he promotes his high school's engineering academy, guides 31 seniors through a Robotics competition season and sets out to transform American education. The reader gets to watch as a disparate group of kids (third to half girls) transforms into a well-functioning team. The build season begins when the new game is unveiled at the same moment all over the country. The team is challenged to build a robot able to play a complex, highly competitive game six weeks from day 1. Along the way the kids learn an incredible amount of math, physics, engineering and teamwork. Throughout the story, the reader gets to know the people involved (late nights, frustrations, moments of hilarity and joy), the history of the FIRST robotics league, and most important, gets a taste of what education in America could and should be. Who would have thought a book about a robotics competition would make you laugh and cry? I did both. If you're interested in sports, or math/science/engineering or in an inspirational story about bettering up our education system, I strongly recommend this book.
October 5, 2013
I knew nothing about robotics going into this book, I only read it because I like the author. I was impressed with the level of detail he was able to give which makes it read more like a novel than nonfiction. I found out at the end that he had several reporters follow several different teams around recording their words and visual details. That was a brilliant idea. It is for such reasons that he is one of my favorite writers.
So why did I only give the book 3 stars? I was troubled at times by the level of commitment and even obsession that the characters in the book gave robotics. They barely saw their families or even had time to eat and sleep properly for months on end. This is not something to hold up as an example for others to emulate. This is forgetting what is really important in life. It struck me that all of the books I have read by Bascomb have had this theme: succeeding in a particular pursuit because you gave it 200%, whether the pursuit was running or catching Eichmann. Yet too often the cost of such success is failing in other more valuable areas of life. It's good to be diligent and motivated, but it is not good to lose the bigger picture and, as much as I like Bascomb as a writer, this is what his books champion.
So why did I only give the book 3 stars? I was troubled at times by the level of commitment and even obsession that the characters in the book gave robotics. They barely saw their families or even had time to eat and sleep properly for months on end. This is not something to hold up as an example for others to emulate. This is forgetting what is really important in life. It struck me that all of the books I have read by Bascomb have had this theme: succeeding in a particular pursuit because you gave it 200%, whether the pursuit was running or catching Eichmann. Yet too often the cost of such success is failing in other more valuable areas of life. It's good to be diligent and motivated, but it is not good to lose the bigger picture and, as much as I like Bascomb as a writer, this is what his books champion.
July 29, 2014
It was a great read! If only The New Cool could be a bit more descriptive when it comes to the rounds. They just say something like "They're 1-10" and that's it. Kind of disappointing. I highly recommend it if you love or have interest in any of the STEM majors. I like how Neal captured the tension as the D' Penguineers rush to finish the prototype in time to make the actual robot. One thing I don't like however was the high schoolers are solely focused on the robot not on their lives. Yes, I understand this is a very important event, but they should know when it cross the line when they have to work without a good night's sleep. This is potentially dangerous in a work environment like theirs (the Penguineers). This is possibly the reason why they made so many mistakes in making their robot. All they do is: go to school, binge drink some Arizona, eat snacks, rush to finish robot, crash into bed and sleep. Not much interaction with their family and their other friends. Otherwise, it's a neat book to read! I never heard of FIRST but now I'm looking for any clubs/activities that got to do with engineering at my school. I'm also interested to learning more about engineering now that I read this. This book only increased my passion to be an engineer.
April 30, 2011
I won a copy of this book through the goodreads first reads program. I am so glad I was chosen to receive a copy of this book. I LOVED IT!
Neal Bascomb weaves an amazing story about the Goleta, CA Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy's 2009 competition season in the FIRST robotics match (www.usfirst.org). The D'Penguineers team comes together slowly and works through a number of intense engineering and interpersonal problems to become an amazingly competitive team. Bascomb makes the competition read like both an inspirational teacher overcomes the odds story and a compelling sports story.
I didn't know much about the FIRST robotics tournament before starting this book but as you can see by my finishing it in a week, I was HOOKED! Now that I have finished it I will be more attuned to discovering who is doing FIRST here in my hometown and encouraging other people to check out the program as well. I read most of the book in two days and really enjoyed every second of it. If you like inspiring stories, stories where smart kids come out ahead, competition or just a read that will give you hope in America's future this is the book.
Neal Bascomb weaves an amazing story about the Goleta, CA Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy's 2009 competition season in the FIRST robotics match (www.usfirst.org). The D'Penguineers team comes together slowly and works through a number of intense engineering and interpersonal problems to become an amazingly competitive team. Bascomb makes the competition read like both an inspirational teacher overcomes the odds story and a compelling sports story.
I didn't know much about the FIRST robotics tournament before starting this book but as you can see by my finishing it in a week, I was HOOKED! Now that I have finished it I will be more attuned to discovering who is doing FIRST here in my hometown and encouraging other people to check out the program as well. I read most of the book in two days and really enjoyed every second of it. If you like inspiring stories, stories where smart kids come out ahead, competition or just a read that will give you hope in America's future this is the book.
May 20, 2011
Fantastic book about a new sporting event for teenagers - FIRST Robotics! This book follows a few teams of High School kids and their mentors as they prepare for an annual robotics event held across the country. The writer of the book actually embedded reporters with each team and ultimately the book focuses mostly on one of those teams. FIRST Robotics is an awesome program. It gives a competitive edge to science and technology and encourages adults to mentor kids through real-life technology and engineering challenges in a fun way. The dedication of one teacher/mentor to his students and his goal to build an engineering and technology academy for his school is a very compelling and not uncommon plot spawned by this movement. The author takes the time to go into the background stories of many of the kids, the main mentor, Amir Ab0 Shaerr and the founder of FIRST, Dean Kamen (The inventor of the Segway). The audiobook was read by Kirby Heyborne, a favorite of mine, which is why I also bought the audiobook. The hardback book was good to have on hand for some references to key individuals.
May 22, 2011
Dean Kamen, the Segway inventor, created the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition to encourage high-school students to consider scientific careers.
The book begins with Mr Kamen introducing the 2009 FIRST competition and then follows team 1717, the D'Penguineers, from Goleta, California, as against all odds they grow into an award-winning team.
The team is led by Amir Abo-Shaeer, a physics teacher and the founder of the fledgling engineering academy. Amir encourages teamwork, empowerment, and admiration for his students as they bring specific talents to their team project.
The actual game play and strategy sessions during the rounds of competitions is exciting, but most of the book is devoted to the robot-building period which for someone like myself unfamiliar with robotics or engineering was difficult to understand and pretty boring.
The New Cool is a tale of triumph both in and out of the classroom and an excellent example of how a passionate teacher can truly engage his students to overcome adversity and inspire them to become our generation of engineers.
The book begins with Mr Kamen introducing the 2009 FIRST competition and then follows team 1717, the D'Penguineers, from Goleta, California, as against all odds they grow into an award-winning team.
The team is led by Amir Abo-Shaeer, a physics teacher and the founder of the fledgling engineering academy. Amir encourages teamwork, empowerment, and admiration for his students as they bring specific talents to their team project.
The actual game play and strategy sessions during the rounds of competitions is exciting, but most of the book is devoted to the robot-building period which for someone like myself unfamiliar with robotics or engineering was difficult to understand and pretty boring.
The New Cool is a tale of triumph both in and out of the classroom and an excellent example of how a passionate teacher can truly engage his students to overcome adversity and inspire them to become our generation of engineers.
January 7, 2012
This was an interesting read, though not up to the level of brilliance I've come to expect from Neal Bascomb's writing. If engineering were really taught the way Dean Kamen, Woodie Flowers, Amir Abo-Shaeer, and others in this book suggest, I might have stuck with it. This quote stood out for me:
"Training and education are very different. Training is a commodity. Education is the part that confers comparative advantage. Much of what we call engineering education is in fact training and poorly done. Learning calculus is training. Learning to think using calculus is education; learning spelling and grammar is training. Learning to communicate is education; learning a CAD (computer-aided design) program is training. Learning to design is a much more complex, sophisticated thing; learning the parts is training. Learning the synthesis and whole is education. It's not clean. The boundary is clearly fuzzy. Once you could be trained to be a professional if you knew things, that was enough, but information is ubiquitous, you can't have an advantage in society because you know something."
"Training and education are very different. Training is a commodity. Education is the part that confers comparative advantage. Much of what we call engineering education is in fact training and poorly done. Learning calculus is training. Learning to think using calculus is education; learning spelling and grammar is training. Learning to communicate is education; learning a CAD (computer-aided design) program is training. Learning to design is a much more complex, sophisticated thing; learning the parts is training. Learning the synthesis and whole is education. It's not clean. The boundary is clearly fuzzy. Once you could be trained to be a professional if you knew things, that was enough, but information is ubiquitous, you can't have an advantage in society because you know something."
July 10, 2011
A bit of nerdy fun--the author followed 2-3 high school engineering teams around as they prepared for a worldwide robotics competition (F.I.R.S.T.) and showed the perseverence and sacrifices the kids made to make their robot the best that it could be. Culminates in the national finals for the competition. As a non-fiction book, it of course is a bit predictable since you can see in the table of contents that the kids DO end up in the finals--but it's still very worthwhile to see how mentors and teachers are really making a difference in the lives of their students and giving them real-world skills that they can apply to actual technological work, and the work of inventorship, entrepreneur-ship, teamwork, dedication, hard work, etc. You have to have some imagination if you aren't an "engineer brain" (I'm definitely NOT) to understand all the jargon, even though the author puts some of the most important definitions in a short glossary at the end. At any rate, the idea that geeks can become "cool" is always welcomed. Geeks can rule! :)
May 27, 2012
This book was good, but it took a while to entice you. I wanted to read it because I am part of FIRST Robotics, which kept me going through the whole book. Others may not have this drive.
In the beginning, I felt that the story was more informing you about what went on in that season of robotics and the history of every character. This put me off a bit. Bascomb kept going off in tiny tangents and talking about the history of, say, Dean Kamen, instead of telling more of the story and what was happening then.
But after a while, it got more focused and more intense because of the conflicts inside of the D'Penguineers. There were more and more problems with the robot design they were building. The production of parts kept screwing up. They weren't sure if they'd finish in time. In the end, they became a united team, not just a group of kids doing a project for a teacher in school.
They came together and helped each other out. They did their best. This is the story that tells it all.
I am doing this review because I received a free advanced readers' copy from FRC on Goodreads.
In the beginning, I felt that the story was more informing you about what went on in that season of robotics and the history of every character. This put me off a bit. Bascomb kept going off in tiny tangents and talking about the history of, say, Dean Kamen, instead of telling more of the story and what was happening then.
But after a while, it got more focused and more intense because of the conflicts inside of the D'Penguineers. There were more and more problems with the robot design they were building. The production of parts kept screwing up. They weren't sure if they'd finish in time. In the end, they became a united team, not just a group of kids doing a project for a teacher in school.
They came together and helped each other out. They did their best. This is the story that tells it all.
I am doing this review because I received a free advanced readers' copy from FRC on Goodreads.
May 23, 2011
I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this through the Giveaways and was so glad I did. I had never heard of the high school FIRST Robotics competition before reading this book, nor was I particularly intrigued by the concept. However, as soon as I began reading, I became engrossed in the drama of the competition, the humanity of the students and visionary adults involved, and the importance of the competition's mission to instill scientific curiosity and confidence in America's students. I also began noticing references to this competition everywhere. It was mentioned on NPR and was even the subject of a recent CNN report on Education called "Don't Fail Me." I was even inspired to follow up on my new-found interest to see if there was a robotics team in place in the school district in which I work (there is) and was tempted to go to the national competition that was taking place in my city this year (but sadly didn't quite make it). This is a neat book for educators, even if you don't teach math or science.
May 22, 2011
The New Cool is about a robotics competition and the integral part it plays in an inspiring education program. The author, Neal Bascomb, and his researchers clearly spent a lot of time at Dos Pueblos High School, and the resulting details about many of the students' lives had me rooting for them individually, in addition to the team as a whole.
The engineering program at Dos Pueblos gives me hope that education in the United States (and internationally) can evolve, so that students' dormant abilities and passions are brought to life. If such a program existed at my high school, it would definitely have made me give engineering a second look.
Competitions and tech talk supplemented the rest of the story to easily hold my interest. My only minor complaint is that the whole book seemed to be punctuation-deficient; I realize that seems to be the trend, and I'm no English major, but it was slightly annoying.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and I absolutely recommend it.
The engineering program at Dos Pueblos gives me hope that education in the United States (and internationally) can evolve, so that students' dormant abilities and passions are brought to life. If such a program existed at my high school, it would definitely have made me give engineering a second look.
Competitions and tech talk supplemented the rest of the story to easily hold my interest. My only minor complaint is that the whole book seemed to be punctuation-deficient; I realize that seems to be the trend, and I'm no English major, but it was slightly annoying.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and I absolutely recommend it.
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