The Exploratorium in San Francisco is "a museum of science, art, and human perception founded in 1969 by physicist Frank Oppenheimer. The mission of the Exploratorium is to create innovative learning environments, programs, and tools for exploration that help people of all ages, origins, and geographic locations use their natural curiosity to learn about the world around them." And if you've ever been there, you know that this ambitious mission statement is fulfilled in spades. It is an extraordinary place that I try to visit every time I go to San Francisco.

This delightful book allows you to create your own Exploratorium at home. It's got loads of experiments that, in the best Exploratorium tradition, are fun and highly educational (as an aside, by following one of the exercises, I was able to make a styrofoam airplane that looks suspiciously like the Amazon.com Books logo--and it flies!). Highly Recommended for the curious and playful of any age.