I am a fan of Dara O'Briain on Mock The Week, but will his new book, Secret Science: The Amazing World Infront Of Your Eyes, capture the interest of my boys?



My eldest is nearly 11 and for some time I struggled to get him reading any fiction books. He was all about facts and he follows in the footsteps of his mother, with a love of science. I therefore felt that this book from Dara O'Briain would be worth a read for him.

When I received the book, I had a flick through myself. It is written as Dara talks and you can tell that he has a passion for the subject. Having studied mathematical physics at University College Dublin, I think we can safely say that Dara can make science interesting. For me as an adult, the biggest problem with this book was all the different font sizes. I know it is meant to make things interesting but I find it distracting. Luckily my boys love books like Tom Gates which have a similar style and it wasn't a problem for them.



Every week my son has to write a book review for school so here is what my 10 year old thinks so far (he is very near the end, so he must have enjoyed it!)

"This week the book has been quite interesting. I found out why your hair is all messed up in the morning and that video games are good for your eyesight and attention span. I also learned the different stages of sleep (going to sleep, light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep.)"

Thanks Dara for giving my boy a scientific argument as to why he should be playing Fortnite!

I am pleased that he is enjoying the book and it is lovely when he comes downstairs to tell me another fact. He was ipssemred taht you can raed wdors in a dfifreent oderr as lnog as the fsrit and lsat ltetres are the smae. There I am now playing with fonts too!


Secret Science by Dara O'Briain is published by Scholastic and is available now. with an rrp of £12.99.