Adventures with a Microscope

This a good book for a beginner to have. The projects are well explained and easy to understand. The book is written at a middle school level. My 9 year old and I read a project each night. The introduction to the evolution of the microscope was very interesting. There is a complete list of things you should have as a science kit. That list was written years ago, now-a-days, if my daughter took this science kit to school, the school would be placed on lock down and she would be sent away to a juvenile detention center.

someone has given you a microscope for your birthday or Christmas or some other gift giving day. You have examined it, gone to the pantry after looking at the prepared slides that came with your gift and taken samples of what is available there, then gone out into the kitchen, maybe the bathroom. taken dust samples from other rooms and looked at all of them. You were impressed with what you saw but in most cases that is all it was, impressed, you did not know what you had seen. Now it is time for Headstrom's book, this is the only place where it earns the five stars I have given it. You need to know where to go to get samples, you need to know how to draw those samples, and you need to know what you are looking at in these samples. Headstrom's book does this for many things. There is a caveat connected with all this. The book is old and even when new it needed an additional book to go along with it. The book is written for amateures and gives the parts of a microscope and lists a number of supplies to go with the microscope. Where does one get these supplies? Some can be procured from the manufacturer of the scope but most can not. Some are obsolete, some are unobtainable and some have been replaced by more modern equivalents. Catalogs from scientific supply houses may supply the answer, thus they they become a necessary adjunct to Headstrom's book. However this does not detract from his purpose, a little bit of taxonomy, a little bit of origins, and a lot of information. One of the big faults in his book is his lack of specifying the magnification necessary to be used when viewing the specimens. Even better would be a digression into the uses of different magnifications and what each is useful for in viewing the specimen. There are a lot of books out there, there may be one with this information. If so, anyone who knows of such, please let me know as well as others seeking this information.

The book contain numerous "adventures" with a microscope, that is instructions how to deal with different biological objects and drawings of details to be looked for. The idea is very good, and gives the investigator a wide range of objects to be investigated. I like diagrammatic drawings, but this book needs a second edition with crisp illustrations, some arrows for critical details, and a few microphotos in color.The list of equipment and chemicals needed is OK, but the user will today face a problem to buy some of them, and for an inexperienced user detailed procedures would be helpful. Therefore, newbies ought to contact a club or active association for amateur and profesional microscopy, lead by professionals with the knowledge and authority to buy and handle chemicals and access to labs. Such associations exists in the US, UK and Germany - and some have local clubs arranging field excursions, where interesting material may be collected. The immediate examination of fresh material is always a must - and this book is useful.Dag Klaveness, Norway

Great book for adults and children. Easy to read and made learning fun!

Excellent introduction to adventures with a microscope !!

This book was a gift to my grandson who is nine. His Mom is a teacher and reviewed the book after they received it. She said it is an excellent companion to the microscope which he received for a Christmas gift. It is practical and worthwhile for using the gift.

Great for a beginner! It even included batteries! Well made and good weight for the price!

I haven't used a microscope in about 40 years. I needed a good basic technique book as a refresher. This is an older book that uses some preps I would not use today, but the technique sections are just what I was looking for.

Excellent science book. Easy to read and understand. Illustrated adventures to investigate biology at home. I do recommend it.

This text is both excellent and dated. It is an excellent guide for a beginning or hobby microscopist but because it was written a long time ago some of the chemicals are either unavailable or must be replaced by modern equivalents. Some of them are only available with an industrial use permit or as a medical prescription, so you might need to discuss with your druggist or maybe your doctor the chemicals and hope they will give a prescription for them to you.On the other hand he uses many standard household chemicals that are still cheaply and easily availableOne strong plus is he discusses methods of working which are relatively simple and which don't require huge investments in modern equipment.

A present for two young minds to expand their use of the microscope, a present on an earlier occasion. A long time ago I spent years examining metallurgical samples in industry so I read it before sending it off and still was enthralled.

This came yesterday (so fast!) and my daughter immediately read the intro - it is a little dated, but very charming and she is looking forward to using her very much modern microscope with this not so modern guide.

Although written some time ago, this book appears ageless. Informative and very interesting, have learnt so much about many aspects of how to get the best out of my microscope.