65 Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

One Minute Mysteries #1

by Eric Yoder, Natalie Yoder

Not an ordinary mystery book, One Minute Mysteries makes science fun! Each one-minute mystery (solutions included) exercises critical thinking skills while covering earth, space, life, physical, chemical, and general science. A bonus section includes five mysteries from our upcoming title in the series, One Minute Solve 'em with Math! This entertaining and educational book is great for kids, grown-ups, schools, educators, homeschoolers and anyone who loves good mysteries, good science, or both!

Genres: Science, Mystery, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jane Maple · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a cute idea and does touch on a lot of scientific concepts, but the writing is very clunky. Also once again (as with the math version of this book.) I think it is miss-named. It is more just word problems than being conventional mysteries. There is one mystery where a boy solves who used his water glass by looking for a fingerprint, and another where they track down a dodgy zoo employee based on the person who answers a question on animals incorrectly. It just would have been nice to have more of these types of stories which actually at least sort of feeling like you are solving a crime, even if it is just a child friendly crime like who drank from a water glass and who doesn't belong at a zoo.

[American Mensa · Rating 2 out of 5]

65 Short Mysteries You Solve Math is a puzzle book filled with 60 puzzles, many of which could be solved with math, and 3 bonus sections that have puzzles on other topics to promote other books in the One Minute Mysteries series this book is a part of. While many puzzles provide great ways of helping children gain interest in mathematics, around one-third of them are problematic because they rely on one word in the beginning of a page-long introduction to solve, a word that could easily be unheard by children because it is mentioned in passing as exposition. Additionally, some of these problems require prior knowledge, like knowing the years of the Civil War and which states were on which side, in order to be solved, details that most children and many adults as well would not know. Moreover, some problems have false solutions, such as the use of the presidential debates normally being on leap years to solve problems, which is untrue as of this election cycle, as primary debates started in 2015, not in 2016, something that any child might get confused by. There certainly were many good problems in this book, ones that are just challenging enough to entice kids, but when over 30% are have problematic solutions or phrasings of questions, the value of this book is diminished, especially when there are so many other books on the market that provide better problems.
Review by Nathan P, 15, Delaware Valley Mensa

[Nicole Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for home school or to keep the kids thinking over the summer.

[Fives OnTheFly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to get the brain warmed up before homeschool each day.