Yakov Perelman's

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1. PhithagorasJul 2020
   - Yakov Perelman's "Physics for entertainment" was fun, and repeating an experiment at work once almost got me fired

   - "Made to stick" by Chip and Dan Heath

   - "The Dissapearing Spoon" got me curious about chemistry

   -"Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver Sacks got me started on the rest of his books, taking my fascination in chemistry and nudging it towards medicine, neurology and psychology.

   - "The Social Animal" and "Influence" showed me more about psychology

   - Borrowing a copy of the classic textbook Gray's Anatomy while recuperating from a serious accident showed me how fascinating the human body is

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2. anta40May 2024
   Ah.. I remember purchasing a Yakov Perelman's math puzzle book many years ago (as a high schooler).

   Just heard about this. Let's see...

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3. vardhanwAug 2021
   I am from India. The school I went to (70-80s) wasn't the best, but I had an innate aptitude for math (perhaps genetic). I was lucky to get introduced to some Russian math texts [1][2] from my 3rd/4th standards which helped me (alongwith some local texts) to get good scholarships and rankings in Maths and science competitions (including a national level Math olympiad) and a later admission to a top level engg college in IIT (again thanks to accessing good libraries for foreign authored books). I see the Russian books as having provided me with a good foundation by being fun and interesting, informative, affordable, immersive and engaging and it really fuelled my interest in math and science. Given the resurgence of the Russian school of math in the US I wish I could be there to educate my children in that tradition. But not being there (out of choice and circumstance, I studied in Boston for a while) I really wish something like this was available in India.

   So my question is - is there some sort of a curriculum and associated training material (books, texts) available based on the Russian way of teaching, on which to develop a training plan locally in a country like India? Given the plethora of online school education options available today I do not know what exact training methods are used there, but platforms exist to have a broader reach for teachers to find interested students. I presume it would not be too difficult to setup a curriculum and training outside the normal school one with the explicit intention of developing strong math skills based on a Russian math education base if one wants to teach.

   [1] Mainly by Mir publishers, some of which are thankfully still available online @mirtitles.org

   [2] the ones I got were at throwaway prices, titles such as Yakov Perelman's Fun with Math, some Little Mathematics Library books physics, chemistry, cybernetics etc.

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4. DarmokJalad1701Mar 2019
   I remember reading translated versions of Yakov Perelman's "Physics for Entertainment" as a kid. There were also translations of more "propaganda-ish" works like "Three Fat Men".
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