Let the sun shine on your evil side - and have a wicked amount of fun on your way to becoming a solar energy master! In this guide, the popular Evil Genius format ramps up your understanding of powerful, important, and environmentally friendly solar energy - and shows you how to build real, practical solar energy projects you can use in your home, yard - even on the road!
In Solar Energy Projects for the Evil Genius, high-tech guru Gavin Harper gives you everything you need to build more than 50 thrilling solar energy projects. You'll find complete, easy-to-follow plans, with clear diagrams and schematics, so you know exactly what's involved before you begin.
Illustrated instructions and plans for 30 amazing pretested solar energy projects that assume no prior experience with energy science
Explanations of the science and math behind each project
Projects that progress in difficulty - from simple ones that may inspire science fair entries - all the way to converting a real home to solar energy
Frustration-factor removal-needed parts are listed, along with sources-plus all the tools you'll need
Solar Energy Projects for the Evil Genius provides you with complete plans, instructions, parts lists, and sources for:
Don't waste your time or your money This book was a tremendous disappointment. The instructions are at best vague and are too general to be of much use to anybody. In many cases key information is simply missing. Much better sources are available for free on the web (and are also better written). There may indeed be 50 projects described in the book (if you count a "hot dog cooker", "a marshmallow melter","building a solar cooker" and "building a solar camping stove" a 4 separate projects) but really I think that is stretching things.
The only spark of "genius" shown here is that Mr. Gavin D.J. Harper was able to convince a publisher to actually print this manuscript. It throws into question McGraw Hill's reputation.
No more Gavin D.J. Harper for me.
[Note: the illustration of the title page shows "30 projects" while the cover of the book sent to me indicates "50 projects"]
Solar Energy Projects for the Evil Genius
Stimulate Your Brain This is a fun book for people who like to stimulate their brains and do fun things. Most of the projects can be completed without additional help, except maybe the money to purchase the hardware. All projects are well described and well illustrated with photographs. Naturally the reader will probably use various ideas to construct inventions of their own design.
I especially recommend this book to teenagers who are imagination driven. But, heck, I'm 70 and I like it too.
Information I am thank full to the author for sharing all that knowledge with us. Full of ideas and information on energy that has been around for a while but I was unaware of it.
Use Google instead. If this book included instructions on how to actually build the projects it discusses, it would be worth buying. As it is, there are only some vague guidelines and not-very-useful sketches. If you want to build any of these projects, you would in almost every case, be much better off using a search engine to find a page online that actually tells you how; It's free, and you're more likely to get detailed information.
The only reason I give this book more than 1 star is that there are at least a couple of projects that I haven't encountered online--so it seems to be at least somewhat original.
Just say "NO!" Then say it AGAIN! According to another reviewer here: "Instructions were incomplete."
He is being highly charitable.
There will be no more "EVIL GENIUS" books for me. You've been warned.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
