I admit it: growing up, I was a huge science nerd. So Sean Connolly’s The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science and The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science are high on my list of “Books that are Awesome.”

Our friends at Scholastic Book Clubs recently paid homage to some of the most dangerous scientific discoveries of all time with a demonstration of the Soda Bottle Rocket. If you like suspense, learning, and explosions, this video is for you.

Now if only I could convince the powers that be to let me spend a day channeling my inner mad scientist…

Wow. There certainly is something to be said for letting your kids dig around in the dirt . . .  Check out this BBC video about Matthew Berger, the 9-year-old archaeologist who unearthed (literally!) A NEW SPECIES OF HUMAN.

Set up your own budding entomologist with a readymade backyard toolkit in The Bug Book and Bug Bottle by Hugh Danks. Or encourage your maddest scientist to wreak experimental havoc with Sean Connolly’s The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science. She may not wind up changing the course of history–but then again, who knows!

We always love hearing about people using our books in fun ways, but it’s even better to see it in action! Check out this YouTube discovery–a science homeschool lesson using the Tea Bag Hot Air Balloon experiment from The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science.

For even more daring experiments, check out The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science, out May 5, 2010

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11′s moon landing with these two experiments from The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly. Send a homemade rocket zooming off a kitchen launching pad with the Film Canister Rocket experiment, or have way too much fun with physics with the Tennis Ball Moon Bounce. Scroll down for instructions.

Want more Totally Irresponsible Science? Click here to watch the video.

What could be more fun for kids than to have the kind of rip-roaring good time that harkens back to pre-video game, pre-computer days? Introducing 64 valuable science experiments that snap, crackle, pop, ooze, crash, boom, and stink! From Marshmallows on Steroids to Home-Made Lightning, the Sandwich Bag Bomb to Giant Air Cannon, The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science awakens kids’ curiosity while demonstrating scientific principles like osmosis, air pressure, and Newton’s Third Law of Motion.