How Strong Is It? A Mighty Book All About Strength

HOW STRONG IS IT? A MIGHTY BOOK ALL ABOUT STRENGTH; Ben Hillman; New York: Scholastic, 2008. 48 pages. Nonfiction

Hillman's book is just the sort of Guinness World Record kind of thing that kids love. How strong is a spiderweb?--if spun to scale, a spiderweb could stop a Boeing 747 traveling at 555 miles per hour in midflight. Most wood has a greater tensile strength than steel, and if you wanted to balance your house on a single post of black locust wood, it would hold. Three-quarter page graphics illustrate the power of nature and of man-made objects: how many horses to drive the world's most powerful sports car (the Bugatti Veyron)? How much fuel to power the Saturn V rocket? (An Olympic-size swimming pool full every three minutes). How Strong Is It? is one of those rare books that could lure a young child away from the computer and into a whole world of exploration. Highly recommended.

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