Father's Day - Add this to your book list

With Father's Day this Sunday I'd suggest ditching the usual Hankies and Tie and getting him something cool.

First up is the official book

Warbirds Over Wanaka 2012

It's the Official Book of the 2012 Airshow.  A nice 'oggle' at some pretty cool craft.  given many of these plaes are over 50 year's old it's still pretty stunning that not only can they fly but they can perform the amazing acrobatics that they do.  This is mainly a coffee table book, worth stocking up on for the den, or maybe the book shelf in the back room khazi.  It's got plenty of pics, is pretty lite on the detail, though.  mind, there's a hundred books on the spics and specs of a Spitfire or a Mustang.  so over all, a pretty cool 'stocking filler'.

for more action, purchasing and next shows go to: http://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com/

Geek Dad by Ken Denmead

this is really the book of the website.  It's nearly the ultimate DIY project guide for techie dads raising kids in their own geeky image.  kinda in the spirit of The Dangerous Book for Boys.  Whilst our dad's frowned at our pathetic attempts to bait hooks, whittle and smoke fish or maybe kill icecream container garden herbs or burn pancakes on a tin can stove, this book really acknowledges today's dads are way more tech-savvy.  that doesn't mean we still cant programme our videos or figure out the best escape routes in Doom 2 but at least we can come up with some really cool home projects and disguise them as fun!

Supergeek,and father of two,Ken Denmead is an engineer (what a surprise) and editor of the incredibly popular GeekDad blog on wired.com.  His series of Geek dad books, to which this is the first, is idea-packed guide and pretty much guaranteed to help dads and kids enjoy the magic of playtime together and tap into the infinite possibility of their imagination. Ultimately most of the cool and nifty ideas are aimed at boys, or girls with brothers.  After all i can't imagine there's much call for exploding barbies or balloon powered My little Pony carts in my house of three girls BUT as a bit of a geek dad I had to give some of these a go. 

The illustrations throughout,this book offers projects for all ages to suit any time frame or budget, which i like.  Owning heaps a Lego seems par for course, so in a couple of cases i had to increase the 'recipes' to account for the substitution of Duplo blocks and My Little Pet Shop figurines - But hey!.

Stuff I wanted to try, but my wife won't let me is a fly at night-time kite ablaze with lights or the launch of a a video camera with balloons.  On the cards is the  “Best Slip n’Slide Ever,”a guaranteed thrill ride apparently (especially at a 45 degree angle!).  I did make a sort of working lamp with LEGO bricks and CDs and a couple of prototype board games plus some Mentos powered exploding ice cubes (can't tell you that one on the web, though Home land security might be watching - lol)
Brimming with endlessly fun and futuristic tidbits on everything from gaming to gadgets,
Esentiall GeekDad helps every tech-savvy father unleash his inner kid-and bond with the next generation of brainiacs.  All Groove Listeners should own a copy - or at least visit the website: http://www.geekdadbook.com/