The Ultimate Guide to Your Microscope

This was the perfect book for our 8 year old great granddaughter. The information about microscopes & suggested projects were perfect for a 1st time user.

Of course this is a basic microscope, so don't expect to see viruses. But for someone like me who has no top scientific needs, this works perfectly well. The light s clear and bright and the pictures very sharp. The entire unit is easy to operate and I have already used it many times in the few days I have owned it. In addition, there customer service, which I had to get in touch with to get some specific answers, is very friendly and helpful. It comes with a plastic dust cover for easy and minimal space storage.

My 7.5 year old nephew just got his first microscope and we've been using this book to understand the basics. He does not have a fancy microscope so this experiments are limited, but this book has been absolutely perfect for this.Pros:Simple instructions, lots of colour photos, and really fun experiments. He's able to follow all the instructions by himself, though I do help him with the set up and explain concepts he did not fully understand. I'm pretty confident that once he's done a few, he wont even need my help.Cons:The book does not address some common issues with first time microscope users, like being unable to focus the light from the mirror or being unable to focus the lens. Also, the chapter on measurements was a bit too complicated for his age group and could have done with some more simplification.

Very clear without being patronizing. Good illustrations, concise text. Lots of good practical advice. I particularly appreciated the wet mount procedures, the graduated experiments and the overall style of this book. I would have liked more URLs and advice about identification of the bewildering amount of micro-fauna and flora but google can do that nicely. Very well done and a great service to kids and curious adults alike.

Wow! This book is fantastic! I had such a hard time finding a book aimed at kids that would help my daughter learn to use her microscope properly and prepare slides. It has so much great info! I'm so thankful to have found this book!

Overall, this book is the best introduction to the microscope for teens or pre-teens I have seen. It covers everything from the parts of a microscope and a plain-language explanation of the optics to preparing slides and making a simple microtome to prepare specimens. There is a whole series of really good simple microscope experiments and projects with easy step-by-step instructions.Each experiment/project uses a different plant, animal or mineral sample and has three steps:`You Will Need' - a short list of items needed for the experiment`What To Do' - a simple set of step-by-step instructions to prepare a specimen`What Did You See' - a good explanation of what was (or should have been) seen along with photographsThe organization of the chapters makes me think this may originally have been written with the idea of classroom use and it could be used as a teaching guide as well. The language is simple and clear.I don't know if it's truly the "Ultimate Guide" but it really is the best I have seen so far.

Good for middle school kids

I bought three of these books for my grandkids. I wanted to introduce them to an exciting hobby. This book turned out to be a good choice, even for teenagers. The paper quality and pictures are very good. It covers a variety of subjects you can study under the microscope. I would even recommend it to adults who are not familiar with microscopes. It is just a pleasant book to browse through and enjoy. I have worked with microscopes for many years and even I enjoy looking through this book.

The first section of the book describes a basic microscope in generic terms and explains how to use it, take care of it and prepare slides. This is essential for first time users so that they can get an idea of what it can do. The rest of the book describes many different projects on how to view various objects using appropriate tecniques. In this way the student can get to know how to use the microscope proficiently and to realise its potential and range of application. It is well illustrated with colour photographs of what they should see.

Buen producto

Good book with plenty of interesting projects for young kids. Covers all the basic slide prep techniques in good detail and has many practical experiments. I like this book as the pictures shown throughout are real images from an optical microscope and therefore closely resemble the images likely to be acquired on my child's microscope. Rather than setting a higher expectation from books that mainly present imagines from electron microscopes.

Livro muito bem projetado, excelentes ilustrações, e métodos práticos para aplicar em experiências com microscópio! Compre um microscópio, mesmo antigo ou usado e inicie!

Good book with lots of experiments. Good for beginners.