Best Selling Books by Magdalen Bear

There is no doubt that the best way to understand the principles of sundials and timedials is to make working models. Each of the models is cut from thin card and is adjustable for use within the range of lattitudes 30 degrees N to 60 degrees N. They work surprisingly accurately and there are many different designs: Polar, Equitorial, Traditional, Three in one, Suntracker, Solar Compass, Time Cylinder and Nocturnal. Also included is a minibook which gives plenty of ideas on background information which can suggest some interesting projects and investigations.

A collection of ingenious paper models to cut out and make, which helps to introduce and also to explain many of the clever methods used by spies and governments around the world to send and receive secret messages.

The Star Globe shows the whole celestial sphere and it is an ingenious three dimensional star chart which works at any latitude for any time and date. The Star Globe itself rests in a simple cradle which shows the horizon. This means that you know which way to look to find and identify the stars, constellations and planets. Because it works for any latitude, it can be used to demonstrate facts about the universe and the night sky which are otherwise very difficult to explain and understand. There is a minibook which is full of ideas and background information.

This beautiful model to cut out and glue together has sixty spikes, each with three faces, making 180 faces in all. It is colored in twenty different colors each of which defines a plane surface and which is represented by nine faces. Looked at another way it has twelve clusters of five spikes showing the relationship with the dodecahedron.

All the colourful models in this collection, when cut out and glued together have curious and interesting properties. Some rotate, some fold and unfold, some twist and others fit together in unexpected ways. A minibook is included which gives background information and further ideas.

This year, next year, sometime, ever! This title gives the calendar for every year. Looking back into the past, it can be used to find out on what day of the week any event took place, or on what day anyone was born. It also tells the story of how the calendar has evolved.

From the 59 different stellations of the icosahedron, the sixth and final are presented here as cut-out models to glue together. Each of the models is coloured to draw attention to all the planes and surfaces which are related to each other.

Four working models to cut out and glue together. If you like making working models, then you will be delighted with this collection. The Runabout Train follows its track through the tunnel and the Busybuzzy bees buzz about in a rather random and beelike fashion. The Hare and the Tortoise race to a very close finish, and the Owl and the Pussycat set off in their peagreen boat. All of them make use of different mechanisms and the collection is a fine display of ingenious and colourful paper engineering.

This beautiful model to cut out and glue together is the result of arranging five interpenetrating cubes in a highly symmetrical way. Each cube is printed in its own color and so it is easy to see that exactly two cubes meet at every vertex and that there are twelve surfaces defining each face of each cube. There is a strong internal frame and multiple divisions in the golden ratio to discover.

This beautiful model to cut out and glue together has twelve sharp spikes emerging from pentagonal cups and forming ten pairs of parallel planes, each in a different color. None of these ten colors occurs more than once on any spike or cup. When completed, the polyhedron rests on a horizontal surface on just three spikes.

Start with the enjoyable task of making this ingenious and colorful tower model which shows all the elements which have so far been discovered. They spiral downwards according to their electronic structures, hence, the name chemical helix. The tower has eight sides and so, those elements which come above and below each other on the tower share chemical properties, just as they do in the conventional periodic table. Included is an extensive minibook packed with ideas and explanations about the elements.

A collection of self-moving models to cut out and make: Make these delightful models and see them step their self-propelled way down to the bottom of a gentle slope. A clever paper mechanism transfers their weight from foot to foot, so giving a true and charming walking action. Fun to make and fun to play and experiment with! You can make: The Waddling Duck The Noah''s Ark The Outback Kangaroo The Blue Footed Booby The Pirate Ship The Orange Duckling The Yellow Duckling Guidance on how to make your own is provided.

Make this new edition of the Globe - bang up to date and includes all the recent changes in countries and their borders. All the countries are shown in full colour and there are about 1200 major cities, seas, rivers and other geographical features. There is also a 24 page minibook called Do you know which is full of interesting facts and ideas about the Earth and the environment. The minibook also explains how to use the experimental cutouts which are provided and which help to make it easy to understand ideas which would otherwise be rather difficult. For instance the Time Collar shows how to find the time anywhere in the world and the cutout Full Moon allows a better appreciation of the scale of the Sun, Earth, Moon system. There are many more ideas also which are introduced by using the model as a starting point.

A kit book containing two large models to cut out and glue together: the compound of five cubes and the compound of ten tetrahedra.

This book has been published in response to many requests for more sophisticated models to follow the Make Shapes series. It makes up into a magnificent and colorful model, specially chosen for its beauty and intrinsic mathematical interest. Being larger, having more parts, it takes longer to make than any in the Make Shapes series books 2 or 3, but is of a similar standard of difficulty.