{"product_id":"new-cool-book-neal-bascomb-9780307588906","title":"The New Cool","description":"\u003cp\u003eThat Monday afternoon, in high-school gyms across America, kids were battling for the only glory American culture seems to want to dispense to the young these days: \u003ci\u003esports\u003c\/i\u003e glory.  But at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California, in a gear-cluttered classroom, a different type of \"cool\" was brewing.  A physics teacher with a dream - the first public high-school teacher ever to win a MacArthur Genius Award -- had rounded up a band of high-I.Q. students who wanted to put their technical know-how to work.  If you asked these brainiacs what the stakes were that first week of their project, they'd have told you it was all about winning a robotics competition - building the ultimate robot and prevailing in a machine-to-machine contest in front of 25,000 screaming fans at Atlanta's Georgia Dome.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But for their mentor, Amir Abo-Shaeer, much more hung in the balance.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The fact was, Amir had in mind a different vision for education, one based not on rote learning -- on absorbing facts and figures -- but on active \u003ci\u003ecreation\u003c\/i\u003e.  In his mind's eye, he saw an even more robust academy within Dos Pueblos that would make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) \u003ci\u003ecool\u003c\/i\u003e again, and he knew he was poised on the edge of making that dream a reality.  All he needed to get the necessary funding was one flashy win - a triumph that would firmly put his Engineering Academy at Dos Pueblos on the map.  He imagined that one day there would be a nation \u003ci\u003efilled\u003c\/i\u003e with such academies, and a new popular veneration for STEM - a \"new cool\" - that would return America to its former innovative glory.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It was a dream shared by Dean Kamen, a modern-day inventing wizard - often-called \"the Edison of his time\" - who'd concocted the very same \u003ci\u003eFIRST\u003c\/i\u003e Robotics Competition that had lured the kids at Dos Pueblos.  Kamen had created \u003ci\u003eFIRST\u003c\/i\u003e (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) nearly twenty years prior.  And now, with a participant alumni base approaching a million strong, he felt that awareness was about to hit critical mass. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But before the Dos Pueblos D'Penguineers could do their part in bringing a new cool to America, they'd have to vanquish an intimidating lineup of \"super-teams\"- high-school technology goliaths that hailed from engineering hot spots such as Silicon Valley, Massachusetts' Route 128 technology corridor, and Michigan's auto-design belt.  Some of these teams were so good that winning wasn't just hoped for every year, it was expected.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe New Cool,\u003c\/i\u003e Neal Bascomb manages to make even those who know little about - or are vaguely suspicious of - technology care passionately about a team of kids questing after a different kind of glory.  In these kids' heartaches and headaches - and yes, high-five triumphs -- we glimpse the path not just to a new way of educating our youth but of honoring the crucial skills a society needs to prosper.  A \u003ci\u003enew cool.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50281871966481,"sku":"CIN0307588904VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50302239801617,"sku":"GOR013918623","price":8.9,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51268589060369,"sku":"NIN9780307588906","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51828747338001,"sku":"CIN0307588904G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307588904.jpg?v=1751071323","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/new-cool-book-neal-bascomb-9780307588906","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}