engineering

The New Cool (book)

The New Cool (book) is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The New Cool (book) rather than just read about it. In short: The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts is a 2011 non-fiction narrative book by American writer Neal Bascomb. It follows four FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams through the course of the 2009 season.

Key takeaways

The New Cool (book) belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The New Cool (book) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The New Cool (book) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts is a 2011 non-fiction narrative book by American writer Neal Bascomb. It follows four FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams through the course of the 2009 season. Its main subject, however, is Team 1717 and the exploits of its students and its head mentor Amir Abo-Shaeer; the other teams followed were teams 217, 395, and 67, from Sterling Heights, Michigan, New York City, and Milford, Michigan respectively.

Summary The book begins with a prologue set at the 2009 FIRST Championship in Atlanta and describes the exciting environment there. It then switches back to the kickoff event in January 2009 and describes Dean Kamen and how he founded FIRST. Afterwards, it details the history of team 1717 and the program that it is a part of, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. Then the book describes how the 2009 team winds its way through a 6-week build season, enduring many struggles from mechanical failures to a bout of sickness. A chapter is dedicated to team 217, the Thunderchickens, who attempt to construct a robot with military style precision, and to team 395, 2TrainRobotics, whose students must deal with issues related to being in the poor inner city, as well as to team 67, Heroes of Tomorrow. After the build season, team 1717 competes in two regional competitions, Los Angeles and Sacramento. The team loses in the finals at Los Angeles, and wins in Sacramento after going undefeated. 1717 then competes in the FIRST Championship, where it loses to a heavily favored team, 111 WildStang, in the division finals.

Reviews Science historian Robert P. Crease wrote in the Wall Street Journal that The New Cool "is effective in capturing the students' loyalty, dedication and ingenuity." Popular book blog Bookin' with Bingo called The New Cool "an important book for everyone but especially those who are interested in our educational goals for today and the future." FIRST has promoted the book at the FRC kickoff and its regional competitions. James Floyd Kelly of Wired stated that "any students or adults considering jumping into FRC for the first time should read this book." Kate Vander Wiede of the Christian Science Monitor panned the book, stating that "the book fails to resonate" and "doesn't do...justice" to FIRST or Team 1717.

Film adaptation According to Dean Kamen at the FIRST Championship, a screenplay based on the book is being written. The rights to the book have been optioned to Scott Rudin through the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. The film is being directed by Michael Bacall.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The New Cool (book)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The New Cool (book) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The New Cool (book) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The New Cool (book) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The New Cool (book)

In research: The New Cool (book) appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The New Cool (book) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The New Cool (book) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 non-fiction books, Books by Neal Bascomb, Crown Publishing Group books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The New Cool (book) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The New Cool (book) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The New Cool (book) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The New Cool (book) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The New Cool (book) in simple terms?

Why does The New Cool (book) matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The New Cool (book)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The New Cool (book).