Fun fact about the sequel, it comes with a sticker that says "kids" that can optionally be used to cover up the Babies label, for those children who'd refuse to pick up anything that is targeted at babies :)
The first book came with a bunch of stickers, saying "monsters", "kids", and some other funny ones I don't remember. (My sister gifted it to my 1yo daughter. I mostly enjoyed explaining to everyone who would listen how the latch circuit worked, and what it was for ...)
I backed both books, and both times there were some production issues—this time around, with two _switches_ instead of two buttons (so four possible states, more complex hardware, etc.), the production timeline has extended a few extra times.
It's all much harder once you target child-proof design, especially since things like page lamination get tricky! It's been fun to watch and learn from (though I'm certain less fun on the production side) as someone who tracks a lot of hardware projects.
We got the new book here already. The switches feel a bit confusing as input on some of the pages, but it's fun for the kids to make the colorful less blink regardless.
So I'm not a morning person. As a new parent of a 1-year-old, I realized I can get an extra 45 minutes of sleep in the morning by leaving books in our baby's crib for her to look through when she wakes up. One night I left Computer Engineering for Babies in there, and after waking the next morning I looked on the baby monitor and I saw her turning the pages of the book, methodically pressing both buttons for the AND gate, one button at a time for the OR gate, etc. It was probably one of my proudest father moments so far. She was about 18 months at that point, and I hadn't seen her really understand the gates before.
Hey, this is my book! Thanks for sharing! I just posted an update today to all the backers about the the sequel for Big Babies book. I'm hoping to start shipping in the next couple weeks.
Just a quick note - I added both the books and checked out immediately from the two different urls in the comments and placed the order - before going to the home page. There was a discount option if you buy both the books together - which it did not apply at the checkout. So if you are buying both the books, do it from the homepage.
Great job on the product as well as the webpage!
My wife bought this for our 6 year old when he was 3 and he loved it. She also bought a bunch of the other science books for babies. He insisted that I read "general relativity for babies" multiple times every night for months. He loved that I used a bendable surface to demonstrate warping space with mass. I was actually blown away that he was understanding the concepts, which I credit the books for. Adults love these books, too. Hell, for what it's worth I have a science degree and I love these books. YouTube has videos of the author reading each book if you want to preview them. I thought they were going to be a gimmick and useless, but I recommend checking them out.
My little boy has loved them since ~12 months. He doesn’t get the concepts, of course, but they are [1] so well written with the infant, and the adult reader, in mind. And one day he will get the concepts earlier than I ever did.
When I first saw this book I immediately bought 3 copies, one for my kid and two for friends kids.
And now... Computer Engineering for BIG babies is about to come out! Includes a mux, decoder, shift register, and addressable memory. I have already pre-ordered a pair set for a friend of mine.
I am not affiliated with the author... my wife jokes that they have clearly found product-market fit with me.
It's a great book, my daughter loves it. I was pretty chuffed when she figured out the AND gate needs both buttons pressed at once. I'm not entirely sure she's sussed XOR yet though.
Perfect gift—I know a lot of tiger parents in Mountain View and Santa Clara eager to benefit from getting their kids onto the computer science track as fast as humanly possible. Maybe a good primer prior to Coding Camp. They’ll be able to work toward CS at Berkeley or Stanford faster than they can say heap sort.
Readit News
But presumably this was actually posted because the sequel, Computer Engineering for Big Babies[0] will be available imminently?
[0]: https://computerengineeringforbabies.com/products/computer-e...
It's all much harder once you target child-proof design, especially since things like page lamination get tricky! It's been fun to watch and learn from (though I'm certain less fun on the production side) as someone who tracks a lot of hardware projects.
His first word was “ball”.
[1] well, most of them
And now... Computer Engineering for BIG babies is about to come out! Includes a mux, decoder, shift register, and addressable memory. I have already pre-ordered a pair set for a friend of mine.
I am not affiliated with the author... my wife jokes that they have clearly found product-market fit with me.
Computer Engineering for Babies - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32507243 - Aug 2022 (1 comment)
Computer Engineering for Babies Book - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28660967 - Sept 2021 (18 comments)
Computer Engineering for Babies Book - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28391626 - Sept 2021 (5 comments)