The New Cool

Reviews

“Gripping…Bascomb gives us plenty of suspense and pathos…An inspiring homage to the spirit of invention and a geniune sports epic, to boot.” -Publishers Weekly

“The New Cool is a tale of triumph both in and outside of the classroom, and featuring as it does tenacious teachers like Amir Abo-Shaeer, the book gives me hope for the future of education.” – Erin Grewell, author of Freedom Writers’ Diary

“Imagination, ambition and technology collide at an annual high-school robot building competition…A nail-biting thrill ride for techies and armchair engineers.” -Kirkus Reviews

“Outstanding…THE NEW COOL is a book that will make you feel good about America’s ability to innovate solutions to its most pervasive problems. If you’re sick of hearing about our impending doom, read this, and meet a generation of kids who could change not just the nation but the world. Neal Bascomb has penned an indelible portrait of a team on a mission that may ultimately be reckoned one of the defining books of the decade.” –Dean Kamen, Founder of FIRST, Winner of theLemelson-M.I.T. Prize and the Global Humanitarian Action Award

“THE NEW COOL is a prodigious true story and I loved it! It is heartening to know that there are still dedicated teachers like my Miss Riley and kids like my Rocket Boys who take up the challenge of science beneath the American sky. THE NEW COOL is fast-paced, absorbing, and suspenseful. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know teacher Amir Abo-Shaeer and his hard-working students. Even though their chosen field is robotics, they are all true Rocket Boys and Rocket Girls!” –Homer H. Hickam, Jr., author of the #1 New York Times bestseller ROCKET BOYS

“While THE NEW COOL takes the reader inside a season, limns a team and coaching staff, and masterfully recounts a gripping competition, this is anything but your conventional sports book. And not simply because the ‘big game’ is…a curious robotics contest. Like the kids he vividly captures, Neal Bascomb has himself performed a masterful bit of engineering here.” –L. Jon Wertheim, senior writer, Sports Illustrated

“Illuminating in its portrait of how the next generation will do its problem-solving…If a space alien passing through the solar system stopped at a bookstore for some reading material before the next jump to hyperdrive, what he’d buy would be THE NEW COOL by Neal Bascomb.” –Gregg Easterbrook, author of SONIC BOOM and THE PROGRESS PARADOX