22 ms·

Klutz Press: books built for learning stuff

358 points by whatrocks 6y ago

beardedwizard 6y ago
Featured on "stuff you should know" this week
overthemoon 6y ago
Man, I looooved those books when I was a kid. My parents bought me the Klutz book that came with polymer clay and it was wonderful. I also had the one for paper airplanes, which ruled. Almost makes me want to order some polymer clay again. https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Clay-Book-Klutz-Press/dp/1878257730 https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Clay-Book-Klutz-Press/dp/1...
tom-thistime 6y ago
The juggling one worked perfectly for me.
- kinghtown 6y ago
  Me, too! I never imagined at the time that 25 years down the road I’d be entertaining my daughter by juggling three balls. Great book.
- eckmLJE 6y ago
  I missed my flight out of CMH around 10 years ago and found this book (that came with three balls) in the airport with a couple hours to kill. I remember the first instruction was something like: Hold the three balls in your hands. Now, drop them. Get used to this. Was happily juggling by the time I boarded the flight.
- mhd 6y ago
  I didn't, keeping the balls/sacks in one plane before me seems beyond my manual dexterity. Haven't succeeded with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, either ;)
  - LanceH 6y ago
    Keeping them in that plane is the biggest hurdle to get over for a lot of people. Try juggling in front of a wall. Or standing over a desk against a wall (no chasing drops). You can even keep juggling bounces off the wall. Also, lots of practice with just two balls doing the exchange.
  - inanutshellus 6y ago
    If I may be so bold, I offer a humble suggestion: try drawing on paper next time!
- snapetom 6y ago
  I remember barely getting through the instructions when a lightbulb went off, I said, "oh!", and immediately started juggling. That book explained it so simply. Before that, juggling seemed to be some sort of dark art requiring amazing dexterity.
aimor 6y ago
Home for the holidays I found my copy of the Klutz book of Knots. I spent an hour on the floor having fun, took the book home, and have been referencing it all year for everything from shoelaces to extension cords. Some are more eternal than others (Icky Poo) but as a child I never had one that I didn't completely devour. Any time I need a gift for a friend's young child, Klutz immediately comes to mind.
- stickfigure 6y ago
  I was wondering how the OP could have neglected to mention the klutz book of knots! It came with two lengths of rope (one red one blue, just like the illustrations). I still regularly use the bowline, sheet bend, and clove hitch - although my bowline technique is quite different (and much faster) these days. The juggling book also worked for me. Good times.
  - whatrocks 6y ago
    Because I never had the knots book! And my knots are still suffering for it (I lost a fishing lure yesterday as a direct result of not having this Klutz book as a kid).
- Ishmaeli 6y ago
  I loved the knots book. It turned me on to Clifford Ashley, and also got me questioning the gospel according to Boy Scouts. BSA taught me that the square knot was some kind of lifesaver, and here Klutz was telling me it was the worst knot ever. It's a small thing, but that was kind of a big moment for me in terms of developing my critical thinking. Also taught me the constrictor knot, which I have used instead of the clove hitch ever since.
dgritsko 6y ago
Klutz books were a huge part of my childhood. I remember the Koosh book fondly (came with an eponymous Koosh ball, of course), as well as the Bubble book (came with a device you could use to make absolutely enormous bubbles). Recently got the "LEGO Contraptions" book for my son (comes with all the LEGO pieces you need to make everything in the book), and it's just as great as I remember the others being. If this post is the first time you've heard of them, I highly recommend checking them out!
- chad_strategic 6y ago
  thanks... didn't know about this. Just bought it for my son.
- russellbeattie 6y ago
  The LEGO Contraptions book is great! About six or so years ago I got it for my 12yo son, and I honestly had as much or more fun with it than he did. I had never played with gears, so learning how they interacted and how the ratios worked, was enlightening to me. I ended up buying a set of LEGO Technic Idea books [1], then a massive crane set with motors, etc. just to keep playing with it all. Seriously, the amount of money I spent as a result of that one book is obscene. 1. https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01N9XHU2M/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01N9XHU2M/
drfuchs 6y ago
They had a small store at on College Ave in Palo Alto for years. It was near their headquarters, so while you could get every one of their products there, it also functioned as a kind of beta-test distribution point; some of the items were sold on a "we're trying this out locally" basis. The whole place was colorful and inviting, and very kid-friendly. The store closed in 2009, well after they had become part of Scholastic. The remaining product line looks to be just a "greatest hits" collection. Sad.
neves 6y ago
The paper airplanes book is fantastic. More then once I've got a group of 10 children concentrated for a couple of hours just making planes and coloring them.
imurray 6y ago
I originally learned to 3 balls from the Klutz juggling book as a kid, and still have largely fond memories of it. I have a slight sour taste from the very end of the book, which discourages people from trying to go to higher numbers such as 5 balls. So after learning 3 balls, I set juggling aside. Much later, after meeting jugglers and seeing what people could do in videos online, I was inspired to learn a lot more... including 5 balls. If you want people to excel, don't tell them they shouldn't expect to be able to do things, and that it's not worth the effort.
- jdironman 6y ago
  Or sometimes, reverse psychology.
  - thevirtuoso1973 6y ago
    I think the reverse psychology approach is most effective as motivation when (A) the task is described as hard, but also (B) there is no direct implication that you can't do it. I was trying to think of some impressive sounding examples when someone-said-I-couldn't-do-something-but-I-did-it-anyway but I can't think of any. It's more common that (A)+(B) occurs for me.
- Swizec 6y ago
  I remember a Discovery Channel documentary that said it was easier to teach a complete novice how to juggle 5+ balls than it was to take a self-taught 3baller and get them to 5. Something about learning 3 on your own makes it almost impossible to shake the bad habits to get to 5+
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - credit_guy 6y ago
    A lot of people hold this belief that knowing how to do X with an "incorrect form" is worse than not knowing at all, if you want to progress at doing X. In programming we have debugging. You have a program that does X, but with some bugs. You later improve the program by removing the bugs. Why can't we do this in "real life" as well? You learn how to add multi-digit numbers from right to left. You then later relearn that by going from left to right. You learn to swim with your head above the water, then later learn to keep your head in the water, and turn it every two strokes to get a quick breath. In fact, I read about this concept of "debugging" bad habits exactly in the context of juggling. Seymour Papert covers this in Mindstorms [1], p 111. He explains that the most common "bug" that prevents people from performing 3-ball juggling is following one ball with the eyes. Once you are aware of that, you the fix is quite easy: keep your eyes pointed at the apex of the ball's trajectory. In a later chapter he goes on to say that other things can be "debugged" as well; one example is relearning skiing to replace a v-type position to a parallel ski position. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerful-Ideas-dp-0465046746/dp/0465046746/ https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerfu...
matthewmcg 6y ago
The Explorabook remains a highlight of my childhood. John Cassidy wrote it in collaboration with the Exploratorium and included a magnet bar, agar gel, diffraction grating, mirror, Fresnel lens, Moire spinner, and other fun stuff. More importantly it was written in a humorous, accessible way that didn't talk down to you and stoked wonder. For example, the section on light talked about how lenses worked but also hinted that light had both particle and wave behaviors (e.g. interference from the diffraction grating), which blew my mind as a kid.
- turrican 6y ago
  Do you remember if this was the one that had a metal cover, and a page written from the point of view of a soda can that had been recycled into the cover? I’m trying to remember the title of my favorite Klutz book and your recollection sounds the closest.
  - OkayPhysicist 6y ago
    That was Earthsearch. Definitely my favorite childhood book.
iron0013 6y ago
Their catalog was really something special, including tons of stuff that couldn’t be found alongside their well-known books in a bookstore. Off the top of my head: chartreuse fuzzy monster paw gloves, a selection of “fancy” yo-yos with ball bearings and such, a cigar box that came pre-loaded with an assortment of covet-able childhood knickknacks. All of it (or at least everything I ever ordered from them) was highly-curated high-quality stuff—-no dollar store junk!
7thaccount 6y ago
I had Cat's Cradle, Magician's Book, and I think an Orgami one. Fun times.
douq 6y ago
So many fond memories of Klutz. Apparently there's a company called Cassidy Labs that's bringing back (and in some cases, improving on) some of the Klutz originals (e.g foxtail, now with an LED so you can play at night). Hope they do well.
- devonproctor 6y ago
  fwiw, Cassidy Labs is in fact from the same folks -- it was founded and is run by John Cassidy's son. https://www.cassidylabs.com/pages/about-the-founders https://www.cassidylabs.com/pages/about-the-founders
- gammarator 6y ago
  So glad to see this. My kids are getting into prime Klutz age now, so it was really depressing to go searching and see that Scholastic has basically killed it off...
chad_strategic 6y ago
~32 years ago, I used a klutz book to learn to juggling. The book is long gone, but I still have the juggling balls.
nickpeterson 6y ago
I got the science explorabook as a kid and I really loved it. It had a bunch of cool diagrams and neat little experiments. Just seeing this reminds me to buy one for my daughter.
jaredtn 6y ago
Does anyone have a link for where these books can still be bought? Would love to gift them to younger family members.
nate 6y ago
I have the Magicians book on my bookshelf today. And at 42, I'm still referring to it! My daughter just had her 6th birthday and wanted me to perform a handful of tricks. That was one of my first places to look for some things that'd entertain her and might be suitable to teach forward.
nobleach 6y ago
I learned so much about Yo-Yos from my Klutz book as a kid. It's STILL on my shelf... although the wooden yo-yo that came with it is long gone.
- dole 6y ago
  That Klutz wooden yo-yo may well have been the secret sauce to learning, my cousins and I all bought the Klutz book mostly for it. Duncan Imperials are thinner and the de facto standard for yo-yos, Butterflies are good for tricks but a little unwieldly, but the Klutz was a happy medium between the two and perfect for beginners and we always wound up falling back to it.
Upvoter33 6y ago
Love these books. I particularly loved the juggling and paper airplane books. Loved learning how to make some cool flying planes.
wallflower 6y ago
If you want to learn how to juggle, I believe the Klutz book is the way to start. However, I must warn you to be patient and take your time to learn and practice the very important toss so that it is accurate and precise and minimalistic. Otherwise, you may end up like me with bad tossing habits who looks like someone doggie paddling in the air while trying to juggle.
- jfb 6y ago
  This is me. I also learned from the Klutz books, and at the time (when I was 12 or so) I was pretty meticulous. In the time since, however, I haven't kept the skill up and now I can barely keep three balls in the air.
incanus77 6y ago
I had, and still have, 30+ years later, the juggling & harmonica books, as well as the bags and, somewhere, the cassette. Very fond memories. I recently pulled out the juggling book as my girlfriend took a juggling class with a few friends while traveling and wanted to keep going once she got home.
dmalvarado 6y ago
Thank you for reminding me of this. As an 8 year old, this was hours of good fun, and frankly, I viewed them as guides on how to be kid. I wish I still had them.
PLenz 6y ago
I had many of the Klutz books as a kid - the explorabook was my favorite.
dustincoates 6y ago
I absolutely loved the Explorabook as a kid. I loved even more finding out (at 18) that there was a museum that helped create the book. I still try to make it to the Exploratorium nearly every time I go to SF.
jbcass 6y ago
I’m John Cassidy the founder of Klutz Books and right now I’m sitting shotgun in a long car ride. I’m so impressed that people have 20 year old memories this sharp. If you want to know about Klutz back in the day, Ask Me Anything...
- immy 6y ago
  Last week I found the science book in a Little Free library and I came home so excited. I have fond childhood memories of cooking hot dog slices with the fresnel lens. A book so dense with engagement. I am keeping it as a reminder of good design. Unless my nephew wants it :)
- jahbrewski 6y ago
  I'd just like to say thank you! As a kid, I loved all of the Klutz products. So many hours of enjoyment!
- linguistbreaker 6y ago
  Dude! We were regulars at the store off El Camino when i lived in Palo Alto in the 80's. We probably bought 10 Aerobies there. Then you had a pretty good mainstream bout through the 90's. Thanks for the foxtail, juggling, harmonica, timer games knots and all the frivolity. I swear Klutz shaped my personal ideology.
  - linguistbreaker 6y ago
    Also, I can hang a spoon off my nose.
- whatrocks 6y ago
  Woah! OP here, first of all, thank you for all the memories and skills and laughs and friendship bracelets. How did you and the team decide what to "build" / "write" next? You really did seem to have every "kid essential" covered, but was there research or chatting with real-life kids? And what would you write today if you could make a new Klutz book?
  - 6y ago
ndespres 6y ago
One of their books that provided endless entertainment to me as a child came with a working stopwatch and provided prompts for random things to do against a timer (how fast can you re-lace your shoelaces, do 10 jumping jacks and say the pledge of allegiance 5 times, draw a gorilla that somoene else can tell is a gorilla, etc) and compete against the records published in the book, or make up your own challenges. I found a used copy a couple weeks ago and sent it to some friends' kids in the mail. Their books felt honest and fun for children, not pandering, immature, or fake-educational.
EamonnMR 6y ago
The Klutz Lego and Paper Airplane books stand out in my mind, but I know there where a ton of them. One of those few companies that actually managed to nail 'cool.' Not many companies managed to do that back then.
mitchdoogle 6y ago
I spent countless hours with these books as a child. My aunt owned a small gift shop and sold all the Klutz books. Every birthday and Christmas, we'd visit and she'd let me take one home for free. Among my favorites were: Magnetic Magic, which featured a metal cover and five ring magnets Kids Travel: a Backseat Survivors Guide, this was one of my favorites since it seemed to have a little bit of everything, but I really liked the puzzles included The Klutz Book of Magic, with fake thumb for doing a disappearing handkerchief trick I even sent a letter to Klutz (using an address from inside the book) asking for a catalog. I dreamed of owning all of their books and learning everything they had to offer. Nothing else in my childhood inspired such wonder as these books.
jbcass 6y ago
The Klutz ideology (so to speak)was embodied by Calvin. He was my ObiWan. We had a corporate mantra, WWCD? Still works even today. Btw, the Aerobie was invented by our good friend Alan Adler who also invented the Aeropress, the coffee maker that’s got a large online (and offline) following. Alan is an engineer’s engineer. He only makes stuff that works...
- te 6y ago
  Sorry, who is Calvin? Can't find any reference.
  - Stratoscope 6y ago
    Calvin and Hobbes Calvin: "That gives me a fabulous idea!" https://www.google.com/search?q=calvin+and+hobbes&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=calvin+and+hobbes&tbm=isch Hobbes: "Uh oh"
jbcass 6y ago
I was a parent Of two boys during that chapter and marinating in kids. I remember I got turned down by LEGO when I first went to them for a license to do a book but the boys told me not to take no for an answer. We ended up doing a deal because I pretty much had to. Btw, when Klutz was only about ten minutes old, I got a note from a scientist describing a little book he’d written on how to solve a new puzzle that was just getting traction. I turned it down because I figured any puzzle that was so hard people needed a book to solve it would never take off. His book sold 8 million copies later that year when he sold it to a big NY publisher. I’m still not sure where my logic went wrong. Does anybody still have a copy? The Simple Solution to the Rubik’s Cube by J. Nourse?
- gowld 6y ago
  Logic like "you can't sell book to teach things that are hard" is true relative to the popularity of casual nonfict and fiction, but not within the niche of people who like learning things. Why would Rubik's cube be different from juggling?
jbcass 6y ago
The books on science that we did were the fruit of a fabulous collaboration between us and the SF Exploratorium, the finest museum in the world (personal opinion). Paul Doherty, PhD physics MIT, was their chief scientist and the source of all scientific knowledge as far as I was concerned. Our other mentor was Martin Gardner for all things magic and odd. Check out Martin’s wiki article sometime. His brain was bigger than anybody’s. We worked w him on titles that were on magic or mischief...world class guy.
doodpants 6y ago
I bought the Klutz Book of Card Games during my high school years in the late '80s. The best part IMHO was the section on solitaire games, which provided several superior alternatives to Klondike. I played quite a bit of Yukon during my freshman year of college. I still have the book, as well as the deck of cards that came with it. The tuckbox has held up surprisingly well!
russellbeattie 6y ago
I learned both juggling and harmonica from Klutz books! (I'm horrible at these things, but that has little to do with the books). I had no idea they were started in Palo Alto, but it seems perfectly suited. Over the years I've bought these books as presents probably a dozen times. What's fascinating to me is that this is yet another product of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, even though it has nothing to do with computers. It reminds me again of why I moved here from across the country 25 years ago.
jbcass 6y ago
In response to the idea that beginners should not be taught in ways that need to be unlearned later on if they take it to higher levels: I agree. However, I also believe the greatest impediment for most people to learning anything is internal. But that’s not to say it’s some psych out thing that can be overcome w a better attitude. Internal problems are entirely real and need respect. Confusion and frustration are central to the learning experience and a good teacher makes it central to teaching as well. Richard Feynman is a great teacher and his books do not teach stuff you need to unlearn even though he teaches simplifications all the time. I cannot say the same about all of my books! Apologies!
jbcass 6y ago
Thanks for all the kind words! I’m humbled! I’m trying to respond to everyone but the software or admin tells me I’m “posting too much” so I have to slow down. Let’s see how this post does...
- dang 6y ago
  Hi John, welcome to HN! Argh, I'm terribly sorry that you were getting rate limited and have turned that off now (I'm a mod here). Our software does that because of past abuses by trolls, and the fact that it also affects users who show up here to discuss their work is the thing I hate most about our entire system. Please comment as much as you like. I've also unclogged the pipes so that your blocked comments have now all gone through.
jbcass 6y ago
So I’m back to this thread after a turn at the wheel. What am I up to now? I’m teaching part-time at Stanford a class on creativity. I’m also writing (at a snails pace) an adventure novel. And I spend a lot of the summer in a little town along a river in Idaho. Where we’re driving right now...
- mysterydip 6y ago
  Can you give a synopsis of what you teach in your course? How do you teach someone to be creative? I had the "juggling for the complete klutz" book growing up, had a lot of fun with it. Thanks!
- nstart 6y ago
  Hi John. Wanted to share a story of appreciation! I've actually got the Klutz friendship bracelet book sitting right next to me. My sister got it as a gift when we were kids (17 years ago) and I appropriated it when she didn't use it after a year. That book not only gave me a lifetime hobby, but it also helped me create my first business at the age of 15. Helped me learn the lesson that if you deliver quality, you can sell a product at 20x the market rate. I would sell the totem pole bracelet designs at a premium to my friends who wanted it for their girlfriends. I'd sell chevrons and other diagonal based patterns to friends who wanted their school flag colours. Sold the latter at a premium too because the material I got with the Klutz book didn't fray after the first wash (helped me decide what materials to continue to purchase later on). All this helped pay for several shows and sporting events I wanted to go to. I continued to make bracelets for my girlfriend (now wife) and those ones are seated on the table in our bedroom. That book created a ton of good memories. But it got left behind when I left home when I was getting married :( . Recently I discovered it at home and the clip (rusty) still works. And now I'm teaching my 4 and a half year old son the art of friendship bracelets too. All that from 1 book. Thank you for all the memories given and the memories to come.
- wyclif 6y ago
  I also learned how to juggle from your book as a kid. I tried to find somebody to teach me, but I didn't know anybody who could juggle and this was before the internet! What really broke it open for me was the instruction to first learn to juggle two objects with one hand, I had actually never thought about trying that. I remember after practicing for a while my Mom saw me juggling the three bags in our backyard and she asked me 'where did you learn that?' and when I told her 'from a book' she thought I was fibbing and bragging! Thanks a million! I have totally positive and favourable memories and impressions of your books.
jldugger 6y ago
So like a textbook?

358 points by whatrocks 6y ago

Featured on "stuff you should know" this week

Man, I looooved those books when I was a kid. My parents bought me the Klutz book that came with polymer clay and it was wonderful. I also had the one for paper airplanes, which ruled. Almost makes me want to order some polymer clay again. https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Clay-Book-Klutz-Press/dp/1878257730 https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Clay-Book-Klutz-Press/dp/1...

tom-thistime 6y ago

The juggling one worked perfectly for me.

kinghtown 6y ago
Me, too! I never imagined at the time that 25 years down the road I’d be entertaining my daughter by juggling three balls. Great book.
eckmLJE 6y ago
I missed my flight out of CMH around 10 years ago and found this book (that came with three balls) in the airport with a couple hours to kill. I remember the first instruction was something like: Hold the three balls in your hands. Now, drop them. Get used to this. Was happily juggling by the time I boarded the flight.
mhd 6y ago
I didn't, keeping the balls/sacks in one plane before me seems beyond my manual dexterity. Haven't succeeded with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, either ;)
- LanceH 6y ago
  Keeping them in that plane is the biggest hurdle to get over for a lot of people. Try juggling in front of a wall. Or standing over a desk against a wall (no chasing drops). You can even keep juggling bounces off the wall. Also, lots of practice with just two balls doing the exchange.
- inanutshellus 6y ago
  If I may be so bold, I offer a humble suggestion: try drawing on paper next time!
snapetom 6y ago
I remember barely getting through the instructions when a lightbulb went off, I said, "oh!", and immediately started juggling. That book explained it so simply. Before that, juggling seemed to be some sort of dark art requiring amazing dexterity.

aimor 6y ago

Home for the holidays I found my copy of the Klutz book of Knots. I spent an hour on the floor having fun, took the book home, and have been referencing it all year for everything from shoelaces to extension cords. Some are more eternal than others (Icky Poo) but as a child I never had one that I didn't completely devour. Any time I need a gift for a friend's young child, Klutz immediately comes to mind.

stickfigure 6y ago
I was wondering how the OP could have neglected to mention the klutz book of knots! It came with two lengths of rope (one red one blue, just like the illustrations). I still regularly use the bowline, sheet bend, and clove hitch - although my bowline technique is quite different (and much faster) these days. The juggling book also worked for me. Good times.
- whatrocks 6y ago
  Because I never had the knots book! And my knots are still suffering for it (I lost a fishing lure yesterday as a direct result of not having this Klutz book as a kid).
Ishmaeli 6y ago
I loved the knots book. It turned me on to Clifford Ashley, and also got me questioning the gospel according to Boy Scouts. BSA taught me that the square knot was some kind of lifesaver, and here Klutz was telling me it was the worst knot ever. It's a small thing, but that was kind of a big moment for me in terms of developing my critical thinking. Also taught me the constrictor knot, which I have used instead of the clove hitch ever since.

dgritsko 6y ago

Klutz books were a huge part of my childhood. I remember the Koosh book fondly (came with an eponymous Koosh ball, of course), as well as the Bubble book (came with a device you could use to make absolutely enormous bubbles). Recently got the "LEGO Contraptions" book for my son (comes with all the LEGO pieces you need to make everything in the book), and it's just as great as I remember the others being. If this post is the first time you've heard of them, I highly recommend checking them out!

chad_strategic 6y ago
thanks... didn't know about this. Just bought it for my son.
russellbeattie 6y ago
The LEGO Contraptions book is great! About six or so years ago I got it for my 12yo son, and I honestly had as much or more fun with it than he did. I had never played with gears, so learning how they interacted and how the ratios worked, was enlightening to me. I ended up buying a set of LEGO Technic Idea books [1], then a massive crane set with motors, etc. just to keep playing with it all. Seriously, the amount of money I spent as a result of that one book is obscene. 1. https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01N9XHU2M/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01N9XHU2M/

drfuchs 6y ago

They had a small store at on College Ave in Palo Alto for years. It was near their headquarters, so while you could get every one of their products there, it also functioned as a kind of beta-test distribution point; some of the items were sold on a "we're trying this out locally" basis. The whole place was colorful and inviting, and very kid-friendly. The store closed in 2009, well after they had become part of Scholastic. The remaining product line looks to be just a "greatest hits" collection. Sad.

neves 6y ago

The paper airplanes book is fantastic. More then once I've got a group of 10 children concentrated for a couple of hours just making planes and coloring them.

imurray 6y ago

I originally learned to 3 balls from the Klutz juggling book as a kid, and still have largely fond memories of it. I have a slight sour taste from the very end of the book, which discourages people from trying to go to higher numbers such as 5 balls. So after learning 3 balls, I set juggling aside. Much later, after meeting jugglers and seeing what people could do in videos online, I was inspired to learn a lot more... including 5 balls. If you want people to excel, don't tell them they shouldn't expect to be able to do things, and that it's not worth the effort.

jdironman 6y ago
Or sometimes, reverse psychology.
- thevirtuoso1973 6y ago
  I think the reverse psychology approach is most effective as motivation when (A) the task is described as hard, but also (B) there is no direct implication that you can't do it. I was trying to think of some impressive sounding examples when someone-said-I-couldn't-do-something-but-I-did-it-anyway but I can't think of any. It's more common that (A)+(B) occurs for me.
Swizec 6y ago
I remember a Discovery Channel documentary that said it was easier to teach a complete novice how to juggle 5+ balls than it was to take a self-taught 3baller and get them to 5. Something about learning 3 on your own makes it almost impossible to shake the bad habits to get to 5+
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- credit_guy 6y ago
  A lot of people hold this belief that knowing how to do X with an "incorrect form" is worse than not knowing at all, if you want to progress at doing X. In programming we have debugging. You have a program that does X, but with some bugs. You later improve the program by removing the bugs. Why can't we do this in "real life" as well? You learn how to add multi-digit numbers from right to left. You then later relearn that by going from left to right. You learn to swim with your head above the water, then later learn to keep your head in the water, and turn it every two strokes to get a quick breath. In fact, I read about this concept of "debugging" bad habits exactly in the context of juggling. Seymour Papert covers this in Mindstorms [1], p 111. He explains that the most common "bug" that prevents people from performing 3-ball juggling is following one ball with the eyes. Once you are aware of that, you the fix is quite easy: keep your eyes pointed at the apex of the ball's trajectory. In a later chapter he goes on to say that other things can be "debugged" as well; one example is relearning skiing to replace a v-type position to a parallel ski position. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerful-Ideas-dp-0465046746/dp/0465046746/ https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerfu...

matthewmcg 6y ago

The Explorabook remains a highlight of my childhood. John Cassidy wrote it in collaboration with the Exploratorium and included a magnet bar, agar gel, diffraction grating, mirror, Fresnel lens, Moire spinner, and other fun stuff. More importantly it was written in a humorous, accessible way that didn't talk down to you and stoked wonder. For example, the section on light talked about how lenses worked but also hinted that light had both particle and wave behaviors (e.g. interference from the diffraction grating), which blew my mind as a kid.

turrican 6y ago
Do you remember if this was the one that had a metal cover, and a page written from the point of view of a soda can that had been recycled into the cover? I’m trying to remember the title of my favorite Klutz book and your recollection sounds the closest.
- OkayPhysicist 6y ago
  That was Earthsearch. Definitely my favorite childhood book.

iron0013 6y ago

Their catalog was really something special, including tons of stuff that couldn’t be found alongside their well-known books in a bookstore. Off the top of my head: chartreuse fuzzy monster paw gloves, a selection of “fancy” yo-yos with ball bearings and such, a cigar box that came pre-loaded with an assortment of covet-able childhood knickknacks. All of it (or at least everything I ever ordered from them) was highly-curated high-quality stuff—-no dollar store junk!

7thaccount 6y ago

I had Cat's Cradle, Magician's Book, and I think an Orgami one. Fun times.

douq 6y ago

So many fond memories of Klutz. Apparently there's a company called Cassidy Labs that's bringing back (and in some cases, improving on) some of the Klutz originals (e.g foxtail, now with an LED so you can play at night). Hope they do well.

devonproctor 6y ago
fwiw, Cassidy Labs is in fact from the same folks -- it was founded and is run by John Cassidy's son. https://www.cassidylabs.com/pages/about-the-founders https://www.cassidylabs.com/pages/about-the-founders
gammarator 6y ago
So glad to see this. My kids are getting into prime Klutz age now, so it was really depressing to go searching and see that Scholastic has basically killed it off...

chad_strategic 6y ago

~32 years ago, I used a klutz book to learn to juggling. The book is long gone, but I still have the juggling balls.

nickpeterson 6y ago

I got the science explorabook as a kid and I really loved it. It had a bunch of cool diagrams and neat little experiments. Just seeing this reminds me to buy one for my daughter.

jaredtn 6y ago

Does anyone have a link for where these books can still be bought? Would love to gift them to younger family members.

nate 6y ago

I have the Magicians book on my bookshelf today. And at 42, I'm still referring to it! My daughter just had her 6th birthday and wanted me to perform a handful of tricks. That was one of my first places to look for some things that'd entertain her and might be suitable to teach forward.

nobleach 6y ago

I learned so much about Yo-Yos from my Klutz book as a kid. It's STILL on my shelf... although the wooden yo-yo that came with it is long gone.

dole 6y ago
That Klutz wooden yo-yo may well have been the secret sauce to learning, my cousins and I all bought the Klutz book mostly for it. Duncan Imperials are thinner and the de facto standard for yo-yos, Butterflies are good for tricks but a little unwieldly, but the Klutz was a happy medium between the two and perfect for beginners and we always wound up falling back to it.

Upvoter33 6y ago

Love these books. I particularly loved the juggling and paper airplane books. Loved learning how to make some cool flying planes.

wallflower 6y ago

If you want to learn how to juggle, I believe the Klutz book is the way to start. However, I must warn you to be patient and take your time to learn and practice the very important toss so that it is accurate and precise and minimalistic. Otherwise, you may end up like me with bad tossing habits who looks like someone doggie paddling in the air while trying to juggle.

jfb 6y ago
This is me. I also learned from the Klutz books, and at the time (when I was 12 or so) I was pretty meticulous. In the time since, however, I haven't kept the skill up and now I can barely keep three balls in the air.

incanus77 6y ago

I had, and still have, 30+ years later, the juggling & harmonica books, as well as the bags and, somewhere, the cassette. Very fond memories. I recently pulled out the juggling book as my girlfriend took a juggling class with a few friends while traveling and wanted to keep going once she got home.

dmalvarado 6y ago

Thank you for reminding me of this. As an 8 year old, this was hours of good fun, and frankly, I viewed them as guides on how to be kid. I wish I still had them.

PLenz 6y ago

I had many of the Klutz books as a kid - the explorabook was my favorite.

dustincoates 6y ago

I absolutely loved the Explorabook as a kid. I loved even more finding out (at 18) that there was a museum that helped create the book. I still try to make it to the Exploratorium nearly every time I go to SF.

jbcass 6y ago

I’m John Cassidy the founder of Klutz Books and right now I’m sitting shotgun in a long car ride. I’m so impressed that people have 20 year old memories this sharp. If you want to know about Klutz back in the day, Ask Me Anything...

immy 6y ago
Last week I found the science book in a Little Free library and I came home so excited. I have fond childhood memories of cooking hot dog slices with the fresnel lens. A book so dense with engagement. I am keeping it as a reminder of good design. Unless my nephew wants it :)
jahbrewski 6y ago
I'd just like to say thank you! As a kid, I loved all of the Klutz products. So many hours of enjoyment!
linguistbreaker 6y ago
Dude! We were regulars at the store off El Camino when i lived in Palo Alto in the 80's. We probably bought 10 Aerobies there. Then you had a pretty good mainstream bout through the 90's. Thanks for the foxtail, juggling, harmonica, timer games knots and all the frivolity. I swear Klutz shaped my personal ideology.
- linguistbreaker 6y ago
  Also, I can hang a spoon off my nose.
whatrocks 6y ago
Woah! OP here, first of all, thank you for all the memories and skills and laughs and friendship bracelets. How did you and the team decide what to "build" / "write" next? You really did seem to have every "kid essential" covered, but was there research or chatting with real-life kids? And what would you write today if you could make a new Klutz book?
- 6y ago

ndespres 6y ago

One of their books that provided endless entertainment to me as a child came with a working stopwatch and provided prompts for random things to do against a timer (how fast can you re-lace your shoelaces, do 10 jumping jacks and say the pledge of allegiance 5 times, draw a gorilla that somoene else can tell is a gorilla, etc) and compete against the records published in the book, or make up your own challenges. I found a used copy a couple weeks ago and sent it to some friends' kids in the mail. Their books felt honest and fun for children, not pandering, immature, or fake-educational.

EamonnMR 6y ago

The Klutz Lego and Paper Airplane books stand out in my mind, but I know there where a ton of them. One of those few companies that actually managed to nail 'cool.' Not many companies managed to do that back then.

mitchdoogle 6y ago

I spent countless hours with these books as a child. My aunt owned a small gift shop and sold all the Klutz books. Every birthday and Christmas, we'd visit and she'd let me take one home for free. Among my favorites were: Magnetic Magic, which featured a metal cover and five ring magnets Kids Travel: a Backseat Survivors Guide, this was one of my favorites since it seemed to have a little bit of everything, but I really liked the puzzles included The Klutz Book of Magic, with fake thumb for doing a disappearing handkerchief trick I even sent a letter to Klutz (using an address from inside the book) asking for a catalog. I dreamed of owning all of their books and learning everything they had to offer. Nothing else in my childhood inspired such wonder as these books.

jbcass 6y ago

The Klutz ideology (so to speak)was embodied by Calvin. He was my ObiWan. We had a corporate mantra, WWCD? Still works even today. Btw, the Aerobie was invented by our good friend Alan Adler who also invented the Aeropress, the coffee maker that’s got a large online (and offline) following. Alan is an engineer’s engineer. He only makes stuff that works...

te 6y ago
Sorry, who is Calvin? Can't find any reference.
- Stratoscope 6y ago
  Calvin and Hobbes Calvin: "That gives me a fabulous idea!" https://www.google.com/search?q=calvin+and+hobbes&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=calvin+and+hobbes&tbm=isch Hobbes: "Uh oh"

jbcass 6y ago

I was a parent Of two boys during that chapter and marinating in kids. I remember I got turned down by LEGO when I first went to them for a license to do a book but the boys told me not to take no for an answer. We ended up doing a deal because I pretty much had to. Btw, when Klutz was only about ten minutes old, I got a note from a scientist describing a little book he’d written on how to solve a new puzzle that was just getting traction. I turned it down because I figured any puzzle that was so hard people needed a book to solve it would never take off. His book sold 8 million copies later that year when he sold it to a big NY publisher. I’m still not sure where my logic went wrong. Does anybody still have a copy? The Simple Solution to the Rubik’s Cube by J. Nourse?

gowld 6y ago
Logic like "you can't sell book to teach things that are hard" is true relative to the popularity of casual nonfict and fiction, but not within the niche of people who like learning things. Why would Rubik's cube be different from juggling?

jbcass 6y ago

The books on science that we did were the fruit of a fabulous collaboration between us and the SF Exploratorium, the finest museum in the world (personal opinion). Paul Doherty, PhD physics MIT, was their chief scientist and the source of all scientific knowledge as far as I was concerned. Our other mentor was Martin Gardner for all things magic and odd. Check out Martin’s wiki article sometime. His brain was bigger than anybody’s. We worked w him on titles that were on magic or mischief...world class guy.

doodpants 6y ago

I bought the Klutz Book of Card Games during my high school years in the late '80s. The best part IMHO was the section on solitaire games, which provided several superior alternatives to Klondike. I played quite a bit of Yukon during my freshman year of college. I still have the book, as well as the deck of cards that came with it. The tuckbox has held up surprisingly well!

russellbeattie 6y ago

I learned both juggling and harmonica from Klutz books! (I'm horrible at these things, but that has little to do with the books). I had no idea they were started in Palo Alto, but it seems perfectly suited. Over the years I've bought these books as presents probably a dozen times. What's fascinating to me is that this is yet another product of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, even though it has nothing to do with computers. It reminds me again of why I moved here from across the country 25 years ago.

jbcass 6y ago

In response to the idea that beginners should not be taught in ways that need to be unlearned later on if they take it to higher levels: I agree. However, I also believe the greatest impediment for most people to learning anything is internal. But that’s not to say it’s some psych out thing that can be overcome w a better attitude. Internal problems are entirely real and need respect. Confusion and frustration are central to the learning experience and a good teacher makes it central to teaching as well. Richard Feynman is a great teacher and his books do not teach stuff you need to unlearn even though he teaches simplifications all the time. I cannot say the same about all of my books! Apologies!

jbcass 6y ago

Thanks for all the kind words! I’m humbled! I’m trying to respond to everyone but the software or admin tells me I’m “posting too much” so I have to slow down. Let’s see how this post does...

dang 6y ago
Hi John, welcome to HN! Argh, I'm terribly sorry that you were getting rate limited and have turned that off now (I'm a mod here). Our software does that because of past abuses by trolls, and the fact that it also affects users who show up here to discuss their work is the thing I hate most about our entire system. Please comment as much as you like. I've also unclogged the pipes so that your blocked comments have now all gone through.

jbcass 6y ago

So I’m back to this thread after a turn at the wheel. What am I up to now? I’m teaching part-time at Stanford a class on creativity. I’m also writing (at a snails pace) an adventure novel. And I spend a lot of the summer in a little town along a river in Idaho. Where we’re driving right now...

mysterydip 6y ago
Can you give a synopsis of what you teach in your course? How do you teach someone to be creative? I had the "juggling for the complete klutz" book growing up, had a lot of fun with it. Thanks!
nstart 6y ago
Hi John. Wanted to share a story of appreciation! I've actually got the Klutz friendship bracelet book sitting right next to me. My sister got it as a gift when we were kids (17 years ago) and I appropriated it when she didn't use it after a year. That book not only gave me a lifetime hobby, but it also helped me create my first business at the age of 15. Helped me learn the lesson that if you deliver quality, you can sell a product at 20x the market rate. I would sell the totem pole bracelet designs at a premium to my friends who wanted it for their girlfriends. I'd sell chevrons and other diagonal based patterns to friends who wanted their school flag colours. Sold the latter at a premium too because the material I got with the Klutz book didn't fray after the first wash (helped me decide what materials to continue to purchase later on). All this helped pay for several shows and sporting events I wanted to go to. I continued to make bracelets for my girlfriend (now wife) and those ones are seated on the table in our bedroom. That book created a ton of good memories. But it got left behind when I left home when I was getting married :( . Recently I discovered it at home and the clip (rusty) still works. And now I'm teaching my 4 and a half year old son the art of friendship bracelets too. All that from 1 book. Thank you for all the memories given and the memories to come.
wyclif 6y ago
I also learned how to juggle from your book as a kid. I tried to find somebody to teach me, but I didn't know anybody who could juggle and this was before the internet! What really broke it open for me was the instruction to first learn to juggle two objects with one hand, I had actually never thought about trying that. I remember after practicing for a while my Mom saw me juggling the three bags in our backyard and she asked me 'where did you learn that?' and when I told her 'from a book' she thought I was fibbing and bragging! Thanks a million! I have totally positive and favourable memories and impressions of your books.

jldugger 6y ago

So like a textbook?