The New Cool

A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts

By: Neal Bascomb

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

That 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: sports 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-IQ 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.

But for their mentor, Amir Abo-Shaeer, much more hung in the balance.

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 creation. In his mind’s eye, he saw an even more robust academy within Dos Pueblos that would make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) cool 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 filled with such academies, and a new popular veneration for STEM - a “new cool” - that would return America to its former innovative glory.

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 FIRST Robotics Competition that had lured the kids at Dos Pueblos. Kamen had created FIRST (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.

In The New Cool, 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 new cool.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2011 Neal Bascomb (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"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)

"Gripping... Bascomb gives us plenty of suspense and pathos... An inspiring homage to the spirit of invention and a genuine sports epic, to boot." (Publishers Weekly)

"I love this book. Neal Bascomb cuts through the arcane technical jargon of robotics to reveal an amazing world of smart high-schoolers with passions for math, science, engineering, and computers. The teacher who inspires them also inspires us. With kids like these, there is hope for the world after all." (Charles Petzold, author of CODE)

Inspirational. A fantastic can't put it down read.

Inspirational. A fantastic can't put it down read. I read this book in one sitting.

Inspiring and emotional story!

I had no idea how much I would laugh out loud and actually have tears in my eyes when I started this audiobook. What an incredible and inspiring story!

So Very Cool

Over the last few years I have been getting into electronics, micro-controlers, and robotics and in 2010 my wife and I were able to catch the very end of the FIRST championship at the Georgia Dome. We didn’t really get to see much and what I saw didn’t make a lot of sense to me, after listening to this book it does now.

This book is the story of a school in California and its FIRST robotics team made up of rookie high-school seniors competing in the annual FIRST competition. If you don’t know about FIRST check it out

I really like the mission statement of FIRST found on the web site:
"Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership."

I hope that stories like the ones told in this book are being repeated all over the country and that by reading this book will encourage more people to get involved. I hope that I can work in time to volunteer for some FIRST activities this year even if it is just a couple hours taking pictures or helping to setup.

Great fun!

What a fun and inspiring story. Makes me want to go back and be a robot-making cool dude. And, by the way Goleta is go - lee - tah (not go - let - a).

Inspirational-Makes you feel like part of the team

I truly enjoyed this book. One of the best stories I've read in a long time ... and it's all true. From the announcement of the 2009 challenge through the climax of the season, you are with team 1717 every step of the way. You share all of the victories, defeats, mistakes, and breakthroughs. I don't know if FIRST will ever displace high school football and basketball, but with energy like this, it could make as place of its own in our schools.

The book is fast paced and engaging, and the narration captures the excitement and enthusiasm unique to high school students.

An accurate depiction of a Great FIRST season

The story gives the reader an idea of what a FIRST season can look like and the hard work that goes in to creating a competition robot, as well as, the teamwork dynamics that have to occur. The reader was a little dry but did a good job overall.

High school drama...too much

The first half of the book was tedious, too much high school drama on the nuts and bolts of building the robot. The second half of the book dealt with the actual competitions. I would rate this an average read. High school kids or those dealing with this age group will enjoy this book, others not so much.