Search - The Standard Deviants - Astronomy, Part 1 on DVD

Fantasitic basic astonomy review!

05/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Standard Deviants always put out great videos. This one in particular is funny, sometimes a bit cheesy, but always easy to understand. Tape one of the astronomy review looks at the basics of astronomy including Newton's laws, Kepler's law, Wien's law, and a look at the earth and the moon. They also include funny stories about the history and people of astronomy. One particularly fun thing about the tape is that it is aimed at college students, and the humor is more adult then other "funny" educational tapes out there."

Poorly researched

Goldencat | 05/21/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I borrowed this video from the library recently. I got to the part where they talked about Tycho Brahe & claimed his cause of death was his bladder exploding because he drank too much wine & wouldn't leave the room to relieve himself so as not to go against the custom of never leaving the room before the king. This sounded too weird to be true. After a quick online search I found sites saying mercury is the more likely cause of death. This has made me a little skeptical of how well the video was researched. I'm very disapointed that an educational video would state an urband legend as fact. The video is very informative but I had trouble getting past this and plan on asking some more experienced astronomers for other video suggestions."

Helping a child to study through the power of vision

Esperanza Reynolds | Miami Lakes, Florida | 03/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"All children do not learn and retain information using the same skills. We have one whose ability through the power of vision increases ten fold. She is artistic, gifted and a natural right brained individual, so given that she was having trouble with some courses, we obtained this award-winning series, where she learns while having fun. The course uses humor to lighten up the experience. It provides an hour and a half of astronomy, teaching from the ancient Greeks through Newton. Powerful learning takes place. The observer learns the law of gravity, the properties of light, and how telescopes work. Would highly recommend acquiring this DVD if you want to help any child learn by using the power of vision."

Useful for us Science Fiction writers, too!

Goldencat | Ohio, USA | 02/16/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really like the Deviants' series of videos...and I am not an undergrad anymore. I found this by accident in a table-load of markdowns, and got hooked. This one is a good introduction to the subject, at a fast pace, with corny, witty humor. In fact, almost Monty Python humor. It will help me alot since knowing key facts is vital to credible writing. Who would believe a story with careless mistakes? Imagine Star Wars with travel in miles instead of light years...or no space suits for humans to wear so they don't freeze to death outside the ship - perhaps they hold their breath and put on lots of Vaseline jelly? (not) What happens to your spaceship if you don't account for gravitation, escape velocities, or the radiation of a supernova? You lose the sense of reality that makes a good story. Pull up a recliner, have some popcorn, and enjoy the show :-) it's painless learning. Really. It woulda helped me in class, had I HAD an astronomy class. Wish I knew about the series sooner."