Thanks, CFK. DS is 7, and not a good reader, so I read everything to him. One of the reasons he's not a good reader at this point is that his understanding is at an adult level, so he doesn't have the patience to slow down and read. (And thanks to other posts here, he's now doing it with Geronimo Stilton and other books).
He loves Elements with Style (and frankly, I'm not sure why. It leaves a lot of gaps as far as I'm concerned.) I'll check out the ones you've suggested. I don't remember my chemistry and can't answer his questions.
Re: Stephen Hawking, there's currently a bio on either the Science Channel or PBS, not sure which. We've seen it on the schedule a couple of times. DS is also a fan.
Here's a fun video DS loves: Alien Planet. Was on Discovery Channel. Stephen Hawking and other scientists describe an imaginary planet, Darwin IV, and what type of aliens they could see there. DS became obsessed with that one - and then also another Discovery production, The Future is Wild. Another imaginary docu where real scientists supply the imagination.
