Smash, Crash, Topple, Roll!: The Inventive Rube Goldberg—A Life in Comics, Contraptions, and Six Simple Machines

By Catherine Thimmesh and Shanda McCloskey

A 2025 Science Friday Best Science Book for Kids

A joyfully illustrated picture book biography of Rube Goldberg for STEM-loving children and the many people who enjoy doing simple tasks the hard way.

Award-winning author Catherine Thimmesh’s irresistibly engaging text and artist Shanda McCloskey’s energetic, cartoon-style artwork introduce readers to the life and creative legacy of Rube Goldberg, the world-famous inventor of crazy contraptions. A rollicking educational kids' book that is part biography, part inspiration, and part physics how-to, Smash, Crash, Topple, Roll! posits the ultimate question … why do anything the simple way? (Especially if, for instance, there is a catapult option?)

Because, of course, there are lots of things you can do the simple way:
Set an alarm,
flip a switch,
open a door,
toast some bread . . .
 
But what if, instead, you did things the Rube Goldberg way?
Endlessly entertaining,
needlessly complex,
and achieving a delicate balance of physics, humor, and excitement!

The book includes an overview of the six simple machines that power most of Goldberg’s inventions and puts the tools for making real-life Rube Goldberg machines right into readers’ hands. It’s the perfect thing to spark the imaginations of budding inventors, artists, and thinkers of all ages—because the most promising relationships with science start not with a textbook but with the willingness to break stuff and ask silly questions!

SCIENCE MADE FUN: Sure to excite students, teachers, and parents looking for a playful, hands-on way to dive into the sciences and connect to STEM and STEAM efforts in schools, where Rube Goldberg machines are already in use, this book offers a fun way to approach the sometimes-daunting subject of physics.

INSPIRATIONAL AWESOMENESS: There are more and better opportunities for kids to embrace and explore a love of science and engineering today, and Rube Goldberg was an artist, too! This is the perfect book to encourage the scientist and artist in every kid.

POPULAR SUBJECT FOR KIDS: There are over 1 million views of various Rube Goldberg videos on YouTube featuring overly complicated ways to turn a page, pass the salt, water a plant, and more.

Perfect for:

• Young makers
• Parents, grandparents, and caregivers encouraging budding engineers and artists
• Classroom book or gift for teachers
• Rube Goldberg fans of all ages

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: May 6, 2025
• ISBN: 9781452175416

Catherine Thimmesh

Catherine Thimmesh is an award-winning author, speaker, and creativity educator. Her creative children’s nonfiction titles have won numerous awards, including the prestigious Sibert Medal for Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon and a Sibert Honor for Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild. Madam President was a New York Times Notable book, and her bestselling Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women won the IRA Children’s Book Award and was followed by Girls Solve Everything: Stories of Women Entrepreneurs Building a Better World. You can watch her discuss the importance of creativity in her TEDx Talk, “Creativity in the Classroom (in 5 minutes or less!),” on YouTube or her website, catherinethimmesh.com. Catherine lives near Minneapolis, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Book preview

Cover: Smash, Crash, Topple, Roll!, The Inventive Rube Goldberg, A Life in Comics, Contraptions, and Six Simple Machines by Catherine Thimmesh

Rube Gold·berg adjective \'rüb‒'gōl(d)‒'b rg\

: doing something simple in a very complicated way that is not necessary

: accomplishing by complex means what seemingly could be done simply Rube Goldberg contraption … with five hundred moving parts —L. T. Grant>;

also : characterized by such complex means

For Jude and Beckett—and all your wondrous, hilarious, and ingenious inventiveness to come. Hugs from Ama. —C. T.

To my whole inventive, creative family! —S. M.

Text copyright © 2025 by Catherine Thimmesh.

Illustrations copyright © 2025 by Shanda McCloskey.

YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC.

MythBusters is a trademark of Discovery Communications LLC.

Guinness World Records is a trademark of Guinness World Records Ltd.

Rube Goldberg and Rube Goldberg Machine are trademarks of Rube Goldberg Inc.

Page 33: Rube Goldberg, Self-Operating Napkin (detail). Originally published in Collier’s, September 1931. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-4422-1 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4521-7541-6 (epub reflowable)

ISBN 978-1-4521-7543-0 (epub fixed-format)

ISBN 978-1-4521-7542-3 (kindle)

Design by Sara Gillingham Studio.

Typeset in Cronos Pro and Paperboy.

The illustrations in this book were drawn in ink and shaded/colored in Procreate.

Chronicle books and gifts are available at special quantity discounts to corporations, professional associations, literacy programs, and other organizations. For details and discount information, please contact our premiums department at [e-mail] or at 1-800-759-0190.

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LOOK FOR (A) SOMETHING INTERESTING. WHEN YOU SEE IT, GRAB IT. THE STRING WILL PULL (B) THE RECEIVER OFF THE TELEPHONE AND SLIDE IT DOWN THE RAMP. (C) THE DOMINOS WILL FALL ONE BY ONE UNTIL (D) THE LAST ONE FALLS ONTO ONE SIDE OF (E) THE BALANCED SPOON, SENDING THE MARBLE FLYING UP TO (F) THE CUP ATTACHED TO THE WHEEL, WHICH WILL TIP TO SEND THE MARBLE DOWN (G) THE ART-SUPPLY RAMPS UNTIL IT CRASHES INTO (H) THE MOUSE TUNNEL, SCARING THE MOUSE. THE MOUSE WILL RUN