Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge.
With an amped-up sense of wonder, the Science Guy surveys the natural universe.
Starting from first principles like the scientific method, Nye and his co-author marvel at the “Amazing Machine” that is the human body then go on to talk up animals, plants, evolution, physics and chemistry, the quantum realm, geophysics, and climate change. They next venture out into the solar system and beyond. Along with tallying select aspects and discoveries in each chapter, the authors gather up “Massively Important” central concepts, send shoutouts to underrecognized women scientists like oceanographer Marie Tharp, and slip in directions for homespun experiments and demonstrations. They also challenge readers to ponder still-unsolved scientific posers and intersperse rousing quotes from working scientists about how exciting and wide open their respective fields are. If a few of those fields, like the fungal kingdom, get short shrift (one spare paragraph notwithstanding), readers are urged often enough to go look things up for themselves to kindle a compensatory habit. Aside from posed photos of Nye and a few more of children (mostly presenting as White) doing science-y things, the full-color graphic and photographic images not only reflect the overall “get this!” tone but consistently enrich the flow of facts and reflections. “Our universe is a strange and surprising place,” Nye writes. “Stay curious.” Words to live by.
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge. (contributors, art credits, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4676-5
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Typecast characters aside, this heavy but nourishing banquet of facts will slide down easily thanks to the art’s mix of...
In a mix of comic-book panels and print, a wild ride through the digestive system is positively clogged with scientific information.
Opening a trilogy originally published in Korean, the tale puts fussbudget Dr. Brain and reckless young Geo aboard a virus-shaped experimental craft that, à la The Fantastic Voyage, shrinks to microscopic size just in time to be inadvertently gobbled down by Phoebe—a cast member with dark skin, “jungle instincts” and a huge appetite. With Dr. Brain explaining in detail both anatomical features and what’s coming next, he and Geo view extreme close-ups of Phoebe’s mouth, esophagus and stomach as she chews and swallows. Then it’s “ONWARD TO THE DUODENUM!” Narrowly surviving hazards from peristalsis to indigestion as they go, and blasting potential menaces from H. pylori bacteria to slavering hookworms, the voyagers nearly make it to Pheobe’s anus before they’re absorbed into the intestinal wall to set the stage for the next episode. Interspersed among the pages of high-action, manga-style pages of comic art are frequent spreads of conventional text that repeat and expand on Dr. Brain’s adjacent lectures. The interlocking infodumps not only provide overviews of each stage of digestion (with side notes on topics like proper nutrition, sanitary practices and common diseases), but also identify, for instance, the three types of salivary glands, the specific anthelmintic drug for hookworm infestation, and fecal indicators of disease.
Typecast characters aside, this heavy but nourishing banquet of facts will slide down easily thanks to the art’s mix of often gross physical comedy and recognizably rendered anatomy. (index) (Graphic nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-159327-471-9
Page Count: 184
Publisher: No Starch Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013
Far from comprehensive but visually arresting and, at times, provocative.
Stylized graphics rendered in saturated hues set this quick overview of body systems apart from the general run.
Arranged in tabbed and color-coded sections, the tour covers familiar ground but often from an unusual angle. The tally of human senses at the beginning, for instance, includes “proprioception” (physical multitasking), and ensuing chapters on the skeletal, circulatory and other systems are capped with a miscellany of body contents and products—from selected parasites and chemicals to farts and sweat. Likewise, descriptions of a dozen physical components of the “Brain Box” are followed by notes on more slippery mental functions like “Consciousness” and “Imagination.” The facts and observations gathered by Rogers are presented as labels or captions. They are interspersed on each spread with flat, eye-dazzling images designed by Grundy not with anatomical correctness in mind but to show processes or relationships at a glance. Thus, to show body parts most sensitive to touch, a silhouette figure sports an oversized hand and foot, plus Homer Simpson lips (though genitals are absent, which seems overcautious as an explicit section on reproduction follows a few pages later), and a stack of bathtubs illustrates the quantity of urine the average adult produces in an average lifetime (385 bathtubs’ worth). There is no backmatter.
Far from comprehensive but visually arresting and, at times, provocative. (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7123-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Big Picture/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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