A seaworthy bio of a revolutionary scientist.
An account of the life of the pioneering Frenchwoman who invented the aquarium.
While she is not a household name today, Jeanne Villepreux-Power’s influence can still be felt. Born in 1794, Villepreux-Power was famed for her study of sea creatures, particularly a type of octopus called the argonaut. The book argues convincingly that sexism and a tragic shipwreck that sank 16 cases of her specimens, drawings, and notes made the brilliant scientist less well known than she should have been. Overcoming those obstacles, as well as the primitive state of life science study in the 1800s—in particular the limited ability to study sea creatures in their habitats—and aided by the privilege of being a White woman of means, Villepreux-Power invented the first glass aquariums to observe sea life and discovered that argonauts build their shells rather than find them at sea, as was believed at the time. Marine biologist, science writer, and fellow cephalopod expert Staaf details Villepreux-Power’s life using a mix of existing research about the woman and more recent scientific findings. The book takes plenty of detours into history and culture to better explain thorny issues, such as the treatment of animals, full-page takes on the metric system, and the effects of oil on water. It feels like a few too many asides for a straightforward biography, but as a broader look at the life of a scientist in the 1800s, it’s well researched and expertly explained.
A seaworthy bio of a revolutionary scientist. (author’s note, timeline, glossary, source notes, bibliography, further reading, index) (Biography. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72841-577-2
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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
The life of Manjiro Nakahama, also known as John Mung, makes an amazing story: shipwrecked as a young fisherman for months on a remote island, rescued by an American whaler, he became the first Japanese resident of the US. Then, after further adventures at sea and in the California gold fields, he returned to Japan where his first-hand knowledge of America and its people earned him a central role in the modernization of his country after its centuries of peaceful isolation had ended. Expanding a passage from her Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (1985, Newbery Honor), Blumberg not only delivers an absorbing tale of severe hardships and startling accomplishments, but also takes side excursions to give readers vivid pictures of life in mid-19th-century Japan, aboard a whaler, and amidst the California Gold Rush. The illustrations, a generous mix of contemporary photos and prints with Manjiro’s own simple, expressive drawings interspersed, are at least as revealing. Seeing a photo of Commodore Perry side by side with a Japanese artist’s painted portrait, or strange renditions of a New England town and a steam train, based solely on Manjiro’s verbal descriptions, not only captures the unique flavor of Japanese art, but points up just how high were the self-imposed barriers that separated Japan from the rest of the world. Once again, Blumberg shows her ability to combine high adventure with vivid historical detail to open a window onto the past. (source note) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-17484-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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