As fresh and funny as ever, a classic compendium of physics in action gets a light but needed makeover.
Most of the “Things” here are still working the way they did back in 1988, 1998, and 2004, when the original and the revised editions dropped—but along with sporting new and spruced-up colors, some of the content, notably the section dubbed “The Digital Domain,” has been brought into the 21st century. Thus, the space shuttle and the VCR are no more, the workings of the telephone have been replaced by those of smartphones and telephone networks, and the jump jet has given way to the quadcopter and other types of drones. But the details that made the earlier editions delightful as well as edifying remain. In the illustrations, flights of tiny angels move the “first whoopee cushion” into place, discombobulated woolly mammoths get caught up in silly side business while helping to demonstrate scientific principles, and best of all, Macaulay’s brilliantly designed, engagingly informal diagrams and cutaways bring within the grasp of even casual viewers a greater understanding of the technological wonders of both past and present.
Necessary for every library, personal or otherwise. (index) (Reference. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-82438-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Categories: TEEN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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With the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy coming up in April 2012, this engaging overview retells the powerful story and its aftermath.
McPherson opens effectively, with the crucial scene when the iceberg was spotted “right ahead,” noting that the lookout binoculars had been missing for days, and gives a brief recap of the sinking. The narrative then goes back through a brief history of steamships and the business reasons for building huge ones, followed by a more detailed account of the trip and its terrible end, the survivors’ arrival in New York and the quickly convened Senate hearings about the disaster. Final chapters report on finding and excavating the ship in recent years. The smooth writing uses many quotes from the time, deftly incorporates facts and conveys the terror and heartbreak of the sinking, in which more than 1,500 died, and the rescue of about 700. A graceful design with a wide format features many historical photographs and illustrations, and sidebars on a host of topics such as significant people and statistics. Although the source notes and index are inadequate, McPherson provides a timeline, glossary, bibliography and thoughtful list for finding more information.
An attractive, solid entry on a disaster that continues to fascinate. (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6756-7
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Categories: TEEN HISTORY | TEEN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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“Extinction is essentially a one-way street. Or is it?”
Though the closest scientists have come so far to bringing back an extinct species is a newborn bucardo—a kind of mountain goat—that lived for just 10 minutes, Hirsch offers strong evidence that it’s only a matter of time before we could be sharing the planet with passenger pigeons, Tasmanian tigers, and even mammoths (but not, probably, dinosaurs) once again. Although she stirs in accounts of extinctions both ancient and modern, along with stories of success and of failure in saving critically endangered species, her descriptions of how genetic material is preserved, reconstructed from scattered fragments, edited, and transferred to create clones, genetically modified organisms, and new creatures comes out as a dry if relentlessly informative mix. Frequent photos and diagrams add visual enhancements to this overview; arguments from some conservationists that “de-extinction” is a waste of resources that could be more worthily spent in saving endangered species add ethical balance; and weighty quantities of source notes and leads to further information at the end add considerable research value.
A staid but intellectually stimulating excursion across one of modern biology’s most promising, and controversial, frontiers. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4677-9490-9
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
Categories: TEEN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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