Just another fabulously wealthy high school dropout role model.
Bland, standard-issue profile of a (now) 26-year-old Internet entrepreneur.
Citing only previously published sources, the author retraces Karp’s rocketlike rise from disaffected student and teenage computer nerd to chief architect of Tumblr. Since he hasn’t really done much, aside from leaving school early, spending a few months in Japan and then making a zillion dollars since 2007 with his microblogging platform, the narrative is largely an eye-glazing tally of internships, business associates, awards and dizzying statistical milestones. Kenney neglects to analyze Tumblr’s innovations, online community or general context—or for that matter, even to explain the origins of “tumblelog,” from which the platform’s name is derived. Her insights into Karp’s character are limited to mentions of idols Steve Jobs (extolled for his “keynotes”) and Willy Wonka and his habit of carrying a paper notebook because “[being] on computers all the time makes me feel gross.” Many of the color photos are space-filler views of city skylines or the outsides of buildings.
Just another fabulously wealthy high school dropout role model. (endnotes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1285-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
This German import is an unsystematic jumble—but tailor-made for dipping and flipping.
From airplanes to zippers, a gallery of ubiquitous gadgets, products, and basic discoveries.
In an apparently arbitrarily ordered assortment of one- to three-page entries, Ameri-Siemens recaps around three dozen stories of invention, from Gutenberg’s printing press (1440) to the World Wide Web (1989). Though the inventors introduced are predominantly White, male, and Eurocentric, her choices include nods to a few African Americans such as Garrett Morgan (hair-straightening cream, automatic traffic light) and Thomas J. Martin (a type of fire extinguisher). White women spotlighted include Nancy Johnson (ice cream maker) and Jeanne Villepreux (glass aquarium) and, in an entry misleadingly titled “Computer,” Ada Lovelace, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Grace Hopper. Neglecting to provide any sources or evidence, she also makes questionable claims that, for instance, the Brothers Grimm were the first to record oral folktales in print and—hilariously—the Millennium Falcon’s top speed is only half again the speed of light. Showing the same hand wave–y spirit, Thorns presents an unidentified trio of Black women presumably meant to represent the “computers” of NASA rather than the much earlier ones at Harvard that the author mentions. Still, readers will likely look in vain through similar chronicles of invention to find the origins of, say, ramen noodles, soccer boots, toothpaste, or carbonated beverages.
This German import is an unsystematic jumble—but tailor-made for dipping and flipping. (Nonfiction. 10-13)Pub Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-3-89955-133-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Little Gestalten
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Rich in pointers but too reasonable to be a mind-changer.
An encouraging, eloquently argued call to action.
Though rightly suggesting that “climate crisis” is a more apt term than “climate change,” Harman delivers an overview that is measured rather than urgent, focused more on general talking points than specific actions. Keeping “sciencey” terms to a minimum, she lays out general causes—mostly unrestrained use of fossil fuels and wanting “too much stuff”—and current and potential effects of human-engendered changes, including the scary prospect of unpredictable, uncontrollable climactic “feedback loops.” She then launches into a series of fictive exchanges between activist and reactionary talking heads on “problems” including corporate greed (“The ‘Just one more cookie’ problem”), conflicts between poor and rich nations (“That’s not fair!” and “Smelt it, dealt it”), and hostile responses to being told what to do (“Goody-two-shoes”). Acknowledging that “climate justice” is “a marathon, not a sprint,” she finishes up in a section brashly titled “The Solutions” by urging concerned readers to get off the stick but (savvy advice) not to have unrealistic expectations of either themselves or others. Her concluding promise that “we can stop climate change” runs counter to scientific assessments that the best we can do is slow it, however. Along with being diverse in age, race, and, to some extent, dress, the dozens of humans in Lozano’s cartoon illustrations include figures in wheelchairs and a same-sex couple. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.8-by-15.2-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.)
Rich in pointers but too reasonable to be a mind-changer. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4549-4277-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Sterling Children's Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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