Although accessibly written, the content is too broad and lacking in context to be useful.
This compact, stand-alone title unsuccessfully attempts to explain how digital technologies have radically transformed all facets of society.
The content is organized into five chapters: The first examines how digital technologies are impacting individual communication and interaction, but the treatment of the subject is obvious and lacking in insight. The second chapter, discussing the rise and impact of the sharing economy, is equally lacking in edification. A chapter on information overload offers only cursory and perfunctory treatments of subjects like fake news and how search engines work. The fourth chapter examines privacy issues. The last chapter speculates on future developments and impacts of digital technologies. Hulick (Coral Reefs, 2018, etc.) uses quotes from people who have done important research on many of these subjects, such as Sherry Turkle, but the significance of their findings is not discussed. Critical voices like Jarod Lanier and Tim Wu are absent. Text boxes offer quotes on related topics as well as anecdotes about cyberspace (such as one in which online bullying contributed to the suicide of a young teen or an example of phishing). The book takes an evenhanded approach, highlighting some of the downsides of technology as well as describing the positives that have emerged, such as the increased ability for activists to organize worldwide.
Although accessibly written, the content is too broad and lacking in context to be useful. (photos, sources notes, resource list, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68282-469-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
An important story clearly and engagingly told by an experienced science writer.
To the surprise of many, some wildlife flourishes in Chernobyl, Ukraine, more than 25 years after the explosion at the nuclear power plant there.
After opening with a background chapter describing the 1986 disaster, evacuation and cleanup efforts, Johnson goes on to describe scientific studies on the wildlife in the area from which humans have been excluded. The present-day Exclusion Zone is an area along the Ukraine-Belarus border about the size of South Carolina. A very few human residents have returned; occasional visitors include scientists and journalists. But other large mammals survive. The author includes a scientist’s photographs of a red fox and a moose. Observers have seen wild boar and stray dogs. A herd of Przewalski's horses, captive-bred and released into this isolated area, seems to be flourishing. The author devotes chapters to radioactive bank voles, rodents that seem to have developed some resistance, and to barn swallows that, in contrast, display obvious abnormalities. Finally, she reminds readers that in 2011 the world experienced a similar nuclear meltdown, in Fukushima, Japan. Continued research on radiation effects is crucial. Still, life carries on. This clear presentation is supplemented with captioned photographs, explanatory boxes and a helpful map. The appropriate background and clear, easy-to-understand explanations make this one-of-a-kind title both accessible and interesting.
An important story clearly and engagingly told by an experienced science writer. (author’s note, glossary, source notes, bibliography, further resources, index) (Nonfiction.12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1154-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
Cogent of topic, but for readability, it’s aptly titled.
In urgent tones, a call for action as climate change and continuing waste and pollution of available fresh water pose imminent threats to human health and agriculture.
Drawing from recently published reports and news stories, Kallen paints an alarming picture. Aquifers are being sucked dry by large-scale agriculture, lake levels are falling, and water sources above- and belowground are being polluted. Though he points to a few significant counterefforts—the Clean Water Act (1972) in the United States and local initiatives elsewhere, such as “rainwater harvesting” ponds in India and Kenya—these come off as spotty responses that are often hobbled by political and corporate foot-dragging. He also points to shrinking glaciers and snow packs (plus, for added gloom, superstorms like Sandy) as harbingers of climate change that will lead to widespread future disaster. Aside from occasional incidents or examples and rare if telling photos, though, this jeremiad is largely composed of generalities and big numbers—not a formula for motivating young readers. Nor does the author offer budding eco-activists much in the way of either hope or ways to become part of the solution; for the latter, at least, Cathryn Berger Kaye’s Going Blue: A Teen’s Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands (2010) is a better choice.
Cogent of topic, but for readability, it’s aptly titled. (source notes, multimedia resource lists, index) (Nonfiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-2646-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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