Relatively informative, though the change of language and country leave a few rough spots, and there are already more than a...
The “most important scientist of the 20th century” (not even “arguably”) tells his personal story amid explanations of his contributions to our understanding of how the universe works.
Novelli adds comical notes to the first-person chronicle with loosely drawn cartoons of Einstein—sporting his trademark frizzy hair from the cradle on and often with protruding tongue to boot—along with a cat (Schrödinger’s, presumably) and other figures. The author also offers interleaved nontechnical third-person descriptions of the great man’s insights into light, time, relativity, matter and energy, and other related topics. The uncredited translator is casual with tenses (“I grow up with the spread of electric lighting, which had quite an impact on the first part of my life”), and a publicity photo of Einstein wearing a feathered headdress (recast on an earlier page into an even more offensive cartoon) is, at best, an anachronistic flub. Still, this is an illuminating profile that takes as proper note of the great brain’s pacifism as it does of his revolutionary ideas. Co-published in the Flashes of Genius series, Darwin and the True Story of the Dinosaurs likewise combines informal fictive autobiography (“I certainly didn’t come this far to goof off”) with side notes on his significant ideas and their historical context. Both volumes close with “dictionaries” of appropriate terms and colleagues.
Relatively informative, though the change of language and country leave a few rough spots, and there are already more than a few similar profiles available. (Biography. 10-13)Pub Date: June 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61373-865-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
The author of The Snake Scientist (not reviewed) takes the reader along on another adventure, this time to the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh to the Sundarbans Tiger Preserve in search of man-eating tigers. Beware, he cautions, “Your study subject might be trying to eat you!” The first-person narrative is full of helpful warnings: watch out for the estuarine crocodiles, “the most deadly crocodiles in the world” and the nine different kinds of dangerous sharks, and the poisonous sea snakes, more deadly than the cobra. Interspersed are stories of the people who live in and around the tiger preserve, information on the ecology of the mangrove swamp, myths and legends, and true life accounts of man-eating tigers. (Fortunately, these tigers don’t eat women or children.) The author is clearly on the side of the tigers as she states: “Even if you added up all the people that sick tigers were forced to eat, you wouldn’t get close to the number of tigers killed by people.” She introduces ideas as to why Sundarbans tigers eat so many people, including the theory, “When they attack people, perhaps they are trying to protect the land that they own. And maybe, as the ancient legend says, the tiger really is watching over the forest—for everyone’s benefit.” There are color photographs on every page, showing the landscape, people, and a variety of animals encountered, though glimpses of the tigers are fleeting. The author concludes with some statistics on tigers, information on organizations working to protect them, and a brief bibliography and index. The dramatic cover photo of the tiger will attract readers, and the lively prose will keep them engaged. An appealing science adventure. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07704-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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