Handsome, at first glance, and up to date enough to include a spread on Global Positioning Systems—but one of the dimmer...
A routine sweep through matters astronomical, more suitable (despite the title) for casual browsing than research or quick reference.
In a conventional single-topic-per-spread format, Goldsmith skims the history of astronomy and space exploration, tours the solar system and the universe beyond, then closes with glances at dark matter and other undiscovered territory. The illustrations, most of which are digital images rather than photos, have a staid look in keeping with a text that shares roughly equal space on each page and runs to drably phrased observations. “The outer layer of the Sun is full of activity, with constantly changing sunspots and other features.” Confusing oversimplifications (“The stars change throughout the year”) and some murky photos further mar the presentation. Moreover, frequent references to space films and novels, comments like “The usual fate of travelers who approach a black hole too closely is to be crushed” and views of futuristic spacecraft blur the lines between fact and fiction.
Handsome, at first glance, and up to date enough to include a spread on Global Positioning Systems—but one of the dimmer stars in the topical firmament. (print, Web and film resources) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: May 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6805-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
Readers with a less-than-burning interest may struggle…or find that interest kindled by the end.
A visual history of our planet’s long career as a nursery for living things.
A brown-skinned paleontologist in a lab coat patiently guides three chattering listeners through the ages from Earth’s fiery formation through climate and other geophysical changes to the present day’s “sixth period of mass extinction.” As she goes, she rolls out polysyllabic terms and nomenclature at a rate that may leave casual readers struggling to keep up but will undoubtedly elevate the pulses of devoted young STEM-winders. Side comments from her audience add common-language context (“The Carboniferous is the age of coal…” one says, while the other concludes, “…and also the age of roaches!”). Though blocks of narrative crowd Barman’s panels, her cartoon portraits of alien-looking sea life evolving first into extinct, pop-eyed plant eaters and toothy, slavering predators, then finally familiar creatures such as us, flesh out the fossil story in lighthearted but reasonably accurate detail. (“Lighthearted” except for one scene of a poached rhino with its horn bloodily removed, that is.) Animals hog the spotlight, and a specious claim that all stars have planets mars the closing vision of new kinds of life arising both on our own world and elsewhere. Still, this French import offers an overview as coherent as it is chronologically broad…particularly for readers not intimidated by encounters with plesiadapiforms, perissodactyls, Gomphoteria, and like sesquipedalia. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-15.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 77% of actual size.)
Readers with a less-than-burning interest may struggle…or find that interest kindled by the end. (partial glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 10-12)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4578-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Readers hoping for alternatives to the dominant narratives will not find them here.
Factoids about various “races” across time.
Across 46 double-page spreads, readers learn about international “races” that cover a range of topics, from actual contests such as the Olympic Games and the Tour de France to general firsts, such as to the top of Mount Everest and to discover radiation. Along the way, facts and information are dolloped out in small paragraphs that stimulate and tease readers’ interest. Sadly, the teasing happens too frequently, and information is provided with little context or supplemental information. For example, readers learn that two forerunners to the bicycle were the draisine and the penny farthing. But the draisine looks like a modern bicycle without pedals while the penny farthing is a vastly different (and scarier-looking) conveyance. What prompted the design of the penny farthing? The Eurocentric focus of the book is a significantly larger flaw, as White faces and White achievements dominate the facts and illustrations. Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay is appropriately given equal visual and textual focus to Edmund Hillary, a White New Zealander, but Japanese climber Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Everest, is depicted fully covered behind snow goggles and oxygen mask in a far corner of the page. Likewise, the information about Africa focuses textually and visually on David Livingstone, and the only Indigenous Africans depicted are early Homo sapiens dressed in stereotypical animal furs. Figures highlighted in the science section include Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton—it’s the same old, same old. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.8-by-19.2-inch double-page spreads viewed at 81% of actual size.)
Readers hoping for alternatives to the dominant narratives will not find them here. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7112-5668-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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