A marvelous book about the human brain and head, with spectacular life-size illustrations and see-through pages. Under discussion are the special features of the neck, skull, spinal column, brain, as well as sensory organs of the skull, including eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The brief text is packed with detail, logically organized around useful and descriptive headings, such as “Balance and Coordination: The Cerebellum” and “Brain Filter: The Reticular Formation.” Appropriate for a book on the brain, there’s plenty to think about on every page, and every part of the brain is illustrated with a full-color, labeled drawing. Clear plastic overlays offering pictures of both the inside and outside of brain sections make this of visual interest to younger readers, while teenagers will find the wry text appealing and informative. The cover painting guarantees that the book will fly off the shelf. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-679-89018-1
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1998
Presented with humor and a bit of ballyhoo, this collection of 50 demonstrations of scientific tools, phenomena and principles includes a description of the history and science behind each topic. The chronological organization offers a nice way to chart the progress of science in many areas, from Stone Age tool-making through Zhang Heng’s seismometer, Jenner’s vaccine, Darwin’s “revolutionary evolutionary book,” Yeager’s sonic boom and the science-in-process of the Large Hadron Collider. With occasional, possibly frustrating exceptions, the experiments have clear directions and helpful sketches provided by James. Presented like recipes, they require relatively easily found materials. Each includes a “catastrophe meter,” pointing out difficulties and the possibility for injury, and a “Take Care!” label, identifying potential trouble spots. Occasionally, Connolly’s breezy explanations are careless or incorrect: Fossils can be traces of a soft-bodied creature; ligons (lion/tiger hybrids) have occurred in nature, not just from DNA manipulation. But overall this is both entertaining and instructive, a welcome follow-up to The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science (2008) and useful for science-fair projects, classroom or recreational group activities and home explorations. (Nonfiction. 9-14)
Pub Date: May 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7611-5687-1
Page Count: 391
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Few topics are more intrinsically interesting to young readers than disasters. Guiberson casts her net wide to examine ten natural and man-made disasters chronologically from smallpox in colonial America to Hurricane Katrina. The 20-page chapters, broken into subsections, describe the events with quotations from contemporary accounts and plenty of grim details. Photographs, drawings and diagrams, all usefully captioned, extend the lively text. The author analyzes causes of the disasters and factors that exacerbated them, such as building on landfill in 1906 San Francisco. In most chapters, she explores steps that could prevent or reduce future catastrophes, although only a brief introduction ties the chapters together. A Notes section highlights major sources for each chapter, without specific references, followed by an extensive bibliography but no further reading suggestions as such. Good for pleasure reading and as a starting point for research. (index, not seen) (Nonfiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8170-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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