A relevant and timely history.
A lively illustration of the perils of illness in the olden days.
In her middle-grade debut, medical historian Fitzharris partners with her husband, Teal, to cheerfully and often humorously chronicle efforts to discover the causes of and cures for six historically fatal diseases: plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy. Her descriptions of the discomforts and devastations of each disease, as well as the not always appreciated work of disease fighters, are enlivened by Teal’s black-and-white caricatures, accented with bold blood-red. Each chapter opens with on-the-scene action, detailing what the disease was like in its heyday. The main narrative shifts to a more traditional but chatty and informal exposition that occasionally addresses young readers directly. Full of intriguing facts and high on the “ew” factor, each chapter concludes with short biographies of famous people who were felled by that particular disease. Pullout boxes break up the text and add to the appeal. A final chapter sums up these medical struggles: “Figuring stuff out and changing minds sometimes takes centuries.” Though these epidemics were worldwide, most of the people depicted present white. The Covid-19 pandemic is mentioned only briefly a couple of times, but readers will certainly make the connection between past and present. There’s a lengthy list of sources and excellent suggestions for further reading, as might be expected from an experienced author of acclaimed science history for adults.
A relevant and timely history. (maps, index) (Nonfiction. 10-15)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781547606030
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge.
With an amped-up sense of wonder, the Science Guy surveys the natural universe.
Starting from first principles like the scientific method, Nye and his co-author marvel at the “Amazing Machine” that is the human body then go on to talk up animals, plants, evolution, physics and chemistry, the quantum realm, geophysics, and climate change. They next venture out into the solar system and beyond. Along with tallying select aspects and discoveries in each chapter, the authors gather up “Massively Important” central concepts, send shoutouts to underrecognized women scientists like oceanographer Marie Tharp, and slip in directions for homespun experiments and demonstrations. They also challenge readers to ponder still-unsolved scientific posers and intersperse rousing quotes from working scientists about how exciting and wide open their respective fields are. If a few of those fields, like the fungal kingdom, get short shrift (one spare paragraph notwithstanding), readers are urged often enough to go look things up for themselves to kindle a compensatory habit. Aside from posed photos of Nye and a few more of children (mostly presenting as White) doing science-y things, the full-color graphic and photographic images not only reflect the overall “get this!” tone but consistently enrich the flow of facts and reflections. “Our universe is a strange and surprising place,” Nye writes. “Stay curious.” Words to live by.
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge. (contributors, art credits, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4676-5
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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