Comment on Science: The Definitive Visual Guide by Thomas E. Davis

Thomas E. Davis — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:03:19 +0000

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

A handy learning tool and reference, especially for school-age kids, December 8, 2010

Thomas E. Davis (Seattle, WA) -

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This review is from: Science: The Definitive Visual Guide (Hardcover)

I want to make clear what this book is and is not. It's a large-format visual guide from Dorling Kindersley, which means that it's filled to bursting with glorious color illustrations and succinct summaries that help the non-mathematical novice understand the history of scientific thought. It is not, however, a reference for those who work in an academic setting, study at a college level, or consult the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

"Science" is helpful principally for young people who want a general overview of the progress of knowledge about our world, from its smallest elements to the vastness of the expanding universe, and who wish to achieve a quick grasp of basic terminology and principles. The coverage is a mile wide and an inch deep, but it does a great job of inspiring interest in the varied subjects it tackles. For in-depth information, more scholarly books will need to be consulted.

The book is divided into five main eras: The Dawn of Science (before 1500), The Renaissance & Enlightenment (1500-1700), The Industrial Revolution (1700-1890), The Atomic Age (1890-1970), and The Information Age (after 1970). It traces the development of science from the earliest natural philosophers - Aristotle and Alhazen, for example - to modern scientists like Turing and Feynmann, and from early breakthroughs such as heliocentrism and the laws of gravity to recent ones like the atomic bomb and the structure of DNA.

At the same time, scientific and mathematical principles are given good layman's explanations in words and pictures: algebra and geometry, buoyancy, inertia and friction, speed and velocity, optics, taxonomy, navigation, organic chemistry, thermodynamics, probability and statistics, evolution, digestion and reproduction, the periodic table, acids and bases, bacteria and viruses, electromagnetism, radiation, relativity, the Big Bang, fission and fusion, genetics, astronomy, ecology, plate tectonics, global warming, string theory, and much more.

Inventions are given equally broad treatment: simple machines, gunpowder, printing, telescopes and microscopes, the steam engine, batteries and electric motors, surgery, immunization and vaccination, artificial lighting and electricity generation, the telephone, photography, the radio, flying machines, penicillin, plastics, rockets, codes, lasers, microchips, satellites, space travel, the Internet, artificial intelligence and robotics, in vitro fertilization and cloning, nanotechnologies, renewable energy, and yes, much more.

I would especially recommend this book to parents of middle- or high-schoolers who want to both pique their curiosity and answer their questions in clear, interesting ways. There are diagrams and brief biographical sidebars on most of the two-page spreads, as well as two-page timelines, summaries of turning points in the evolution of science, and somewhat more comprehensive biographies of major figures like Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Edison, and Einstein. The book ends with an extensive quick reference, including sections on measurement, astronomy, earth sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics, in addition to a "who's who," a glossary, and an index.

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Comment on Science: The Definitive Visual Guide by G. Fisk

G. Fisk — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:29:52 +0000

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

Reasonable at the coffee-table level, February 12, 2010

G. Fisk -

This review is from: Science: The Definitive Visual Guide (Hardcover)

The strength of this book for me lies in its organization. Using time as a thread makes for an interesting presentation. The weakness of the book lies in its terribly sloppy editing. The "calendar" of the section on the industrial revolution places Linus Pauling's "The Nature of the Chemical Bond" a full century ahead of its actual publication. The discussion of plant life cycles ends in mid sentence. There are enough errors to make the reader unsure whether to trust statements about unfamiliar material.

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