Tag Archives: picturebook

Book Review: ‘Hands-On Science: Geology’ By Lola M. Schaefer, Illus. By Druscilla Santiago

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One question that teachers and mentors have to face on a routine basis is — how to talk to children. The question is asked in a general sense — spanning across diverse fields, like talking to them about social and behavioral issues, storytelling, science, and education in general. Communication with children is a problem because the usual prevailing methods either treat them as stupid or use a language which is far advanced for their age. If you have ever spent even a couple of minutes with a child of any generation, you must have been astonished at the gross underestimation of their intellect. This is even more pronounced in the current times of large information inflow when children are exposed to and are aware of advances in diverse fields. When I receive books for children for review, this is the aspect that I look for, and sometimes I do get disappointed at the underestimation of children’s understanding of scientific concepts and their curiosity. There are some very good writers, some of who are also good artists. Even if they are not, this task can he delegated to professional artists. So there should not be any problem with presentation of content — in design or illustration. The only task — the biggest taste — is an accurate understanding of the child’s mind, its needs and likes.

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Book Review: ‘Do Other Earths Exist?’ By Jennifer Lombardo

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Astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science are testimony of humankind’s curiosity. A peculiar feature of this curiosity is that it is not satiated by a hypothetical or mythological explanation; on the contrary, any unconvincing explanation only adds fuel to the curiosity. Humankind doesn’t stop at contemplating the various possibilities, but explores and investigates the problem using whatever tools are available at its disposal — theoretical calculations, experimental measurements, or even space missions. Understandably, it doesn’t stop at finding answers to immediate problems, instead every resolved problem pushes the boundary to investigate further, farther, deeper, more. We haven’t yet completely understood the earth, our exploration of the planets is still an ongoing process, and we have already started seeking the boundaries of our solar system, and what lies beyond it.

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Book Review: ‘All About Nothing’ By Elizabeth Rusch, Illus. By Elizabeth Goss

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Once I suggested my friend who was fatigued from office work to take a short break and start again when feeling fresh. She replied that she can’t even think of sitting idle, doing nothing. Nothing — ‘doing nothing’, ‘saying nothing’, ‘thinking nothing’ — is something that scares people off, for some it is something inconceivable. But this nothingness, whether of space or time, is something interesting and opens doors to new and interesting experiences and insights.

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Book Review: ‘Penny, The Engineering Tail Of The Fourth Little Pig’ By Kimberly Derting And Shelli R. Johannes, Illus. By Hannah Marks

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Today I will share with you the summary and my views on the book Penny, The Engineering Tail Of The Fourth Little Pig by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes, and illustrated by Hannah Marks, which is the third and final book from Capstone Editions that I have recently received for review. While going through these books, I spent some time scrolling through Twitter timeline of Capstone Editions, and came to know the wide spectrum of popular science books published by them. It is indeed a commendable job and worth appreciating. The future of society lies in the hands of future generation, and how the future generation would look like is decided by the type of investment we make in them. Considering the change in brain activity with age, it is important to ‘catch them young’, inculcating habits from an early age. Science is not just about learning facts and understanding the world around us; instead, it teaches us to go beyond superficial appearances, dig below the surface, and examine everything logically and rationally. It is these concerns that make the contribution of Capstone Editions and similar publishers all the more praiseworthy.

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Book Review: ‘All The Colors Of Life’ By Lisa Aisato

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In my early youth, I loved strolling on my terrace looking at stars, enjoying cool breeze and letting my mind wander off in random thoughts. This favourite pastime got interrupted when I entered PhD. But I remember that day when, without any thought or intention, I climbed up the stairs to the hostel terrace and spent not just couple of minutes, instead around 2 – 3 hours. However, this time they were not random thoughts, instead I was looking at my life lived till that day. It had been a long journey and hopefully I still had a long way to go. To my own surprise, I had a strong memory and recollected quite well all the major and minor incidents of my life. It was a refreshing experience as it put my whole life into proper perspective showing the journey of life as a single showreel.

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Book Review: ‘Bright Dreams: The Brilliant Ideas of Nikola Tesla’ By Tracy Dockray

Tesla

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You have heard about scientists who were artists. In some of earlier posts, I have talked about collaborative efforts between artists and scientists. For example, the book Periodic Table presented scientific knowledge accompanied by beautiful graphic illustrations. Likewise, I talked about scenes from the movie 15 Park Avenue, which depicted struggles in the life of a physics professor. Continue reading