a spectacular accumulation of new science that all schools should have access to immediately
349716
well it is well filmed and written beautiful yet filled with valuable information that I only wish I knew when I was studying science in the 50s haha ...exciting and valuabe stuff.
3182011
Although this book's suggested readership group consists of those in the 8-12 age range, I think it will be of interest to anyone else - regardless of age -- who has an interest in the information provided about a remarkably diverse range of subjects. The material is organized within 28 sections that begin with a "News Recap" (i.e. of highlights in 2007 in 2008) and proceeds from Animals (e.g. "Animal Facts: Weird but True") through Movies and TV (e.g. "Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards") to What's Next? (i.e. "a few of the wondrous inventions and trends that will greet us in the near future"). The lively and informative 243-page narrative is supplemented by more than 700 photographs, maps, charts, and other illustrations.

As is true of most other almanacs, this is a volume in which to roam rather than read from beginning to end. Think of it as a marketplace for information on prominent display at 28 different "booths." Pause to examine what attracts the eye, then move on. Come back again in a week or a month. Curious minds will find answers to questions such as these:

1. What are the three major reasons that animals communicate? How do they do so?
2. How do various systems in the human body work?
3. What are among the most helpful Internet resources?
4. What are the ten destinations most-visited by tourists?
5. What happens at a recycling plant?
6. What is the purpose of each of the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution?
7. What were the major developments in world history from 4000-3500 B.C. until 2007?
8. What are the basic beliefs of the five major religions?
9. What are some of the "wackiest" sports from around the world?
10. Who were among the most influential activists throughout history?

This almanac also provides a wealth of detailed information about all of the U.S. presidents, all of the 50 states, the largest U.S. cities, and dozens of foreign countries as well as timelines for exploration, life-changing inventions, and the planet Earth.  To sum up, as the 2009 edition clearly indicates, the Time for Kids almanacs offer content and production values of the highest quality. That is why they have won a number of awards such as the Teacher's Choice Award as "Best Children's Reference Book" from Learning magazine, the Association of Educational Publishers' award also as "Best Children's Reference Book," and ranking on "The A-list" by FamilyFun magazine.
4292188
This book is truly one of the most amazing and wonderful books I have come upon in quite a while.  I had listened to the original BBC podcast of the same title, so I was already familiar with the style and content of this book.  However, I was very happily surprised at how fresh the book felt even having already heard the podcast.

The scholarship and elegance found in this book are quite an accomplishment and an absolute delight to share in by reading.  Neal MacGregor's style is immediately engaging.  I am not generally a history buff, and yet I couldn't put down this 700 page non-fiction book on world history!  The book is crafted in a way to show how artifacts from our distant past still have impact on the world we live in today.  While the book is very erudite, it includes quirky anecdotes, light humor, and many surprises.  It feels smart, but never tedious, condescending, or preachy.  I have learned more from this one book about our history and our world today than I did from years of high school history classes.  Sad in a way, but true.

MacGregor has carefully selected historical objects from the entire world, not just Europe and the Middle East, as is so commonly the case.  MacGregor has also mindfully selected a diversity of objects from a diversity of cultures and socio-economic classes. Not only did I learn about the ancient history of China, India, and the Americas, but I saw an interconnectedness of history and the cultures that exist today.

The book itself is also very nicely done.  Each of the 100 chapters includes at least one full-page photograph of the object, and many chapters have multiple pictures from different views, or pictures of related objects.  Each chapter is about 5 pages of text, which is enough to be informative without feeling like a college textbook. There is also maps and lists of objects at the conclusion of the book.

I recommend this book without any reservations.  Regardless of your interest in world history today, this book will drawn you into history before you realize it has already happened.  The book is a little pricey at a glace, but you are really getting a book to cherish and thoroughly enjoy for a long time.  I have no regrets having purchased the book (and for considerably more than the Amazon price).
1410022
A Crack in Creation by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg is simply a must-read popular science book.  Professor Doudna led the research team responsible for the breakthrough gene editing technology, CRSIPR.  This important book promises to stimulate informed conversation about the new, unprecedented powers of creation that have recently been placed in human hands.

The book is divided into two sections. Part I: The Tool documents the discovery process that led to CRISPR. No doubt, the authors painstaking reconstruction of events will prove immensely valuable to students and scientists.  The authors have a knack for explaining complex concepts in an accessible manner. Still, for generalists like myself, I found myself skimming through sections because the science (for my taste) trends towards the arcane.

Part II: The Task talks about the potential uses and abuses of CRISPR.  The authors envision useful systemic applications including immunotherapy to fight disease, the purposeful engineering of more productive crops and livestock, and so on.  Human germline applications, of course, are more problematic.  The authors are sympathetic to the cause of eradicating genetic conditions but are concerned about unwise experimentation (e.g., designer babies).  After reading the authors reasoned thoughts and perspectives, I feel much better informed and engaged. There is no doubt that gene editing will be widely discussed and debated for many years to come.

I highly recommend this excellent book to everyone.
1731581
It is obvious that the book is written out of the authors' love for both science and truth, but most importantly, for humanity. Maybe that's what makes the written words so luminous. I found the book very educational, it presents the latest theories about the nature and origin of the universe in a way that allows even non-scientists to understand. The authors explain the dead ends reached by each theory and gently introduce the possibility of a new perspective, which ties everything together in a much more elegant, intelligent and logical way, solving what seemed to be insurmountable problems. The perspective presented is tremendously inspiring and empowering, and will resonate with anyone who is interested in their own consciousness.

I am impressed by how  this book was written in a way that makes the insights accessible to scientists and laymen alike, and which returns science to its true purpose, the evolution and well-being of mankind and all life. I have read many books by Dr. Chopra (alas, none by Dr. Kafatos), but this book has brought me new insights in a new language. It has made it possible to envision a world where science, in its own way, expresses the same wisdom that has been communicated by sages everywhere, laying a new foundation for more life-affirming structures in our societies.
2712515
Parents and kids will love this book. Schools and libraries will have a hard time keeping this one available. I am definitely requesting my library director order a copy of this book for our local library. Slap-stick and science. Entertainment and education. Boisterous and brainy. Sort of Captain Underpants meets Encyclopedia Brown.

It took me a while to write this review, as my 7 year old and I would read a chapter most every night, and what a great time we had reading this book together. There are subjects and vocabulary that my son had not yet been introduced to. Now, through this silly, fun, (yet informative)and quirky book, he has. We spent about as much time talking about concepts in this book and looking up topics on the internet as we did reading it. This book is great for middle school age children (all boys in the story), but if your child is younger, adults will enjoy reading with them. There is enough subtle humor and references to entertain the adults, yet my son was howling at the knock-knock jokes, the signing, ant-licking chimp and the 'Odd Couple' robots, Klink and Klank.

My son loved the pictures and diagrams and the wackiness. As a parent, I loved that Scieska included Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, sign language, protons and neutrons, anti-matter, atom smashing and Watson's Universal-Strength Peanut Butter Bubble Gum. There are great social lessons as Frank's story incorporates stealing, cheating, helping family and friends, failure and success, brief scientific ethical issues and using his brains, talent and a bit of wisecracking to overcome hurdles. I can't wait for more of this series. It appears to me that the underlying theme of this story is matter and the future themes will be energy, humans, life, earth and the universe.

My son, hands down, rated this 5 stars (after his initial gazillion stars). I rate it a 4.5. To make this book perfect for me, it would include kids of color. What a great way open up young minds to a world of science, invention and mystery in a manner that is sure to appeal to them.

Disclosure: I read a free uncorrected proof the book in return for my candid review. Be assured, my opinion is honest, and I do not owe or know the author/publisher.
928940
Digital Learning:  Strengthening and Assessing 21st Century Skills is clearly, thoroughly researched and organized.  The author focuses on the Common Core standards and NETS standards throughout the book.  Although this book does not focus on standards by State (as some of the reviewers complained about), I believe this is a benefit to educators.  The book offers extraordinary organization tools for educators, and stresses the need for more collaboration among teachers spanning all over the country, not just by State.  As an educator myself, I can't stress hard enough, the importance of this idea of expanding our collaboration borders.
Ferdi Serim approaches learning as student centered.  He talks about how we learn and what motivates learners.  He focuses on a teaching environment of creativity, innovation, communication and collaboration, which clearly shines through his text.  I actually had the opportunity to take part in a webinar he presented in, and his enthusiasm for learning and teaching is very clear while reading this book.  When you listen to him in person, his passion is no joke.
This is not to be meant as a text book for classroom teachers to use in isolation.  This is meant to be a guide for educators who are trying to lead their schools, classrooms and students into the 21st century.
241691
This is an outstanding, fresh, new, informational, thought provoking, very interesting book. I read all books having to do with science and technology. I am a science teacher and I love to find new ideas and information.  This book is special and will go down as a classic.  For the first time an author has studied technology and made it a science to study.  Technology is so important to our society, that everyone should read and learn what it is all about.  This book gives the answers to the questions about technology that controls everyone's life.  Very seldom do I find a book that has new information instead of compiling other's work.  I have so much respect for the author and wish I could write such a masterpiece.
3367841
Tapps beautiful new textbook takes advanced undergraduate writing to a whole new level.  At first glance, it is visually stunning with professional formatting features and color graphics on every page.  The images are more than just eye candy -- many are very novel visualizations of key concepts, tremendously helpful to the readers understanding.

Tapps book covers the field rigorously and concisely in only 350 pages, but manages to also include motivation and intuition for each new concept.  The writing style is engaging, clear and insightful.  Tapp has done a masterful job at presenting the classical mathematics both efficiently and with enough detail and examples to make the subject intelligible.  There are hundreds of exercises, ranging from routine calculations to advanced excursions.

The introduction says that Applications abound! In fact Tapps book does exhibit a good number of interesting connections between the mathematics and the real world (more to ground and clarify the math concepts then to apply them).  I particularly like the discussion of south-pointing chariots, used to anchor the readers understanding of holonomy and arclength variation.

I am familiar with several undergraduate differential geometry books.  Do Carmos classic from the 1970s deserves a lot of credit.  It originally served as both a textbook and a comprehensive overview of the literature.  As such, Do Carmos exposition is sometimes cluttered with technical and peripheral topics (that Tapp wisely delegates to the exercises), and Do Carmo introduces most sections by discussing the historical context (whereas Tapp discusses the correct intuition for the upcoming mathematical content).  While Carmos book works well for math majors at the very top universities who are bound for graduate school, it is too dry and technical for readers who require a bit more motivation to understand why each next topic is worthy of their attention.

Although other authors have tried, Tapp is the first to successfully improve on Do Carmo without sacrificing its main strength, namely its sound concise rigorous mathematical development.  In fact, Tapp improves even on this strength via dozens of clever proof-simplifications and organizational tricks.  Tapps book follows the spirit of Do Carmo but is much more readable.

Tapp has finally written a curves and surfaces book that does justice to the technical details while maintaining focused on the larger visual ideas  a book that includes the necessary local coordinate formulas without making them main point.  This is an exceptionally strong manuscript that I believe deserves to become the standard undergraduate textbook in the field!
2069007
"Dancing with Chaos: How Unpredictable is Life" by Faramrz Naeim is a book that opens mental vistas and panoramas and effortlessly takes the reader through kalpas of time, space and events. Glance at the table of contents and the chapter titles attest to an astonishing eclectic romp - from telescopes to microscopes, from fractals and cosmology to apoptosis and evolution, from genetics and society to Gaia and global warming and more.  Each section is whole and complete and each chapter could stand alone as an erudite essay covering the particular topic from the very beginning of the concept to the current state of knowledge. And I mean the very beginning, the Big Bang, supposedly the start of it all from a singularity that the author explains may not really be singular at all, but plural, repetitive and continuous!  Each chapter can stand and be read alone allowing time for the reader to enjoy, digest and consider the material without sacrificing continuity. I actually began reading a middle chapter because of my particular interests before going back and reading the earlier chapters. The author, an academic physician, is clearly not only master of his craft but encyclopedic in interests and pursuits. The finely developed scientific arguments, contents and references tell about the scientist and academician while the stories, comments and asides tell much about the humanity of the man. That the author comprehends and is able to address and expound on such a wide variety of complex physical, biological and medical concepts, intersperse such with juicy tidbits of humor, social and political commentary is an absolute wonder and a singularity indeed. The book is above all a compendium, a synthesis, a fusion of ideas not to be passed by inquiring minds
2522655
I can't say enough about this book.  It is rare these days to encounter a substantially original idea in education theory or any field.
Rarer yet an original idea that is also proven to work!  I feel that Ms. Robair may well be onto something big here.

  Michael
4710594
UBIQUITOUS by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange is the most exciting book I encountered last month at ALA in Boston.

UBIQUITOUS gracefully intertwines poetry, prose, and illustration on the topic of why certain life forms have beaten the odds and remained viable on our planet over unfathomable lengths of time while the vast majority of life forms have come and gone.

UBIQUITOUS exposes readers to a great variety of poetic forms and to the concept of having poetry and prose side by side.  (Thus, modeling the concept of having a poem introduce a topic.)  It is exactly what we -- well, I -- want to see happening with poetry in science and math and history classrooms and in the gymnasium and...well, does anybody out there still teach drivers ed?

UBIQUITOUS is a true picture book.  The poems, prose, and illustrations interact and each contributes fully to the presentation of the concepts and to the enjoyment of the book.  The prose segment of the spread on lichens (as with the others) runs approximately 150 clear and well-chosen words.  The last book this duo designed was the Caldecott Honor book
SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN & OTHER POND POEMS.  I'm not going out on a limb -- just stating the obvious -- in predicting that members of several ALA committees, NCTE committees, IRA committees, and poetry award committees will all be fully aware of what is accomplished here.

UBIQUITOUS begins and ends with a creative and eye-catchingly colorful and swirling endpage timeline which depicts where many of the book's subjects fit into the scheme of things.  (For those of us who remember high school science, that means that bacteria is way over to the left and everything else is way over to the right.)  I am teaching a class to library students this summer on children's and young adult poetry and UBIQUITOUS will be the first trade poetry book each of them will be required to read for the class.  It's that good.
2261646
Everyone in my immediate family is an educator. Several of them teach at the elementary level. The scholastic super science stem instant activity series is simply amazing.

It comes in a shelf-sized, ready box contains 30 separate activities divided into 15 learning areas. Each topic is enclosed in its own trifold envelope. Included in the envelope are five task cards that allow you to divide your students into teams. The task cards ask a question, make a statement, and then delve into the activity at hand. Materials required are stated simply in a box on the upper right. Cards are two-sided, need side has a separate activity. The folder has an interesting story or anecdote about the topic on the left, inside fold, and the last two pages are fill in the blank forms so that the teacher can run off copies to be used by the students.

The topics are interesting to students and the Next Generation Science Standards objectives are clearly identified and numbered to make for easy test prep and keeping track of compliance.  The folders and activities are very colorful and lavishly illustrated.

Scholastic gets an A+ for this product!
4688858
Climate Change Reconsidered is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary compilation of technical papers covering a very large variety of important topics that will be appreciated by all who desire reliable, up to date information. It is well organized, making desired information easily and conveniently accessible. Summary overview discussions provided in each topical section highlight key observations.

Prepared by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) and published by the Heartland Institute, the selections are carefully vetted and selected by prominent, highly respected scientists.

As a regular weekly Forbes columnist and frequent climate issue commentator, I am very grateful for this extremely valuable information resource. Accordingly, I highly recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in climate science and policy. Every high school and climate science-related college library should have multiple copies available for classroom and research use.

Larry Bell
1992081
This is a book filled with amazingly beautiful pictures, and equally amazing New
facts about the place Africa holds as the origin of our human race.

We are ,living in an age of discovery unequalled in our knowledge of history. In all
the sciences new ideas are being proved, and providing new challenges.  It is fitting that our shared history is also being expanded and, as the book's title suggests, proving new facts about how we came to be here, how we spread around the world, and how much we have forgotten, or never known, about our ancestors.

Answers ?  Yes this book does suggest answers, but also leads those with open minds to search for new meaning in the saga of our existence on this small but unique planet.  Unique?  That may be one of the questions that is soon to be answered. Truly we live in exciting times.

Richard Feynman said that "the stage is too vast for the drama."  Maybe we are now beginning to find that is not after all true.
1860563
As a practicing speech-language pathologist in the public school setting, I have found Joan Green's book to be a wealth of knowledge  for colleagues, parents, and students.  Staying current in technology can be overwhelming for busy professionals.  The format of the book, with the addition of the index, provides an organized, easy-to-read compilation of affordable tools for all ages of learners.
As an adjunct professor at a local university, I  encouraged my Special Education graduate students to use the book as a reference tool and to share the book with mentoring  SPED teachers in school settings.  The book is "user-friendly" for adults who have not embraced technology as a teaching tool or who rely on the "specialists" to implement assistive technology.  The universal design for learning agenda within the Common Core State Standards, requires  all  educators to increase knowledge of affordable technology and strategies. The book is the bridge for all educators to apply differentiated instruction via technology.  Each chapter has a standalone capability to empower educators with a plethora of technology resources for all types of learners.
1984825
Mad scientists delve into a deeper understanding of the scientific nature of parenting, and they laughed maniacally. Its Alive! Its AL-EYEEEE-VE! Yes, that bald, crying thing that just rocketed out of your body is, in fact, alive. You made that with chemistry by mixing only two liquids together. Who knew it was that easy?

Discover scientific terms that might pop up in your kids homework someday with things you can actually understand such as your life now as a parent. Next time you run into Schrodingers Cat (a thought-experiment on the random nature of Quantum Mechanics), after reading this book, youll be able to identify it as Schrodingers Backpack, which means until you look in your childs backpack, your childs homework is completed, yet it hasn't even been started, all at the same time. Mind Blown. You will also learn about E=MC: Energy is equal to Mom times Caffeine squared. Caffeine, like the speed of light, is lifes only constant.

The Professor Moms who created this textbook provides everything you need to learn this science including diagrams, charts, graphs, cartoons, Cosmo-Style quizzes. Its better than a PowerPoint because its a book. It can also substitute as a treatment plan for parents via laughter, solidarity, and the realization that you are not the only one, and its very effective when paired with Xanax.