There is probably no writer today who is so successful in translating scientific facts and terms into language the average reader, with even a dim interest in the subject, can read. Here he traces for early teens the story of how the secrets of our own planet in relation to the Moon were probed. He goes back to the Greeks, bringing their inquiries down to the great contribution made by Ptolemy; goes on to the Arabs- and then the Western Europeans, with Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus and Magellan. Try to go back to the assumptions that the earth was fixed and forward to the contributions made by today's space science, and you'll realize what a span of intellectual development Mr. Asimov has achieved. He has high pointed his story with names of men who contributed largely to this growth: Galileo, Newton, Cavendish; and with significant advances and turning points relating to what is under the earth, what is outside the earth's crust, what outer space signifies to better comprehension of our role in the system. With the Soviet achievement in photographing the other side of the Moon, this sort of information is vital to every inquiring mind.
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1960
ISBN: 1515012050
Page Count: -
Publisher: Abelard-Schuman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1960
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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