These latest additions to Asimov's science-history series don't explain their scientific subjects with any flair or special care. Rather, his historical approach sees him, in the volcano book, ticking off major eruptions from Thera in Cretan times to Mt. St. Helens in 1980; and, in the solar book, describing gadgets and devices from an experimental paraboloid mirror to focus sunlight, devised in 230 B.C. This latter survey, which leads up to solar cells, is better integrated with explanations than is the volcano history, but still cursory; and as for future possibilities of solar power, Asimov ignores all small-scale and local uses of wind, tide, and so on, and discusses only the "hundreds of billions of dollars" project of lining up enormous areas of solar cells in space. Both books contain the odd interesting item, but Solar Power has at best a skimpy utility and Volcanoes less.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1981
ISBN: 0380596180
Page Count: -
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1981
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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