Like many others, Delano sounds the alarm—but in ways that her young audience is particularly likely to heed. Tucking in plenty of memorable comments from concerned scientists—“Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime. It’s like watching the Statue of Liberty melt”—she gives commonly accepted causes, current signs and projected effects of global warming a coherent once-over. She then proceeds to explain just what a “carbon footprint” is and proposes strategies both large-scale and personal for reducing it. Spreads of action tips, news items and mini-interviews separate the chapters. Featuring plenty of telling photographs—notably a set of film stills that includes a view of an SUV surrounded by 25 black balloons representing the amount of CO2 produced by a gallon of gas and a river of rubber ducks showing the average number of daily showers we each take in a lifetime, among others—plus a terrific multimedia resource list, this offers both cogent arguments for being concerned and feasible pathways to an eco-activist mindset. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4263-0434-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009
In this abridged and illustrated version of his Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), Bryson invites a younger crowd of seekers on a tour of time, space and science—from the Big Bang and the birth of the solar system to the growth and study of life on Earth. The single-topic spreads are adorned with cartoon portraits of scientists, explorers and (frequently) the author himself, which go with small nature photos and the occasional chart or cutaway view. Though occasionally subject to sweeping and dubious statements—“There’s no chance we could ever make a journey through the solar system”—Bryson makes a genial guide (“for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to come together in a complicated and obliging manner to create you”), and readers with even a flicker of curiosity in their souls about Big Ideas will come away sharing his wonder at living in such a “fickle and eventful universe.” (index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73810-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
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