A serious look at a dangerous pursuit.
Recognizing the appeal but emphasizing the difficulties, a veteran science writer offers a window into the world of scientists and lay enthusiasts who follow violent storms, particularly tornadoes.
Introducing his subject with a look at a day in the life of a storm chaser, Miller goes on to explore it in greater depth in an accessible, informative narrative. He explains how tornadoes are formed, discusses climate change and its probable connection to the increase in extreme weather events, describes the work of meteorologists and others who watch the weather (either officially or as part of the National Weather Service’s volunteer corps of recorders and spotters), and concludes by suggesting ways readers can prepare to become storm chasers themselves. He includes instructions for assembling a weather emergency kit and constructing homemade weather-watching instruments; the excellent suggestions for further reading and Internet research will be particularly useful for students. All this is packaged in a slim, attractively designed package in which the text is broken up by sidebars providing definitions, explanations and short bios as well as photographs and colorful diagrams. Pair with Joseph B. Treaster’s Hurricane Force (2007) or other titles about hurricane hunters for a broader vision of storm study in this country.
A serious look at a dangerous pursuit. (Nonfiction. 11-16)Pub Date: March 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1284-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge.
With an amped-up sense of wonder, the Science Guy surveys the natural universe.
Starting from first principles like the scientific method, Nye and his co-author marvel at the “Amazing Machine” that is the human body then go on to talk up animals, plants, evolution, physics and chemistry, the quantum realm, geophysics, and climate change. They next venture out into the solar system and beyond. Along with tallying select aspects and discoveries in each chapter, the authors gather up “Massively Important” central concepts, send shoutouts to underrecognized women scientists like oceanographer Marie Tharp, and slip in directions for homespun experiments and demonstrations. They also challenge readers to ponder still-unsolved scientific posers and intersperse rousing quotes from working scientists about how exciting and wide open their respective fields are. If a few of those fields, like the fungal kingdom, get short shrift (one spare paragraph notwithstanding), readers are urged often enough to go look things up for themselves to kindle a compensatory habit. Aside from posed photos of Nye and a few more of children (mostly presenting as White) doing science-y things, the full-color graphic and photographic images not only reflect the overall “get this!” tone but consistently enrich the flow of facts and reflections. “Our universe is a strange and surprising place,” Nye writes. “Stay curious.” Words to live by.
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge. (contributors, art credits, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4676-5
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
In the same format as his Newbery Honor title The Great Fire (1995), Murphy brings the blizzard of 1888 to life. He shows how military weather-monitoring practices, housing and employment conditions, and politics regarding waste management, transportation monopolies, and utilities regulation, all contributed to—and were subsequently affected by—the disaster. He does so through an appealing narrative, making use of first-hand accounts whose sources he describes in his notes at the end (though, disappointingly he cites nothing directly in the text). The wealth of quotable material made available through the letters of members of “the Society of Blizzard Men and Blizzard Ladies” and other sources help to make the story vivid. Many drawings and photographs (some of the blizzard, but most of related scenes) illustrate the text. These large reproductions are all in a sepia-tone that matches the color of the typeface—an effect that feels over-the-top, but doesn’t detract significantly from the power of the story. Murphy’s ability to pull in details that lend context allows him to tell this story of a place in time through the lens of a single, dramatic episode that will engage readers. This is skillfully done: humorous, jaw-dropping, thought-provoking, and chilling. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-590-67309-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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