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Showing posts with the label Mysteries of the Universe

One Day a Dot: The Story of You, the Universe, and Everything by Ian Lendler - ESSENTIAL

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One Day a Dot: The Story of You, the Universe, and Everything by Ian Lendler , illustrated by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb . PICTURE BOOK. First Second (Roaring Book Press), 2018. $18. 9781626722446. BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE Starting with the appearance of a simple dot, that then got so excited it burst into lots of other dots, that then joined together and made light, and eventually...the world as we know it came to be and we all exist. This is a simplified--and fantastic!--explanation of evolution, taking the readers from the very beginnings all the way to their own life on earth today. The author leaves us with the one thing no one can agree on or explain today--where that first dot actually came from. I liked this the first time I read it, and loved it the next time I gave it a go. The illustrations are colorful, artsy, and perfect for the material. The way a somewhat complex topic like evolution is simplified down here is great an

How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made The Modern World by Steven Johnson - ESSENTIAL

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How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made The Modern World by Steven Johnson , 152 pages. NON-FICTION. Viking (Penguin), 2018. $20 Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G. BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS, HS - ESSENTIAL  AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE This book is a young reader adaptation from a New York Times bestseller and covers the discoveries and innovations surrounding glass, cold, sound, cleanliness, time, and light. Each chapter covers one of these topics and includes a comprehensive history with the logistical details embedded in the timeline. The chapters also contain a number of photographs and illustrations. There are a lot of attention grabbing anecdotes in each section.   My entire family loved this book. We jumped around the book, each taking a turn picking a topic, and learned a lot in the process. One of the anecdotes that we have retold to other people we read in the chapter on light and it tell the story of how whale oil was used to make cheaper candles. To ge