Customer comments on this selection.
 Popular with the kids
My students liked this book a lot (one of many DK I've purchased for my classroon). One liked it so much it was never returned. Oh well, at least when they steal a book, I know they are reading!
The best of the best
The DK Eyewitness books belong in the personal library of every curious adult, all school libraries, and on the shelves of children seeking early knowledge in particular scientific fields.
However, I make an exception for "Eyewitness: Great Scientists." This is such an outstanding book, even for an outstanding series of books, that I cannot recommend it for everyone. That is a really strange statement, I know. "Eyewitness: Great Scientists" is really for the curious who thirst for knowledge, who must know things. Its depth is beyond other Eyewitness books. For science it is still an introduction, but an introduction to approximately 30 different fields.
"Eyewitness: Great Scientists" is a whetstone for young minds interested in any field of science. Why? For example, the child is introduced to Madame Curie, is fascinated by her life and work, then seeks out single books about her. Curiosity grows into a greater knowledge. This book is not a stopping point, but a stepping stone to a greater destination.
Most of the 30 scientists are given a two-page spread identifying them, their work, a timely chronology, sideline stories, and other related matter. The two-pages include photographs, illustrations, and text.
Look at some of the scientists included:
Aristotle
Archimedes
Zhang Heng
William Harvey
Georges Cuvier
Charles Babbage
Louis Pasteur
Marie Curie
Albert Einstein
Edwin Hubble
Dorothy Hodgkin
Stephen Hawking
The book concludes with a section on "Science and the future," offers milestones, lists websites to "Find out more," and discusses the Nobel Prize.
All the new Eyewitness books come with a 24 x 36 poster highlighting topics from the book and a CD of related clip art. This particular poster has Einstein's relativity theory, Marie Curie's x-ray, Hubble's telescope, Crick and Watson's DNA model, Darwin's natural selection, Harvey's blood flow, Newton's light spectrum, Zhang Heng's star chart, and Archimedes' Screw, plus a few more. The poster is a learning experience in itself.
I hope this review convinces you that "Eyewitness: Great Scientists" is a book to have, not just to collect dust, but to take out and read and add to your store of knowledge. Perhaps it will influence a young mind to do great things!
 I would give this 3.5 stars but I can't. . . .
I'm very enthusiastic about the newer series from DK that come with clip art discs and posters. Children like DK books, even if the pages are a little crowded, and I buy them often for our homeschool studies. Great Scientists (DK Eyewitness Books), however, is just not quite up to snuff in two specific ways.
Great Scientists (DK Eyewitness Books) provides short portraits of thirty great names in science, each on a two page spread, going all the way back to Aristotle. Of those 30 scientists, just two are women: Marie Curie and Dorothy Hodgkin. Lost in the clutter on the pages of the other, male "Greats" are Lisa Mietner, the woman who pioneered nuclear fission; Rosalind Franklin, who did all of the X-ray photography of the structure of DNA (many scientists believe that she should have been included in the Nobel received by Watson & Crick); and Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USN, who did pioneering work in computer programming. Each of these three women has made huge, groundbreaking contributions to modern science. To relegate them to a tiny picture and a single paragraph lost in the clutter of a male peer's page is a truly unfortunate oversight. Minus one full star.
Additionally, DK's choice of biographical detail is at times odd, sometimes including details that seem unrelated to an individual's role as scientist. Thus, Great Scientists (DK Eyewitness Books) finds it appropriate to mention that Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and Dorothy Hodgkin were both socialists (just what does socialism have to do with science?) while failing to mention Benjamin Franklin's activities as an American revolutionary figure. Great Scientists (DK Eyewitness Books) identifies Albert Einstein as German and Lisa Meitner as Jewish, yet fails to specify that Einstein was Jewish and Meitner was German. Minus 0.5 star.
All in all, Great Scientists (DK Eyewitness Books) is not so "great" but really just ordinary. Useful, but not brilliant.
Another Great Eyewitness Book!
This one is about Great Scientists. The kids in middle school have had to write about many of the famous scientists so it is a great resource to have. Other kids just were interested in looking at the book and finding out more about science. This was one of the most requested books that kids wanted me to add to our Eyewitness collection.
Very Detailed
My son's school didn't have this book in his library and he's very interestd in Einstein. We bought it to donate to the library. It's a wonderful book-he has checked it out twice since.
|
