Reviews (3)

My fave animal
The platypus is one of the weirdest creatures on earth and has been my favourite since I was old enough to walk (or so it seems ;)). This book is simple, straight forward, and offers good information as well as pictures of this elusive creature. I bought this book to add to my collection when I was 19 y/o. Doesn't matter what age you are, this is a great book. =)

A good book for children
There are great pictures and a large amount of facts about the platypus in this film. However, I should have taken a hint from the name of the series - "Mondo Animals" - that this is a children's book. There's nothing wrong with that; it just should have been clearer from the description. The language is extremely simplistic. I can imagine a 4th or 5th-grader using this book as a basis for a report. But if you're looking for an adult-level treatment of this subject, keep looking.

This is a really good book!
It is a good book because it tells you about the life of a platypus. It tells you what it eats, where it lives in Aultralia. This is a good book for anyone who likes platypuses. ... Read more

Book Description

Enjoy Your Cells is a new series of children's books from the acclaimed creative partnership of scientist/author Fran Balkwill and illustrator Mic Rolph. The titles in the series include:

Enjoy Your Cells Germ Zappers Have a Nice DNA! Gene Machines

Once again, they use their unique brand of simple but scientifically accurate commentary and exuberantly colorful graphics to take young readers on an entertaining exploration of the amazing, hidden world of cells, proteins, and DNA.

It's over ten years since Fran and Mic invented a new way of getting science across to children. Think what extraordinary advances have been made in biology in that time - and how often those discoveries made headlines. Stem cells, cloning, embryo transfer, emerging infections, vaccine development...here in these books are the basic facts behind the public debates. With these books, children will learn to enjoy their cells and current affairs at the same time. And they're getting information that has been written and reviewed by working scientists, so it's completely correct and up-to-date. Readers aged 7 and up will appreciate the stories' lively language and with help, even younger children will enjoy and learn from the jokes and illustrations - no expert required! This series is a must for all elementary school students and those who care about educating them to be well-informed in a world of increasingly complex health-related and environmental issues.

Fran Balkwill is Professor of Cancer Biology at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the London Queen Mary School of Medicine. Mic Rolph is a graphic designer with much television and publishing experience. Together, they have created many books for children, and have won several awards, including the prestigious COPUS Junior Science Book Prize. ... Read more

Book Description

Predators and Prey takes a look at the animals that feed on the plant- and insect-eating animals of the rainforest. Exciting illustrations help depict the hunting practices and ways of life of rainforest predatorsfrom hungry piranhas that live in the water to sharp-eyed cats that hunt by night on the forest floor, and eagles that swoop down from the canopy's treetops. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great for kids, the artwork is exceptional
The text is very informative and easily simplified when reading aloud to younger children.I thought the illustrations were warm and friendly, and beautifully done. ... Read more

Book Description

Investigate the origins of life and find out how living things survive.

DK gives a new look to the series that forever changed the nonfiction genre and set the standard for highly informative visual guides. This volume, and those to follow in future seasons, forms part of an indispensable library for the whole family. Focusing on contemporary and historical developments in the study of life, this book features clear, expertly written text, color and black-and-white photos, charts, graphics, and 3-D models -- all of which combine to make complex scientific concepts easy to understand. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very Good!
This book is very reader freindly with many illustrations! It covers almost everything that has to do with life! Here's a list of the contents. 1.What is life? 6-7 2.The carbon key 8-9 4.Life's building blocks 10-11 5.Single-celled life 12-13 6.Cells and organisms 14-15 7.Photosynthesis1 6-17 8.Respiration1 18-19 9.Getting supplies 20-21 10.Getting Around 22-23 11.Sensing the world 24-25 12.Keeping a balence 25-26 13.Attack and defense 27-28 14.Growth and deveiopmant 28-29

15.Asexual reproduction 30-31 16.DNA-the essence of life 32-33 17.How DNA works 34-35 18.Sexual reproduction 36-37 19.Heredity 38-39 20.Evolution 40-41 21.Interactions within species 42-43 22.Interactions between species4 4-45 23.Classifying living 46-47 24.Kingdoms of life 47-48 25.Plants and animals 49-50 26.How did life begin? 51-52 27.Increasing complexity 53-54 28.The edge of life 55-56 29.Genetic Engineering 57-58 30.Life beyond Earth 59-60 The reason I made this list is because when I see a book review I want a list of the contents! ... Read more

Book Description

Browsers and young students alike will enjoy these lively question and answer books with their unique mix of realistic illustration and engaging cartoons. The enticing questions will amaze, amuse and inspire, while the highly visual format encourages kids to keep reading. ... Read more

Book Description

We plant some seeds in the ground. We sprinkle water all around... Plant seeds and watch them grow into lovely sunflowers! Easy, rhyming text and delightful artwork capture the fascinating process. ... Read more

Book Description

A teaspoon of sea water can hold a soupy serving of a million phytoplankton! These tiny floating plants come in thousands of amazing variations. Invisible to the naked eye, phytoplankton are the source of our atmosphere, our climate, our ocean food chain, much of our oil supply, and more. Theyre also food for zooplankton, tiny animals that often look like weird life forms from outer space.

In this volume (another volume: Sea Soup: Zooplankton will be available in Fall 2000), Mary Cerullos text answers intriguing questions about these tiny drifters that have shaped our world, while Bill Curtsingers extraordinary photomicroscopy serves up tantalizing images of this sea soup. Many of the photos for this book were taken at Maines Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science and the Darling Marine Center, using an Axiophot 2 research microscope donated by Carl Zeiss, Inc.

This book has an accompanying teacher's guide: Sea Soup Teachers Guide: Discovering the Watery World of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton

AWARD --Notable Books for Children, 1999 Smithsonian ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (8)

Getting it Right
The author writes well and with grace. The topic of infectious disease is easily misinterpreted by terms such as "the deadly_________" that pervades the cheap popular press, but none of that here. She also writes with accuracy from having read the relevant literature.I do not think this a children's book but rather a chatty and intelligent exploration of the plagues of our times. I would place on the level of Hans Zinsser, Macfarlane Burnet but without the inevitable academic claptrap. Whether she will continue her frank and unembroidered style as she continues in academic medicine is anybodies guess, but if anyone can write a history of AIDS, she can!

Just a Start to What You'll Want to Know About Diseases
Some people say that a book has "more than you'll ever want to know" about such and such a thing.Realistically, though, a single volume cannot contain all information on a subject.This book, Invisible Enemies, is not more than you'll ever want to know... it's a start to a whole new search for knowledge.

After I read this, I thought I should become an epidemiologist.

Though it was classified under the children's section at my local library, I was intrigued by both the cover, the description, and the title.I checked it out and read it; it contains summaries, drawings, history, stories, and explanations of many highly infectious diseases that have plagued man throughout history--six or seven, I believe.Included are: tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera, bubonic plague, AIDS, smallpox, and malaria.Before I read this, the basis of my knowledge of smallpox was that it is mostly gone, with the exception of a few lab samples around the world.Now I know how the vaccination was developed, as well as its spread and symptoms.

If diseases are something even slightly interesting to you, this is the book I would begin with.

Awesome
I picked up this book looking at the cover trying to figure out his picture. I then looked at the titleee and it clicked. I read this for school and it wasn't hard to finish it because it amazed me with what everything really was. Usually I read fiction books that have diseases or disorders in them. I figured that there should be some explaination for me. It wasnt hard to follow. Also everything was explained very well. I didn't have any real background other than the fictions books that you really couldn't go by.

A great book
Invisible Enemies is a book that will educate you about 7 diseases that helped shaped history, will make you respect the power of the tiny organisms we live with, and will not let you forget the most important part of any epidemic - the people.As a graduate student in the sciences, I wassatisfied with the details about the diseases and fascinated by the detailsabout the people.

science for non-scientists
Never did I think that I would be reading, much less enjoying, a book about infectious disease! It is a tribute to the way the book is written, taking perspectives from several disciplines, that a non-scientist such asmyself would be fascinated by this book.The treatment of tuberculosis isparticularly engaging.It is apparent that the author has a keenunderstanding of this disease.I highly recommend this book.If nothingelse, you can entertain your friends with stories of how the Chinese foughtsmallpox! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Amazing.
Using brilliantly colored photographs and simplistic scientific words, this book introduces children to the amazing life cycle of a butterfly. From egg to caterpillar to cocoon (chrysalis) to winged monarch the entire life of a monarch butterfly is explored. The last page of the book includes valuable information that will help teachers, parents, and other adults in answering children's questions. ... Read more