Science

cool book news!

This is cool. Last year, my book Arctic Lace was a finalist in the Colorado Book Awards, so now I’m on their mailing list. I just got an announcements of the finalists for this year, and I found this book listed in the nonfiction category:

The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension by Joy Hakim.

This is the third book in Joy’s science series, published by Smithsonian Books. Einstein Adds a New Dimension is for grades 9 & up, so I hope our Teen Skepchick readers will check it out!

This book is recommended by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA):

Textbook? Novel? Joy Hakim’s books are always a little of both, and this one is even more fascinating than the previous two editions of The Story of Science. This volume begins with Einstein toiling in the patent office, about to produce the amazing insights of his “miracle year.” Then, interwoven throughout the story, are the contributions of the other physicists and chemists upon whose shoulders Einstein stood.


Like all of Hakim’s books, this one is filled with anecdotes, historical context, and deeper insights into the real methods of science than any other textbook has ever offered to students at this level. And most importantly, it is a joy to read!

On her website, Joy – an award-winning author who has been a teacher, a newspaper reporter, and an editor – explains why she writes about science:

 Maybe it was my computer, or cell phone, or microwave. Maybe it was the Internet. Whatever, the information age was everywhere, changing the way I lived and worked. And I had no idea of the basic ideas behind it. In the 20th century I hadn’t much cared; but I could no longer pretend. My ignorance of science was annoying. I realized that we live in the greatest scientific era ever, that science underlies the art and literature and politics of our times—to say nothing of the technology—and that I, like many of my peers, hardly knew a neutron from a neuron. And so, I decided it was time to tackle the subject: to attempt to become scientifically literate. For me the best way to learn something is to write about it, or teach it. Perhaps that explains my two careers: as author and teacher.  And that’s why I undertook The Story of Science.

Way to go Colorado Humanities for recognizing the importance and quality of Joy’s book!

Writerdd

Donna Druchunas is a freelance technical writer and editor and a knitwear designer. When she's not working, she blogs, studies Lithuanian, reads science and sci-fi books, mouths off on atheist forums, and checks her email every three minutes. (She does that when she's working, too.) Although she loves to chat, she can't keep an IM program open or she'd never get anything else done.

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4 Comments

  1. Wow! Thanks for letting us know about the book. I’m going to get a copy for my nieces and another for myself.

  2. Sweet, might consider this for my younger cousins, (or youngest cousins as I am the eldest of the grandchildren unless you count my Brother-in-law)

    My Brothers are protons, protons
    My Sisters are neurons, neurons
    I stir it twice, it’s instant family!

    – Gogol Bordellos Supertheory of Supereverything

  3. I’m a little surprised by the completely positive reaction to this book on Skepchick. The book talks about how Genesis describes the Big Bang, says physical constants are unchanging just like the Ten Commandments, posits that some future science may be able to prove the “God theorem,” etc.

    In my opinion this doesn’t help advance skepticism.

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