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Narrative Non Fiction
The Story of Astronomy and Space
Introduces the concepts of astronomy, including explaining the properties of the sun and solar system as well as other stars, constellations, and nebulas in the universe, and describes the history of space exploration.
- GenresNonfictionScience
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Louie Stowell
113 books75 followersLouie Stowell started her career writing carefully researched books about space, ancient Egypt, politics, and science, but eventually she lapsed into just making stuff up. She likes writing about dragons, wizards, vampires, fairies, monsters, and parallel worlds. Louie Stowell currently works as the publisher of Ladybird Books and lives in London with her wife, Karen; her dog, Buffy; and a creepy puppet that is probably cursed.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 10, 2017
Fun crash-course on astronomy.
March 21, 2016
When i first flipped through this book it seemed to have everything i wanted ~ it not only talks about our solar system, other things in our universe, and space exploration, but also how zero gravity affects astronauts' bodies.
And, while talking about astronomy, it aslo touches on astrology and mythology (inc. Inuit), and provides a few constellation maps and some advice for would-be astronomers ...and has black space-men floating around here and there, too.
However, pages showing that astro-scientists' used animals worried me ~ young readers need to know that people were too scared to take part in certain space-related experiments and 'therefore' subjected animals to those tests instead (which was a violation of those animals' rights), and that those animals suffered, even died, during those tests ...so, to simply write that a dog died because its chamber "got too hot" is misleading ~ to ignore why a dog was in the chamber, & why it wasn't rescued before that chamber got 'too' hot, suggests that such details are unimportant, which is more irresponsible than not mentioning the dog.
And to write, in a 2014 publication, that a chimpanzee 'learned how to pull the correct space-craft levers by being given electric shocks during training' without indicating in any way that such 'training' was cruel and unnecessary, tells readers that today's authors, editors, and publishers don't value a chimp's life, either.
Thereby dissuaded from buying the book, i still (for the sake of this review) took a much closer look at the other pages ...and found that, while the authors mention e.g. Egypt and Greece by name, they assume that readers know which places they're referring to when they don't name a place.
For example, on page 28, they 'explain' that e.g. Roman names for constellations [and birth-signs] simply "stuck" ...full stop ~ they do not say where or with who those names stuck.
They should have said that certain parts of the world (e.g. England, Spain, Israel...) were invaded by the Romans and therefore 'influenced' by Roman culture, and that some of those non-Romans later travelled to far away places, taking their 'adopted' customs with them (as did e.g. Euro-Americans), BUT that Roman / European / Western influences did not 'stick' everwhere ...for instance, China still uses its own horoscope, and indigenous people in colonised Canada/USA still name groups of stars according to their own mythologies.
If you don't already know such things you might be misled by this book into thinking that all zodiacs now relate to the Roman one, and / or that no nations have non-Roman constellations.
Aren't editors supposed to notice when things don't make sense?
Did the publisher really believe that the word "stuck" explained ...anything?
Why wasn't that sentence improved or removed?
It's annoying to find that you need to edit a supposedly finished book before you can completely enjoy it or share it ...and, as the sale of this edition would not encourage the authors / editors / publishers to be more careful, i'd advize against buying this book unless [/ until?] they fix it.
And, while talking about astronomy, it aslo touches on astrology and mythology (inc. Inuit), and provides a few constellation maps and some advice for would-be astronomers ...and has black space-men floating around here and there, too.
However, pages showing that astro-scientists' used animals worried me ~ young readers need to know that people were too scared to take part in certain space-related experiments and 'therefore' subjected animals to those tests instead (which was a violation of those animals' rights), and that those animals suffered, even died, during those tests ...so, to simply write that a dog died because its chamber "got too hot" is misleading ~ to ignore why a dog was in the chamber, & why it wasn't rescued before that chamber got 'too' hot, suggests that such details are unimportant, which is more irresponsible than not mentioning the dog.
And to write, in a 2014 publication, that a chimpanzee 'learned how to pull the correct space-craft levers by being given electric shocks during training' without indicating in any way that such 'training' was cruel and unnecessary, tells readers that today's authors, editors, and publishers don't value a chimp's life, either.
Thereby dissuaded from buying the book, i still (for the sake of this review) took a much closer look at the other pages ...and found that, while the authors mention e.g. Egypt and Greece by name, they assume that readers know which places they're referring to when they don't name a place.
For example, on page 28, they 'explain' that e.g. Roman names for constellations [and birth-signs] simply "stuck" ...full stop ~ they do not say where or with who those names stuck.
They should have said that certain parts of the world (e.g. England, Spain, Israel...) were invaded by the Romans and therefore 'influenced' by Roman culture, and that some of those non-Romans later travelled to far away places, taking their 'adopted' customs with them (as did e.g. Euro-Americans), BUT that Roman / European / Western influences did not 'stick' everwhere ...for instance, China still uses its own horoscope, and indigenous people in colonised Canada/USA still name groups of stars according to their own mythologies.
If you don't already know such things you might be misled by this book into thinking that all zodiacs now relate to the Roman one, and / or that no nations have non-Roman constellations.
Aren't editors supposed to notice when things don't make sense?
Did the publisher really believe that the word "stuck" explained ...anything?
Why wasn't that sentence improved or removed?
It's annoying to find that you need to edit a supposedly finished book before you can completely enjoy it or share it ...and, as the sale of this edition would not encourage the authors / editors / publishers to be more careful, i'd advize against buying this book unless [/ until?] they fix it.
August 24, 2015
This book introduces the concepts of astronomy and describes the history of space exploration.
This was a great general introduction for children to the ideas of astronomy and space. It provided lots of information in a straight forward / easy to understand / child friendly manner.
Young children, if interested in science, will probably find this book fascinating.
This was a great general introduction for children to the ideas of astronomy and space. It provided lots of information in a straight forward / easy to understand / child friendly manner.
Young children, if interested in science, will probably find this book fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews