The Secret Of Everyday Things: Informal Talks With The Children

by Jean-Henri Fabre

The Secret of Everyday Informal Talks with the Children is a book written by Jean-Henry Fabre. It is a collection of informal talks that Fabre had with children about the everyday things that surround us. The book is divided into 14 chapters, each of which focuses on a different topic, such as water, air, light, sound, and electricity.In each chapter, Fabre uses simple language and engaging stories to explain the scientific principles behind these everyday things. He encourages children to ask questions and think critically about the world around them. The book is illustrated with charming black and white drawings that help to bring the topics to life.The Secret of Everyday Things was originally published in French in 1913 and has since been translated into several languages. It is a timeless classic that continues to inspire children and adults alike to explore the wonders of science and nature.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Science

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Fabre was born in Saint-Léons in Aveyron, France. Fabre was largely an autodidact, owing to the poverty of his family. Nevertheless, he acquired a primary teaching certificate at the young age of 19 and began teaching at the college of Ajaccio, Corsica, called Carpentras. In 1852, he taught at the lycée in Avignon.

Fabre went on to accomplish many scholarly achievements. He was a popular teacher, physicist, chemist and botanist. However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology. Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvelous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording. In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing. Fabre noted: Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure.

Over the years he wrote a series of texts on insects and arachnids that are collectively known as the Souvenirs Entomologiques. Fabre's influence is felt in the later works of fellow naturalist Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer". Fabre, however, rejected Darwin's theory of evolution; on the other hand he was not a Biblical creationist either but assumed a saltationist origin of biodiversity.

In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot. As each caterpillar instinctively followed the silken trail of the caterpillars in front of it, the group moved around in a circle for seven days.

Jean-Henri Fabre's last home and office, the Harmas de Fabre in Provence stands today as a museum devoted to his life and works.

The site of his birth, at St Léons, near Millau is now the site of Micropolis, a tourist attraction dedicated to popularising entomology and a museum on his life.

Reviews

[Roger Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a television show on the science channel called How It's Made. This book is very similar to the show except that the book is so old that most of the manufacturing processes described are now obsolete. Perhaps it could be used as the basis for a show called How It Used To Be Made.

[Gus Lackner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean-Henri Favre writes as a natural philosopher. He reveals sophistication through simplicity and refuses to be inscrutable and verbose. His words paint the canvas of the mind. It is like reading Pliny the Elder, were Pliny the beneficiary of a strict empiricism. I enjoyed the style and content of the book, and I am not surprised that John Stuart Mill chose the man as friend and supported him in his time of need.

I jotted this title down when I recently walked through a naturalist’s library. Finding it freely available online, I quickly read it. It is a short book intended to teach children the basic facts and principles of empirical inquiry, but it is also useful to teach adults the art of communication.

[Janelle]

The LibriVox narrator read a little fast for me.