The Fairy Tales of Science

a very interesting books full of facts and information highly re

(5 stars)

James Balliet

A bit of charm, good intentions, and lists of facts

(3 stars)

kerriganm

At communicating complex science topics to children: FAIL. The mention of fairy tales in the title is quite misleading. There are no fairy tales as such and it is not, as I'd hoped, a scientific look at episodes or incidents found in fairy tales. He introduces a topic with the conceit of having a comet deliver a lecture on comets, or a dwarf on the topic or minerals and metals. And it has a certain charm. But then follows a dry lecture on whatever it is. And then the language is not adjusted for young minds. These days children are very much catered to (not a judgement, just a truth) and perhaps don't have the high intellectual standards as was expected of them in the 1850s (or whenever this was written), but when I hear "anomalous", I'm guessing this wasn't play-tested with seven-year-olds. I have a Master's Degree and have a (perhaps unhealthy) addiction to books, but a few of the words in this had ME scratching my head. At communicating complex science science topics to adults: D. I want to give it a C-, but I don't think I honestly can. For each topic, the author seemed to choose the least compelling way to present it to the lay public. For stars- magical, mystical stars- he gives us "There are this many stars of the first magnitude. There are this many stars of the second magnitude. There are this many stars of the third magnitude. There are this many stars of the fourth magnitude. There are..." Sporadically he remembers he's writing for children, and adds a little whimsy. But these bits seem like awkward asides, rather than lightening the lectures. Why three stars, then? The reader does a very good job. And I can feel in the writing that there is all the good will in the world in this work. He loves his topics, and sincerely wants to let us in on a good thing. He just doesn't know how.

Delightfully Raycyst

(4.5 stars)

Bill Cosby

A well written and read examination of the state of the art in ’science’ a hundred or so years ago. It makes one realize how much progress we have made. When it was written 'science' was unironicallly lauded as a benefit. Today we realize that 'science' was originated in the minds of old white males to perpetuate a white hegemonic controll over nonbinary BIPOCs. Thankfully the liberal billionaire gatekeepers would never allow this to be written today. In today's world, we have corporations like Amazon ensuring all scientific dogma is contextualized in terms of it's role in the unequal power dynamics, that cause women to only make 13 percent of lesser qualified male oppressors. Who says there is no such think as progress

awesome 😊

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

this is a nice book with loving stories

Thank you

(5 stars)

LaVern Thompson

Interesring book thar is well read.