Book Review

…We see it compellingly- -we all but feel the chill - - in a weather satellite image that discloses the entire Bay, still as sunny as that cold Pacific shoreline is socked in. Almost 50 such images, immediate and colorful (most of them falsely but meaningfully color-coded) show us the earth from far above. Circles of green crops under pivot irrigation pave an oasis in the Arabian desert just as they dot Kansas; we see named atolls and volcanoes, cities, canyons and deltas, hurricane clouds and polar ice caps, and long plumes of smoke drifting far downwind from the Yellowstone forests ablaze….The space images are a large catch at a good price for all young readers, with a simple and helpful text …

~ Philip and Phylis Morrison, Scientific American excerpt

Satellite images awake a sense of awe at the fragile beauty of our small planet. A child can view remote areas, track storms, identify land forms, and see how man is changing Earth. A MUST for any scientifically-minded 8 to 12 year old.

~ Jane C., Librarian, Hawthorne School, Brunswick

Great, varied pictures. Strong scientific content, particularly relating to weather. The treatment of anthropogenic (man-made) influences is clear, balanced, and appropriate. There is one unfortunate bit of phrasing on page 26 that might suggest to a reader that the dinosaurs went extinct in a matter of weeks. Also, on page 55, I see no reason to introduce the concept of the Kelvin temperature scale. (The Kelvin color coding at the top of the image could have been cropped.) There are occasions where it is difficult to understand precisely what is an image the text is highlighting. (e.g. page 25.) Some phrasing is tedious and/or sloppy (e.g. page 31; or page 39, where four consecutive sentences begin "They can see…", "They can track…", "They can track…", "They can see…".) Overall, I believe the book is worthy and potentially inspiring to an early adolescent reader.

~ Barry Logan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, Bowdoin College

This book is filled with stunning photographs of the Earth from space. An extensive section on remote sensing and its uses is included. I spent a lot of time looking carefully at the images. Although each page described the photograph, I would have preferred more specifics about what I was seeing.

~ Maria Paliopoli, Science Teacher, Brunswick Junior High School