I suppose you could simply read “The Great Australian Science Book”, but in many ways it’s too busy and too exciting for that. This is a book that invites us to explore!
The introduction is fabulously friendly. Professor Luke O’Neil creates profound prose in a nutshell. Combined with Linda Fahrlin’s illustrations, each double page is like a treasure map to be examined and poured over like a pioneer. Each one rewards us with giggles and science gold.
I took my time with this book. Part romp, part reference, it is definitely something I’ll enjoy returning to for a BIG PICTURE view on any of the carefully categorised science topics within.
I just got a bit miffed by a few Irish issues. You see, this book started out as “The Great Irish Science Book”. CSIRO have lovingly adjusted it to include plenty of worthy Australian content. There’s a large image of the Earth on p18, proudly displaying the Australian continent. But every other depiction of our planet shows the other side – from a smidgen of the Americas, through Europe, Africa and Asia. A tiny Earth or two, from an Australian perspective, would have been appreciated.
On page 57, an image used to parody how DNA and RNA use different languages to communicate is of a book of IRISH TALES. English versus Irish was fine for the Irish version of this book, but perhaps we could have seen an image of a book cover from a language closer to our Australian home please? And what on earth do the letters GAA stand for at the top of page 79? It turns out to be GAELIC ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION! I’m sure there would be a suitable Australian comparison available.
However, these are just slights or possible oversights. I really loved how the science on climate change is presented as a quiz; how key science terms are in shouty contrasting colours, so we can’t lose them; how there are plenty of little jokes and witticisms within the illustrations and text. This is a very cheerful book about almost-everything-we-need-to-know science. I hope it will brighten, heighten and highlight more than just one day or one science concept for you, as it has for me.