Monday, May 12, 2008

Nonfiction Monday: Guinea Pig Scientists

Boring, Mel. Guinea Pig Scientists.

GUINEA PIG SCIENTISTS by Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring share with readers ten true stories of men and women who have been so dedicated to scientific research that they have experimented on themselves. These include George Fordyce, Lazzaro Spallanzani, William Morton, Horace Wells, Daniel Carrion, Jesse Lazear, Marie and Pierre Curie, John Scott and Jack Haldane, Werner Forssmann, John Paul Stapp, and Stefania Follini.

Each chapter includes several illustrations (sketchs, and/or photographs which are all captioned), several sidebars filled with additional information, and concludes with a "Now We Know" section which brings the research up to date. (The book is arranged chronologically).

Also included is "History's Timetable" which lists (starting in the 1500s) key scientists and discoveries up to the present day. Hoping to encourage further study, they have included other guinea pig scientists in italicized font throughout the timetable.

GUINEA PIG SCIENTISTS is well-documented. They list bibliographical references for each chapter in addition to providing bibliographical notes for each quotation. It is also indexed.

GUINEA PIG SCIENTISTS is a fascinating book. With chapter titles like "Swallowing Bags, Bones, and Tubes" "The Sad Story of Laughing Gas" and "The Night of the Deadly Blue Glow" it's sure to appeal to a wide variety of readers.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

Jeane said...

That sounds quite interesting!