Peter McMahon (3)
Auteur de Ultimate Trains (Machines of the Future)
Pour les autres auteurs qui s'appellent Peter McMahon, voyez la page de désambigüisation.
Œuvres de Peter McMahon
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Sexe
- male
- Lieux de résidence
- Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
- Études
- Ryerson University
- Courte biographie
- [excerpted from author's website]
Peter has written and produced for some of Canada's largest media outlets, including CTV, the Toronto Star, the kids magazine YES Mag and Discovery Channel, where he spent seven years as a new media producer and later, senior online producer. Since leaving Discovery and CTV full-time in 2009, Peter has gone on to cover the health science of the Olympics at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games for CTVolympics.ca. He is currently working on a number of writing projects with magazines, web sites and the federal government, as well as a series of books on vehicles of the future for Kids Can Press.
Membres
Critiques
This book is half "survey of space travel & tourism" and half "how-to" science activity book. The activities relate to the topic at hand and are the usual "re-create gravity" and "balloon-rocket" experiments that are in many science books aimed at young children. This inclusing of science experiments in a book advertised for "Space Tourism" provide a jarring reading experience and routinely stop the reader from easily navigating the text.
The illustrations lack the vivid colors that make the subject of space so enticing and are, honestly, a little disappointing. A drawing, even one for purposes of diagramming a space-station, don't do the immense collection of space photography & illustration justice. The number of amazing artist that have been drawing space-related technologies since the 1950's for NASA, Disney, and Popular Mechanics are countless and given this, it bothersome that the illustrator chose a style more reminiscent of sub-par photoshop clip art.
The technology discusses is well-grounded with very little "pie-in-the-sky" language, which lends a realism to space exploration that is sorely needed, considering how fanciful many people view space travel. The interviews with actual space-tourists and astronauts was also a plus and the author should be given credit for tracking down the quotes used in this book.
There is a table of contents, a short (and needed) glossary of terms, and an index, but no further reading or bibliography. The lack of further reading in a science book is troublesome because ideally you want the student to continue in their experiments as well as their interest in space. Doing this, the book almost paints itself as a "stand-alone" volume, which it isn't.
Finally, the author's credentials are that of a professional journalist, writer, and producer for the Discovery Channel, which considering the depth of the book (rather shallow), are adequate.
For children aged 6-12.… (plus d'informations)
The illustrations lack the vivid colors that make the subject of space so enticing and are, honestly, a little disappointing. A drawing, even one for purposes of diagramming a space-station, don't do the immense collection of space photography & illustration justice. The number of amazing artist that have been drawing space-related technologies since the 1950's for NASA, Disney, and Popular Mechanics are countless and given this, it bothersome that the illustrator chose a style more reminiscent of sub-par photoshop clip art.
The technology discusses is well-grounded with very little "pie-in-the-sky" language, which lends a realism to space exploration that is sorely needed, considering how fanciful many people view space travel. The interviews with actual space-tourists and astronauts was also a plus and the author should be given credit for tracking down the quotes used in this book.
There is a table of contents, a short (and needed) glossary of terms, and an index, but no further reading or bibliography. The lack of further reading in a science book is troublesome because ideally you want the student to continue in their experiments as well as their interest in space. Doing this, the book almost paints itself as a "stand-alone" volume, which it isn't.
Finally, the author's credentials are that of a professional journalist, writer, and producer for the Discovery Channel, which considering the depth of the book (rather shallow), are adequate.
For children aged 6-12.… (plus d'informations)
New train book! Train books are always good - you can never have too many. This one is a little different than your average train nonfiction...
Ultimate Trains is the first in a new series from Kids Can Press called Machines of the Future. It focuses on new designs in trains, specifically maglevs. The book begins with a table of contents, introduction, and safety note, since there are EXPERIMENTS included. After an illustrated timeline from the invention of the wheel to the Canadian Pacific Railway, the book explains steam engines - and gives instructions on how to build your own miniature steam engine, then explains the evolution of diesel and electric engines, the trains most commonly in use today. There's a brief discussion of how trains are environmentally responsible, and then we move right into the main part of the book: trains of the future, magnetic levitation trains, or maglevs. Interesting train facts, experiments, interviews, explanations of how magnets work, and descriptions of maglevs in operation today and possible trains of the future going under the ocean or out to space (shades of Timothy Zahn anyone?) fill the rest of the book, ending with a glossary and index.
I was disappointed that there were limited photographs in the book, which is mostly illustrated digitally (or so it looks to me, I am no expert). I think most kids prefer photographs in their nonfiction and I would have liked to see "real" trains. This book may appeal to serious train fans among younger children, but is best suited for older elementary or middle school kids interested in science and technology. The experiments are clearly written and well-illustrated - some would be suitable for younger children, but most would be better used with older elementary or sixth grade students.
The discussions of future trains, their impact on the environment, and their benefits was interesting and well-written, but I would have liked to see more opposing viewpoints. There's only a brief paragraph on the problems with these high-speed trains, saying that they use most of the trip accelerating and decelerating, require constant computer monitoring, and are vulnerable to wind shear, as well as track being expensive. I would have liked to see more discussions of safety issues (I personally wouldn't want to travel hundreds of miles an hour on something controlled by a computer, considering that we can't even get the internet to work at our library half the time...) and maybe some practical discussions of trains as public transportation. I've lived in a medium-sized city, medium-sized town, and small town, all without owning a car and having to depend on public transportation or my own legs. I have serious reservations about the practicality of public transportation. Anyways, that's a discussion for another time.
Verdict: This is an upbeat, interesting, and well-designed book about contemporary and future trains and transportation. It won't have the wide audience of most train non-fiction, which is usually aimed at preschool or early elementary students, but the topic and presentation should draw interest from older elementary students and some middle school and even high school students interested in science. Recommended.
ISBN: 978-1554533664; Published August 2010 by Kids Can Press; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates… (plus d'informations)
Ultimate Trains is the first in a new series from Kids Can Press called Machines of the Future. It focuses on new designs in trains, specifically maglevs. The book begins with a table of contents, introduction, and safety note, since there are EXPERIMENTS included. After an illustrated timeline from the invention of the wheel to the Canadian Pacific Railway, the book explains steam engines - and gives instructions on how to build your own miniature steam engine, then explains the evolution of diesel and electric engines, the trains most commonly in use today. There's a brief discussion of how trains are environmentally responsible, and then we move right into the main part of the book: trains of the future, magnetic levitation trains, or maglevs. Interesting train facts, experiments, interviews, explanations of how magnets work, and descriptions of maglevs in operation today and possible trains of the future going under the ocean or out to space (shades of Timothy Zahn anyone?) fill the rest of the book, ending with a glossary and index.
I was disappointed that there were limited photographs in the book, which is mostly illustrated digitally (or so it looks to me, I am no expert). I think most kids prefer photographs in their nonfiction and I would have liked to see "real" trains. This book may appeal to serious train fans among younger children, but is best suited for older elementary or middle school kids interested in science and technology. The experiments are clearly written and well-illustrated - some would be suitable for younger children, but most would be better used with older elementary or sixth grade students.
The discussions of future trains, their impact on the environment, and their benefits was interesting and well-written, but I would have liked to see more opposing viewpoints. There's only a brief paragraph on the problems with these high-speed trains, saying that they use most of the trip accelerating and decelerating, require constant computer monitoring, and are vulnerable to wind shear, as well as track being expensive. I would have liked to see more discussions of safety issues (I personally wouldn't want to travel hundreds of miles an hour on something controlled by a computer, considering that we can't even get the internet to work at our library half the time...) and maybe some practical discussions of trains as public transportation. I've lived in a medium-sized city, medium-sized town, and small town, all without owning a car and having to depend on public transportation or my own legs. I have serious reservations about the practicality of public transportation. Anyways, that's a discussion for another time.
Verdict: This is an upbeat, interesting, and well-designed book about contemporary and future trains and transportation. It won't have the wide audience of most train non-fiction, which is usually aimed at preschool or early elementary students, but the topic and presentation should draw interest from older elementary students and some middle school and even high school students interested in science. Recommended.
ISBN: 978-1554533664; Published August 2010 by Kids Can Press; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates… (plus d'informations)
Prix et récompenses
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 3
- Membres
- 51
- Popularité
- #311,767
- Évaluation
- 3.7
- Critiques
- 3
- ISBN
- 12
It's not just astronauts who get to travel into space anymore. Forward-thinking entrepreneurs have now made space flight a reality for adventure-seekers of all kinds. And just in time, here's a travel guide for kids to plan their own out-of-this-world journeys. Eight potential space vacations are described, one per chapter, complete with information about pre-trip preparations (like training to withstand extreme g-forces), accommodations and dining (hot dogs in zero gravity, anyone?), awesome activities (how about a real moon walk?) and so much more. The trips range from orbiting Earth (available now), to voyaging through Saturn's rings, which may be possible within the next few decades. Featuring the coolest things to see and do in the universe, these space vacations are not to be missed! Award-winning science journalist Peter McMahon has come up with an intriguing concept sure to pique a young reader's interest in all things outer space. Based on the latest science and featuring first-person accounts from experts in the field, this book is chock-full of opportunities for science and technology lessons. With kid-sized bursts of text (including loads of amazing, and sometimes icky, facts), fascinating photographs of everyday life on actual space flights, as well as fun-filled illustrations from Josh Holinaty, this hugely appealing book is also one that children will gladly pick up on their own --- and devour. A glossary and index are included.
My Review:
Okay, I know I hate saying this but even though I don't usually like to read children's books, I couldn't not request this one, right? Anything to teach me more about space is good. So I started this book. It reminds me of one of those ones you used to read in elementary school, kind of a textbook but one that was actually fun to read. You can learn a lot of things from this book, like how the rockets work to get you up to the ISS, things astronauts have to do to be able to live in the harsh climate of space, what future plans are for space travel, even how much a trip off the planet could cost. It's a quick read, only about fifty pages, but I really enjoyed reading it and definitely recommend you check it out.
Here's a link to the illustrator's Twitter, and another link to the book on Amazon.
https://twitter.com/joshholinaty?lang=en
https://www.amazon.ca/Space-Adventurers-Guide-Passport-Universe/dp/1771380322/re...
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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