Ellen J. PragerCritiques

Inconsistent Bordering On Hypocritical. This book is divided into just five chapters - Climate Change, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and (effectively "Other") Rogue Waves, Landslides, Rip Currents, Sinkholes, and Sharks. Thus, there really is a considerable amount of detail put into explaining each phenomenon and purportedly what is known and unknown and wished to be known about each. The analysis is largely lacking, however, and Prager tends to blame everything on climate change, which she speaks of in absolutist terms. (Indeed, at least twice she outright claims there is "no credible scientific debate" on the issue, despite there being quite a bit.) She tends to blame the rising costs of coastal damage in particular on her preferred bogeyman, despite at least one other work published within the last year (Geography of Risk by Gilbert Saul) building a compelling case that it is actually an increase in coastal development that has led to much of the rising cost of coastal damages - quite simply, there wasn't much on the coasts a century ago to *be* damaged. But Prager doesn't even consider this factor at all.

Where she seemingly is unaware of her inconsistency bordering on hypocrisy is when she claims repeatedly that we have more than enough information in the historical record to "confirm" climate change... yet claims with near the same frequency when discussing volcanoes and earthquakes that we simply don't have enough information in the *geologic* historical record to be able to make any significant determinations. Hmmm...

Recommended for the mostly detailed discussions, but be prepared to have about a boulder of salt in some passages.

(I don't remember if this publisher requested it, but just in case, some legalese that I despise but try to tag on when requested: This book publishes in March 2020 and I am writing this review 10 days before Christmas 2019. Thus, this is very obviously an Advance Review Copy. All opinions are completely my own and freely given.)

This book is an informational text about earthquakes. I like that it is not just a narrative, but it is instead an informational text; however, it is in kid-friendly language. It talks about what an earthquake is, what causes earthquakes, how often they occur, how the size can vary, how long an earthquake can last, what they feel like, where they happen, and how we should react to an earthquake. I like that it has points throughout the book that are built in for asking students questions and getting them to think and respond. I would use this book at the beginning of a unit or lesson on earthquakes. It is a good overview of earthquakes.

Prager has a noble purpose in this book: to convey the excitement and adventure of doing science, and specifically of doing ocean science fieldwork, through telling the stories of the experiences of ocean-going scientists. To a fair degree she succeeds, but not entirely. This feels more like a collection of anecdotes than a collection of stories--but some of them are, no question, great anecdotes! I'm reminded of Randy Olson's Don't Be Such a Scientist, in the sense that I would wonder if she had read it, and were working at applying his advice, except that her book was published first.

The book is arranged in thematic chapters, highlighting the challenges of ocean-going shipboard research, diving in coastal waters, the effects of weather in making hay of the best-laid plans, the benefits of serendipity and of direct observation in making critical discoveries that would elude remote observation using ROVs and AUVs (remotely-operated vessels and autonomous underwater vessels) to do deep ocean exploration and research, the joys and challenges of life in underwater habitats, and the sheer delight and wonder of seeing the undersea world first-hand.

Prager was previously the chief scientist for the Aquarius Reef Base program in Key Largo, Florida, which includes what is currently the world's only undersea research station. Some of her best tales include the challenges, dangers, and rewards of living in an undersea research station, able to dive and do active research for eight or nine hours a day. She also shares her own and other scientists' stories of surviving dangerous weather at sea on the ocean-going research ships of the Sea Education Association--hurricanes, waterspouts, sudden squalls, and even an encounter with pirates. There's a disarming honesty about the role played by simply human mistakes and errors in judgment in contributing to dangerous situations, as well as human ingenuity in surviving the dangers and recovering and doing useful research anyway. She seems to take a special glee in describing her own early experiences, including her own mistakes that sometimes placed herself and others in danger. Prager learned the hard way to check everything twice, including whether or not colleagues had actually done their part in the preparations.

On the other hand, she also learned the joy of making unexpected discoveries for herself, whether or not those discoveries proved to be ones that would move the science forward in a big way, and she talks about her passion for sharing that joy with students who may yet become scientists themselves. This is one of the two major things Prager is seeking to convey in this book: the joy, delight, and pure satisfaction of doing real fieldwork at sea.

The other major point she wants to convey is the importance of real fieldwork, the vital necessity of doing direct fieldwork to build a real understanding of the ocean that is three-quarters of the surface of our planet, a major source of both food and weather affecting us all. She and her colleagues are deeply worried about what essential knowledge we might miss, if the difficulties, expense, and dangers of underwater fieldwork cause us to cease doing it, and she returns again and again to this issue.

Recommended despite my reservations.

I received this ebook as a free download from the University of Chicago Press.

Summary:
Ellen J. Prager takes us on a journey to learn the parts of a volcano that many of us may not know. We also learn about the cool and dangerous facts and effects that had when a volcano erupts.
Personal Responce:
Great illustrations, its shoes and descries the aspects of a volcano allowing us to follow the author and see what she is talking about. Great for when learning about volcanos and its attributes.

Illustrations: digital collage of pastels on sandpaper and pastel paper, watercolors, and photographs. This book is an informational book about volcanoes, describing how some volcanoes sleep for many years, but there are some that are either active now or will be active in the future. It describes what it means to be an active volcano and what it does when it erupts, or what makes it erupt. It also tells the readers what some effects of a volcanic eruption are and what are some precautions that can be taken. It also talks about where in the world some of the big volcanoes are and how scientists measure them.

This book tells you all that you need to know about earthquakes. It goes over how they are caused, and how they effect the Earth. It gives examples of big earthquakes that have happened in history. It also goes over earthquake safety and there are instructions at the end of the book to create your own earthquake. GENRE: informational. USES: teach about what earthquakes are, and earthquake safety. MEDIA: ink and watercolor. CRITIQUE: The author asks the reader questions to make them think, and the information given is simplified so that young readers are able to understand. Many of the illustrations are diagrams, to support the text and help the reader understand.

Interesting topic but not especially engaging.

I first had a bit of difficulty getting into the book because though it was not a large volume the typography was jammed in to the point that for me it made reading it a big tedious. Once I got into it I found it do be interesting and fascinating in many ways. The diversity and unusual things found in the oceans is pretty amazing. The conclusion delves into the ecological perils that we have created in our consumer oriented world that puts the balance of life in some jeopardy. It is easy to dismiss this as the typical sky if falling ecology movement but it is hard to not be concerned about consequences should things get out of hand. Altogether a well researched and written book.

Summary: This book talks about earthquakes and what the are and what they do. It talks about how they occur and what happens when they do. It gives safety tips on what to do when an earthquake comes.
Genre: This book is science fiction because it talks about facts about earthquakes. It talks about plates and how they move and bump together to create an earthquake. It also talks about foreshock, mainshock, and aftershock of an earthquake. It also tells us what to do when we feel an earthquake.
Plot: This book has an episodic plot because it talks about many small things that all make up an earthquake. There are many parts, types, causes, results, safety, etc., that all take a few pages to explain. There is no linear plot with a climax or resolution. It stays the same throughout the book and informs the audience of earthquakes in an episodic style of plot.
Media: Black ink and watercolor paint on watercolor paper

This was a fun and informative book, some of the humor to me felt a bit flat, like the author was trying to hard to be clever, but it was clear how much she enjoys her subject and that comes through clearly.

Each chapter is broken down into groups of animals and gives a lot of details into their lives without feeling bogged down and each chapter ends with a look at how these creatures benefit our world and our lives, it's a shame we need to be given reasons to want to protect these species and the environment they live in but I thought this was a very effective and unpreachy way to do so.

My only complaint is a consistent one for me, I would have liked more photos, though the ones included were excellent. I understand the cost of color photography makes it prohibitive to have more, but I really wanted to see more of the amazing animals she was describing.

Could have been fascinating, but somehow wasn't. Felt as though I was being talked down to all the time and got very tired of reading the phrase 'in the field' (which seems particularly inappropriate for oceanographic research). The author is obviously very proud of being a scientist, but doesn't convey her enthusiasm well to a non-specialist.

I gave up on it in the end.

Genre: Fantasy/ Informational
This is an informational book because it gives a lot of facts and information. It does this in the form of a story where a dinosaur is reading the book, and is seen in each informational piece.

Prager offers a good introduction to several ocean-related sciences, but the book suffers severely from not following the "show, don't tell" rule. The incidents she depicts in the book are (mostly) interesting, and the topics covered are broad, but Prager seems to feel the need to begin and end every chapter (and many sub-sections) with some variation of "Science is exciting. Really, it is."

The chapters here may have worked as magazine articles, but the book begins to lag once you've read the same basic introductory paragraphs three or four times. If you're interested in the subject, you may want to browse through (section titles make it easy to find areas of interest), but I'd advise against trying to read the book cover-to-cover.½

I have been really impressed with the National Geographic children's books! This book was the perfect transition from our marine biology unit to our rock/soil unit. Also has a fun hands-on activity at the end. Very easy.

Excellent survey of oceanography including geology, marine biology, elements of study. A great introductory course or a survey book for the layman.

AR 4.1,1 copy

1 copy

AR 4.1,1 copy

AR 4.1,1 copy

AR 4.1,1 copy

1 copy