Comments on: Book Review: How Whales Walked into the Sea

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:58:53 +0000

Looks like a cool book – I didn’t know whales came from a land animal. I’ll have to try and scrounge up a copy for my science-loving eight year old.

By: Angelique

Angelique — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:40:24 +0000

Huge pet peeve of mine, that whole “humans came from apes” thing. Bonobos and gorillas have been on their own evolutionary track just as long as humans! Evolution doesn’t imply any type of “ladder” or superiority; it refers to an organism’s adaptations, over massive amounts of time, to an ever changing environment.
/off soapbox
P.S. I’ve also purchased, among other things you’ve recommended, a Nose Freda. We refer to it as the “boogey sucker”. It is truly a wonderous tool.

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:47:21 +0000

Thank you everyone for your comments and thank you Angelique; I love to hear when someone buys something I've recommended. One point of clarification... it's a common misconception that humans evolved from apes. Humans and modern day apes share a common ancestor that happened to look more like an ape than a human.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:39:02 +0000

I read that to my 3rd graders when I was a teacher. They understand the concept and are blown away without you having to say “evolution”. I think kids have a harder time getting that we came from apes.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:39:00 +0000

By: Angelique

Angelique — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:15:56 +0000

AJ, been meaniing to tell you, we got “Our Family Tree” for our 4-year-old. He LOVES it. We’ve had to read it together every day for three weeks. In particular, he’s facinated with the concepts of cells and DNA and that they’re too small to see without a something called a microscope. With an awe-filled voice he asked, “can we get one?” And, so, that is what he received for his fourth birthday. Geeks are awesome.

By: Isi

Isi — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:57:16 +0000

Good review. We have been on a space and ocean kick lately for our reading time. Our oldest – 8yo – is fascinated by space, planets, etc… and our 6yo is fascinated by various things about the ocean – in particular the large creatures that roam it.

We have only touch a little on evolution. When they ask how something was formed or why this critter has wings and some other does not we talk about the slow process of natural selection.

Thanks for the link as well. I usually rely on Amazon for finding books but they don’t always have everything. Other sources are nice to keep in the tool chest.

By: gertie

gertie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:16:26 +0000

Thanks for the review! Sounds like a good book.