Pocket Genius Space

Pocket Genius Space
Published at DK Canada

About the book

The prefect sized books for backpacks, DK's Pocket Genius series is bright, inviting, concise, and punchy — the ideal source for reference. Featuring essential information, full-color images, glossary, and top ten lists, these books are a brand-new type of encyclopedia for young readers.

From marvelous galleries of The Big Dipper, Little Dipper and other constellations, to in-depth looks at Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, to the Moons of Jupiter, comets and galaxies — not to mention entries on rockets and spacecraft — this visual encyclopedia opens up the vast and mysterious expanse of space.

My Thoughts

Space.  The final frontier. 

Okay I couldn’t resist.   We are big fans of Star Trek, Star Wars and any kind of science fiction television show that are worthy of watching.   Astronomy is something I would like to do more in the future but in the meantime I find it important to teach my kids about our solar system and the planets you can find in it.

I will note that this book is not creation based and does mention the Big Band and evolution thinking with the millions/billions of years.   However, if you want your kids to be prepared for college/university and be able to understand both side of the coins, I find it extremely important that Christian homeschoolers use both theories to teach their kids.  Besides, you can also find a ton of interesting information about space in this book.

The book starts with information about how big the space is, the Big Bang theory, as well as how the night sky look like when you are at different places on the planet.   Then you get five sections which will highlights information on specific subjects.

• Studying space – in this section you will learn more about telescopes
• The Solar System – Our solar system is a wonder in itself.   Explore the different planets and its star in this section.
• Stars and Nebulae – Learn more about starts and nebulae in this section.
• Galaxies – Discover galaxies throughout the universe.
• Exploring Space – Learn more about spacecrafts, rockets, missions and the space station.

At the end of the book, you will also get a timeline of space exploration which can be handy when studying the history of space exploration as well as fun facts about space.   A glossary and an index complete the book.

As I explored this book, I have learned that the ISS (International Space Station) makes 16 trips around the Earth in 24 hours, which means that astronauts on the station see 16 sunrises.  I have seen stunning pictures of galaxies far away and of fabulous Nebulae.   I have also learned that the Hubble Space Telescope is so sensitive that if two candles were places 6 1/2 ft (2 m)apart at 7,000 miles (11,265 km) away, it would see them both separately.   I wonder how they made these calculations….  

This fun little book is easy to carry when you go to an appointment in order to entertain your kids.   Let them explore by themselves the space as they turn the pages of this book!

The Pocket Genius series has eight titles at this point in time: Rocks and Minerals, Animals, Sharks, Dinosaurs, Space, Earth, Bugs, and Ancient Egypt. Other titles comings in 2013 will be Mammals, Horses, Human Body, and Science.

Pocket Genius Space is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.

    

It is also available on the Kindle.

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.