This book is a humorous look back into 5,000 years in history at scientific mistakes. The book contains all sorts of short stories from fossil identification mistakes to alchemy. Although this book is very humorous, it probably would be used as a tool to get children interested in reading more science based material for fun. Since the facts are of mishaps, it would be fun for children to find a section and prove it with correct information in perhaps a short essay. ( )

This book is really cool. I want it in my classroom. The stories are short but explain things well, and the pictures are cute and fun! As noted in my tags, this book covers it all-- science, history, geography, facts, and mythbusters. I though it was going to take a long time to read this and honestly was dreading it. However, once I saw the cute cartoons and concise stories, I happily breezed through it, and even learned some facts like what some people in the past believed. For example, some ancient Egyptians believed the sun was pushed through the sky by a giant scarab beetle. Interesting, right? My how far humans have evolved... kind of. ( )

I thought this book was hilarious. Its not often you read about the inventions that failed miserably. I really liked the illustrations, they were just as goofy and ridiculous as the mishaps. There is a table of context and an index but no works cited which I thought was odd. Looking at this from a science book there is no proof to the facts. That being said, I think this is a very entertaining book for children interested in science. I tagged this as historical fiction because Im not sure if these facts are true or just meant to amuse you. ( )

The book, Shocking Science – 5,000 years of mishaps and misunderstandings, was, at best, entertaining to read. It discussed a wide range of myths, unknown facts, and mishaps in science. It incorporated many animated pictures to give images to the written words. The book covered a wide range of facts regarding many different aspects of science and scientists in the field. It was a quick read that made me laugh.
The book is very visually appealing to the reader. The cover is bright, comical, and inviting. The end pages have many different pictures in relation to scientific inventions/ideas. Every page in this book has lots of visual aids that pertain to the reading material. Cartoon and colorful, the visual aids give the text an extra element of fun.
Exceeding in imagery, the book fails in validity. The table of contents is structured by topics in no particular order or sequence. It has an index that can be helpful if the reader needs to quick search a particular scientists or subject. Having only one sentence, the author attempted to validate his reason for writing the book and his expertise in the subject discussed. Beyond the author’s credentials, the biggest disappointment was no references or sources for the information in this book. How do I know this book is valid nonfiction and not someone’s opinion on the matter?
I read this book and tried to devise an angle I could use to incorporate it into a science lesson for high school students. All angles were quickly thrown out when I discovered the unreliability of the material. I could not tell students this information because I could not back it up without doing further research on the topics. Also, when my students ask “how do you know?” I don’t think the response “because the author said so” is appropriate. What authority is he? ( )