Wow! Just Wow! Joy Hakim's Books in the Story of Science Series

I just picked up her first book in the series through a lucky purchase at Half-Price Books. (I LOVE that store!) The book The Story of Science. Newton at the Center was published several years ago, but this was my first chance to take a look at the book in person. The way she tells stories about science is so unique in scientific writing that's it's almost shocking to read at first. Even science books written for young children are largely fact based, but Joy uses storytelling to introduce the "characters"-real scientists-who made important discoveries in science interjected with a lot of humor. For example, on the first page of the introduction (p. ix), she writes, "Francis Bacon died as the result of a scientific experiment (or so the story goes). He was stuffing a duck with snow--to see if cold is a preservative. He caught a chill, and that was that." Right away you know that this is not your ordinary science book.

Each section is relatively short but is packed with interesting stories. I also love the variety of illustrations throughout the book. I've become accustomed to the formal language used in most science communications, and The Story of Science proves that you can still describe important ideas in science without using the stagnant writing style that we scientists are used to reading and, sadly, writing as well. This is definitely not your ordinary science book, and if you love science books as much as I do, it's certainly worth checking out.

Here's an article about the book series with a couple of video links about using narrative storytelling to present scientific information. She currently has 3 books in the series.

Using Narrative Storytelling to Engage Readers about Science