by Bill Nye [Compact Disc 576.8 Nye]
In February 2014, popular television host and science educator Bill Nye (“the science guy”) agreed to appear in a debate with creationist Ken Ham at the Creation Museum, on the topic of whether creation is a viable model of origins in today’s modern, scientific era. This book (and audiobook) came about mainly as a result of the topics raised at that debate. Nye is an incredibly enthusiastic support of the scientific method of theorizing, research and fact/evidence gathering. Over the course of 37 chapters in this science-for-the-average-reader volume, Nye covers the latest knowledge and theories in a wide variety of scientific fields, tracing much of the advances in human knowledge to our studies of and understanding of the details of evolutionary biology. While I’ve seen some critiques of this book where reviewers say he has “dumbed down” the science, and others where readers with a pro-creationist viewpoint are unwilling to accept many of Nye’s basic science-based tenets, I found his writing style to be very engaging and in the areas where I was not already aware of the scientific developments, his “broad strokes” were helpful in explaining things in a very understandable way. Nye may be a bit of a polarizing figure for those with differing viewpoints, but there’s no denying that in this audiobook (read by Nye himself), he is genuinely excited by the world of science, and he wants to share that sense of excitement at scientific discovery with people of all ages and backgrounds. Nye is also a comic performer and entertainer, and his sense of humor comes across in this volume very well. If you’re curious about what Bill Nye the Science Guy has been up to since hosting that kids science show on TV, or you’d like a good overview on the varied worlds of scientific studies today, I highly recommend this one. I also specifically recommend the audiobook format, as Nye’s genuine enthusiasm is even easier to appreciate in his own voice.
[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Carl Sagan, and possible both Cosmos television documentaries — the orginal by Carl Sagan from the 1970s and the newer one with Neil DeGrasse Tyson from 2014.]
[ publisher’s official Undeniable web site ] | [ official Bill Nye web site ]
Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library
Bennett Martin Public Library
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!
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