Wednesday 17 October 2018

The Curious Science Quest: Cave Discovery and Greek Adventure by Julia Golding, Andrew Briggs and Roger Wagner (Children's, Non-fiction, 9/10E)


 June 2018 and May 2018, Lion Hudson Ltd, 128 pages, Paperback, Review copies

Summary from Lion Hudson
Join Harriet, Darwin's pet tortoise, and Milton, Schrodinger's indecisive cat on a time-travelling quest of discovery, unravelling scientific exploration and religious beliefs and how they fit together. Throughout the centuries humans have been looking for answers to BIG questions - how did the universe start? Is there a God behind it? Has science explained away the need for a God, or can faith enhance scientific discovery? Harriet and Milton start their investigation with trying to discover when humans started asking these questions. First stop on the quest is cave paintings - who did them? What did they mean, and what can they show us about our ancestors? Step into Harriet and Milton's time machine, bring some snacks, and enjoy this curious quest of discovery.
 
Join Harriet, Darwin's pet tortoise, and Milton, Schrodinger's indecisive cat on a time-travelling quest of discovery, unravelling scientific exploration and religious beliefs and how they fit together. Throughout the centuries humans have been looking for answers to BIG questions - how did the universe start? Is there a God behind it? Has science explained away the need for a God, or can faith enhance scientific discovery? On this adventure Harriet and Milton are investigating who the first scientists were. Step into Harriet and Milton's time machine, bring some snacks, and enjoy this curious quest of discovery - become a Mesopotamian stargazer, cast your vote in 'Greece has Scientific Talent', and meet Pythagoras! 

Nayu's thoughts
I've had a love of Greek history ever since I was little, which I finally took further when I did my degree in Ancient History. My interested was sparked when I read books with fun illustrations, something which these two books have in common. I remember when I first looked into cavemen because I had to research the woolly mammoth in school, something which is depicted in cave paintings along with many other things. I know there is more to cave paintings than just the animals, something which is examined within the first book of this series. I confess the lower grade is because I wasn't as interested in caves as I was in all the Greek info, but that is a personal preference. 

What is unique about these books is that they are the usual type of non-fiction work. They have adorable characters in the form of Darwin's tortoise Harriet and Milton, Schrodinger's cat. These are famous people in history for specific reasons which get touched upon in the books. Their distinctive nature provides a lot of humour and even gets them into trouble on their time travel adventures. This pair most definitely make history learning fun, and I'm eager to see where their next adventures take them. 

This is the type of history everyone should experience, facts can be recalled simply by remembering the antics of the cat and the tortoise who make the best pairing, especially when they annoy each other (which they do some of the time). So many questions are asked which give the reader a starting point for learning about our past, although not every question has a definitive answer because it can be hard to figure out what the 'correct' answer is, especially is historians disagree on things. They are a must read for anyone investigating the ancient world! 

Find out more on Julia's website.

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