deerforest Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I just wanted to share a few of our favorite reads this year. We've spent a lot of time studying evolution, particularly human evolution. DD now wants to be a paleoanthropologist! If this topic isn't for you, just ignore my recommendations! But, these are just a sampling of all the things I've managed to track down and read with her this year. Children of Time was a great starting point. In my opinion, this is story-based science done right. The author is a paleoanthropologist and has managed to create fictional stories based on some of the major hominid discoveries. Each one has a fictional vignette followed by a summary of the actual science, including an explanation of how that information was used to develop the fictional elements. This book was the launching point for many other books for us, and it's one of DD's all-time favorite books. Because of this, we are now meeting with a local paleoanthropologist later this month to learn about some recent and exciting discoveries. Every Bone Tells a Story had some overlap with the discoveries mentioned in Children of Time, which was great. It delved deeper into the science and also focused on the debates and scientific and cultural controversies surrounding the discoveries. Bones, Brains, and DNA: The Human Genome and Human Evolution is part of a series from the New Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History. We enjoyed them all. They are a seemingly lighter-weight introduction, but they cover a lot of topics, just at a much higher level. The Human Evolution Coloring Book is definitely aimed at college students (we used the brain one when I was a neuroscience grad student), but DD got a lot out of this even though we barely made a dent in it! Evolution: The Human Story was a great resource for looking at the discoveries mentioned in other books. A Day with Homo Sapiens is one I hesitate to recommend because I would love to have this whole series, but for some reason the others are all ridiculously priced in the used book market. But, it does a nice job of weaving science in with a small story line. The Skull in the Rock was really significant. It tells the story of Lee Berger and his son and their discovery of a new hominid species and the way Berger is using new technology to expand their discoveries. This book was actually our launching point to discovering that one of the key scientists involved in this work is located at a university near us. This team has moved on to working on an even more exciting discovery at the Rising Star Expedition, which just started last fall. Here's the Rising Star Expedition blog, which is well worth the time spent reading and watching! These were too young for DD, but she still enjoyed them: The Best Book of Early People Bang! How We Came to Be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Thanks for these recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 My kids really liked A Day with Homo Habilis, which is the same series as A Day with Homo Sapiens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Thanks for sharing these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Sweet. Thanks. We can never get enough here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Biozone's Human Evolution is a high school text that your dd would like in a couple of years (or maybe now given her background reading to date). The book itself is only $15. And the link below has lots of awesome links. http://www.biozone.co.nz/biolinks/human-evolution/ Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistyMountain Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thanks. I been reading a 4 part series on human evolution with my ds from the library and we have been enjoying them. I like having more choices to search for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I asked for a sample for Children in Time - that is a very expensive kindle book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thanks. I been reading a 4 part series on human evolution with my ds from the library and we have been enjoying them. I like having more choices to search for. What have you been reading? We are still going strong with this interest so I'm interested in more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Biozone's Human Evolution is a high school text that your dd would like in a couple of years (or maybe now given her background reading to date). The book itself is only $15. And the link below has lots of awesome links. http://www.biozone.co.nz/biolinks/human-evolution/ Ruth in NZ Oh, that's spectacular! I am getting it--she will love this now. Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypatia. Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Awesome! I'm adding those to my Amazon list. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistyMountain Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 What have you been reading? We are still going strong with this interest so I'm interested in more! The link below is one of the books in the series from Rebecca Stefoff. We get it through the library. There is the one below and then First Humans, Ice Age Neanderthals and Modern Humans http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Humans-Evolutionary-Rebecca-Stefoff/dp/0761441832/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402453490&sr=1-1&keywords=Origins+stefoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thank you! I'm purchasing Children of Time and The Best Book of Early People for ds. I think he'll really enjoy them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thanks for sharing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Oh, that's spectacular! I am getting it--she will love this now. Thank you!! Biozone is awesome. I assume that you saw that you can preview the entire 96 page book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 The link below is one of the books in the series from Rebecca Stefoff. We get it through the library. There is the one below and then First Humans, Ice Age Neanderthals and Modern Humans http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Humans-Evolutionary-Rebecca-Stefoff/dp/0761441832/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402453490&sr=1-1&keywords=Origins+stefoff Thank you! I ordered that one! I also have the Third Chimpanzee for Young People and she wrote that adaption from the original. I haven't finished pre-reading it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I just wanted to share a few of our favorite reads this year. We've spent a lot of time studying evolution, particularly human evolution. DD now wants to be a paleoanthropologist! If this topic isn't for you, just ignore my recommendations! But, these are just a sampling of all the things I've managed to track down and read with her this year. Children of Time was a great starting point. In my opinion, this is story-based science done right. The author is a paleoanthropologist and has managed to create fictional stories based on some of the major hominid discoveries. Each one has a fictional vignette followed by a summary of the actual science, including an explanation of how that information was used to develop the fictional elements. This book was the launching point for many other books for us, and it's one of DD's all-time favorite books. Because of this, we are now meeting with a local paleoanthropologist later this month to learn about some recent and exciting discoveries. Every Bone Tells a Story had some overlap with the discoveries mentioned in Children of Time, which was great. It delved deeper into the science and also focused on the debates and scientific and cultural controversies surrounding the discoveries. Bones, Brains, and DNA: The Human Genome and Human Evolution is part of a series from the New Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History. We enjoyed them all. They are a seemingly lighter-weight introduction, but they cover a lot of topics, just at a much higher level. The Human Evolution Coloring Book is definitely aimed at college students (we used the brain one when I was a neuroscience grad student), but DD got a lot out of this even though we barely made a dent in it! Evolution: The Human Story was a great resource for looking at the discoveries mentioned in other books. A Day with Homo Sapiens is one I hesitate to recommend because I would love to have this whole series, but for some reason the others are all ridiculously priced in the used book market. But, it does a nice job of weaving science in with a small story line. The Skull in the Rock was really significant. It tells the story of Lee Berger and his son and their discovery of a new hominid species and the way Berger is using new technology to expand their discoveries. This book was actually our launching point to discovering that one of the key scientists involved in this work is located at a university near us. This team has moved on to working on an even more exciting discovery at the Rising Star Expedition, which just started last fall. Here's the Rising Star Expedition blog, which is well worth the time spent reading and watching! These were too young for DD, but she still enjoyed them: The Best Book of Early People Bang! How We Came to Be This is such an awesome list, thanks for sharing! We're studying Origins next year, and these will flesh out our study of human origins nicely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thank you! We are woefully lacking books in this area of history :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Biozone's Human Evolution is a high school text that your dd would like in a couple of years (or maybe now given her background reading to date). The book itself is only $15. And the link below has lots of awesome links. http://www.biozone.co.nz/biolinks/human-evolution/ Ruth in NZ I've had this on my list for some time. Can I get this for my soon to be 8th grader? I'm guessing yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Tharp Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Thank you. What a fantastic list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I've had this on my list for some time. Can I get this for my soon to be 8th grader? I'm guessing yes. I would suggest you take a good long look at the full sample available on their site. We have found that the biozone books are dense so not a lot of fluffy filler-type text that some kids might be used to, and the graphs/figure/diagrams are very good. The questions at the end of each spread are definitely more than recall, lots of interpretation and analysis. So it is definitely high school level, but I have also used it *with* my older son to bring him *up* to high school level. I used the evolution book to teach him how to read the question carefully and write a complete answer. The model answer CD is very good and in depth. We compared our answers to theirs one by one and learned a lot about how to formulate a reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Nice list. We have some of these titles, but it's good to know what might interest the children later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyGirl Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Awesome list! Thank you for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 I have a few more to recommend, and I think these work for older kids. Third Chimpanzee for Young People--I pre-read a bunch of this because the age on Amazon said grade 9 and up, and my DD is a rising 5th grader. However, it's working well for us to read together. She is sensitive so there are a few bits in different chapters that I'm skipping over, but would be fine for middle school and up for sure. This really focuses on the social and cultural aspects of being modern human and how they evolved. So, less emphasis on the hominid ancestry and more on us. The Early Human World--part of the OUP World in Ancient Times. Great summary of information with interesting details from the finds, and it's written in such an approachable voice and tone. We were actually just cracking up reading the most recent chapter. Prehistoric Autopsy from the BBC--this is actually available on Discovery Education, which is free from HSBC this summer. It reviews evidence from a Neandertal, Turkana Boy, and Lucy and creates models from the evidence. Our whole family really enjoyed this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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