dancingmama Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 My son attends ps however, he'd like to get a head start on his biology course for next year. Any recommendations for living books on biology? He will specifically be learning about cells, invertebrates and vertebrates, DNS, plants, and ecosystems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 I'd suggest going to the library to the shelves that have nonfiction books about biology and letting him choose things that appeal to him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Lewis Thomas: The Lives of a Cell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 This is my Amazon Biology Wish List of things I've been collecting for middle school biology next year. :) Basher's Human Body Book Basher's Biology Isaac Asimov's A Short History of Biology Exploring the Way Life Works -- this is a textbook, but rumored to be an extraordinary and beautifully illustrated one Animalium (Welcome to the Museum) Evolution in Action: Natural History Through Spectacular Skeletons Animal Earth: The Amazing Diversity of Living Creatures Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World It's neither comprehensive or pared-down yet, but might have some things y'all would like ... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingmama Posted May 14, 2015 Author Share Posted May 14, 2015 Thank you for all the suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Here's my link for living books on science. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/547602-living-science-books/?p=6282938 Hopefully you can find something through these links. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I am partial to the books by Alvin Silverstein (his wife Virginia Silverstein collaborates with him often). Life in a Bucket of Soil is one of my favorites and the newer hardcovers like Plate Tectonics, DNA, Symbiosis, etc. are excellent. Here's a list on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Alvin+Silverstein 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Maybe it would have been useful to ask what level of books you are looking for. I suggested Lewis Thomas which is a book for adults that an advanced tween could read too. But that may not be an appropriate level. Also, what about DVDs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 The Way Life Works is supposed to be a good living bio book. DS11 is starting this soon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 This is my Amazon Biology Wish List of things I've been collecting for middle school biology next year. :) Basher's Human Body Book Basher's Biology Isaac Asimov's A Short History of Biology Exploring the Way Life Works -- this is a textbook, but rumored to be an extraordinary and beautifully illustrated one Animalium (Welcome to the Museum) Evolution in Action: Natural History Through Spectacular Skeletons Animal Earth: The Amazing Diversity of Living Creatures Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World It's neither comprehensive or pared-down yet, but might have some things y'all would like ... I think I'm in love..! Those Anatomy books look wonderful - thanks for sharing! :drool5: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingmama Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 He is in middle school, so any books work, from easy readers on up. He will often pour over college level texts so it could be any reading, really. DVD's and/or videos on Netflix would work, too! Thanks for all the suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 The Way Life Works is supposed to be a good living bio book. DS11 is starting this soon. That was off my radar -- I'd not heard of it, or had forgotten it -- thanks for pointing it out! I am also thinking of using The Way We Work for anatomy background ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 He is in middle school, so any books work, from easy readers on up. He will often pour over college level texts so it could be any reading, really. DVD's and/or videos on Netflix would work, too! Thanks for all the suggestions! Attenborough's Life DVDs are excellent. Not quite biology, but relating human life to the story of the planet is How The Earth Made Us -- we so often hear of our impact on the planet: this is a great take on the planet's impact on us. Nova is a generally great source for DVDs but we have been focused on physics and I don't have much biology in mind. One series we're watching now does great physics/bio crossover, though -- Making Stuff. The "Making Stuff Wilder" has the most biology and is available via amazon instant; I don't know if Netflix has it, they do have several Novas I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingmama Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 Thank you. Some great resources here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 He is in middle school, so any books work, from easy readers on up. He will often pour over college level texts so it could be any reading, really. DVD's and/or videos on Netflix would work, too! Thanks for all the suggestions! We started the book The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert yesterday which was highly recommended to us, and which I highly recommend to you. It is mainly about animals and ecosystems, and, yes, extinctions. It was hard to put down and will probably be continued today just because it is so good even though this is not a school day for us. It is another book meant for adults, but accessible to my 13 year old and thus almost certainly also to your 12 year old from what you describe here about his reading. We have it as audio. My son loved Your Inner Fish, which we got for free from Howard Hughes Medical Institute -- hhmi.org probably -- and they have a lot on their site worth checking out. We got some others from them that he also loved, but I cannot now recall the titles. One we liked had EO Wilson in it. Some are more movie like and some more like recorded lectures. One was a virtual lab, which we found a little disappointing. If you get the virtual lab and like it, maybe you could explain how you used it, since maybe we missed something about it. Cracking the Code of Life and some others by Nova or similar on DNA are good and may be available from Netflix. We also liked a lot of David Attenborough's films. And once we had a few like these up, more would come up in boxes that were similar to choose from. Dirt: the Movie available from Netflix (at least as a DVD) is excellent, on ecosystems within soil/dirt and other related topics. I highly recommend it too. Again, once you have selected this movie, more that are somewhat similar may come up--though really nothing else I've seen has been very similar to it. It is pretty unique. We have a Biology Coloring Book by Griffin that I think is good, though it is more like a text book that one does coloring with to help with learning. It isn't exactly relevant to your subject, but my ds also particularly loved Iain Stewart's Earth DVDs. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 My 7th grader read and enjoyed a few things this year which your son might enjoy: The Omnivore's Dilemma: Young Readers edition - Michael Pollan Eyes Wide Open: Going Beyond the Environmental Headlines - Paul Fleischman The Third Chimpanzee for Young People - Jared Diamond Watersheds: A Practical handbook for Healthy Water - Clive Dobson Science 101: Ecology Evolution - Daniel Loxton Bones, Brains & DNA - Ian Tattersall For this summer, she has planned: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sachs What a Plant Knows - Daniel Chamovitz Seeing Trees - Nancy Hugo In 8th grade, here's what we're thinking so far: Exploring the Way Life Works - Mahlon Hoagland Letters to a Young Scientist - E O Wilson We are also reading together two lovely Natural History books over the course of the year: The Year of the Turtle - David Carroll The Forest Unseen - David Haskell 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 I didn't see these listed: Exploring the World of Biology by John Hudson Tiner Biology for Dummies 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingmama Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 I had forgotten I had Your Inner Fish. Thanks for the reminder. We watched it this weekend and it was fascinating. Thanks for all the book recommendations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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