Year End Lists Are Coming

Starting Monday, December 9, I’ll be posting my top 10 books from 2019 on Twitter under the hashtag #LibFaves19. In preparation for this, I’ve begun creating my overall favorites and least favorites lists for the year, and prepping for my annual Year in Reading post.

This has me thinking more about my recent post on reader burnout. And I’ve made a decision:

This will be the last year I do a Year in Reading post for a while. I won’t track my reading in 2020.

This will be the sixth year I’ve tracked it and it’s not working for me. I think it does more harm than good. My hope is taking that obligation off my plate will relieve much of the stress I feel around my reading life. Which means I won’t be able to do a comprehensive Year in Reading report next year.

I’ll still participate in #LibFaves and I’ll continue to post lists of my favorites and least favorites of the year. But no more tracking or reporting. I just want to let my reading be what it is without worrying about it.

Book Review: Scientists Who Changed History edited by Victoria Heyworth-Dunne, Kathryn Hennessy, Rose Blackett-Ord, Kim Bryan, Andy Szudek, Debra Wolter

Cover of the book Scientists Who Changed History edited by Victoria Heyworth-Dunne, Kathryn Hennessy, Rose Blackett-Ord, Kim Bryan, Andy Szudek, Debra Wolter
Scientists Who Changed History
edited by Victoria Heyworth-Dunne, Kathryn Hennessy, Rose Blackett-Ord, Kim Bryan, Andy Szudek, Debra Wolter
DK, 2019

This review was first published by Booklist on December 1, 2019.

**STARRED REVIEW** This comprehensively researched and beautifully designed reference work contains profiles of over 80 scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and inventors whose work changed the world. Each profile is between 1-4 easily digested pages that cover essential information. What differentiates this work from similar ones is its scope and inclusivity. It covers history from approximately 650 BCE through the present and includes figures from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the modern Americas. Effort has been made to include many women, too often overlooked by historians for their contributions to science. A broad scope of scientific fields are represented: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, technology, geology, oceanography. All the giants are here: Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Curie, Einstein, Turing, Goodall. Alongside them are lesser known but equally impressive people: Zhang Heng, Al-Khwarizmi, Hildegard of Bingen, António Egas Moniz, Tu Youyou. Profiles are organized based on historical era to highlight the progression of scientific thought and discovery. At the end of each section is a directory of other individuals from the era, each accompanied by a paragraph of basic information. This is an excellent resource to both browse and to serve as a launch pad for further research. Appropriate for middle school and up.

This title has been recommended for young adult readers:

YA/Curriculum Support: Easily digested, inclusive profiles of influential scientists will bolster both STEM and history coursework.