Academic literature on the topic 'Nonfiction science books'

Purpose – This bibliographic essay examines the scope and variety of nonfiction works in comics form with the intent of expanding librarians’ awareness of the diversity of such materials and serving as a resource for librarians. Design/methodology/approach – It provides some theoretical background for understanding what constitutes nonfiction in graphic form and an overview of works available in print. Findings – The article provides a representative (but not comprehensive) survey of graphic nonfiction works in the genres of memoir, travel, journalism, history, biography, science, essays and educational materials. Research limitations/implications – The essay focuses on materials published in books in English; the library world would benefit from subsequent research exploring the richness of materials available in other formats and other languages. Originality/value – The field of graphic nonfiction is expanding, and this article serves as a guide for libraries interested in building or expanding collections in this format.

A Review of: Hilton, J. III, & Wiley, D. (2010). The short-term influence of free digital versions of books on print sales. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 13(1). Objective – To determine whether the availability of free digital versions of books impacts print sales. Design – Quantitative data comparison. Setting – University Instructional Psychology Department. Subjects – A total of 41 books, each with a free digital version and a traditional print version. Methods – This study used Nielson BookScan data to track print book sales during a 16-week period, 8 weeks before a free digital version of the book became available and 8 weeks after the availability of the free digital version. The authors tracked 41 books and organized them into four categories. The first included 7 nonfiction books, the second consisted of 5 science fiction/fantasy books, the third included 5 science fiction/fantasy books released together by Random House, and the fourth group consisted of 24 science fiction/fantasy books released by Tor Books. The books released by Tor Books, unlike the other books in the study, were available by free download only if a person registered for Tor’s newsletter and the downloads were only available for one week. When a free digital book from any of the other three groups was released, it remained available for several weeks, and more often, indefinitely. Main Results – Combined print sales of the nonfiction titles in the first group increased 5% after the release of a free digital copy. The majority of the science fiction/fantasy books in the second group also had an increase in post-free release sales, with a combined increase of 26%. The combined sales of the Random House titles increased by 9% after the release of the free digital versions. However, in stark contrast to the results of the first three groups, the fourth group of Tor books had a combined decrease in print sales of 18%. While the authors were not able to explain this difference with certainty, they point out that the Tor model for releasing the free digital books (making the free books available for only one week and requiring registration in order to download the books) was substantially different from the models used by the other publishers. Conclusion – The study suggests a positive relationship may exist between free digital books and short-term print sales. However, the availability of free digital books did not always lead to increased print sales. The authors acknowledge a number of factors not fully accounted for, including the timing of the free digital release, the promotion it received, and the differences in the size of the audiences for the various books studied. Ultimately, however, the authors believe the data indicates that when free digital books are offered for a period of time longer than a week, without requiring registration, print sales will increase.

This work examines the war prose of Svetlana Alexievich, an author from Belarus who writes predominantly in the oral history genre about significant political and social events in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states. Alexievich is the 14th woman who has won the Nobel Prize in Literature and is one of just a few nonfiction authors recognized by the Nobel Prize Committee. Although only one of Alexievich’s writings from her magnum opus – the grand cycle of books Voices of Utopia – is explicitly devoted to women in wartime, essentially many of her creations analyze war from gender perspectives. Her honest and raw books are based on carefully documented eyewitness accounts of the scariest things that can happen to people in horrific wartime situations. In each of her works, Alexievich emphasizes the discrepancy between the official Soviet discourse of glorious wars and the survivors’ true accounts of the horrors they experienced.

One striking characteristic of commodity histories, a suddenly ubiquitous genre of popular nonfiction, is a certain overkill in their subtitles. A representative sample might include, say, Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance (Warman), Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization (Gately), The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World (Zuckerman), The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug (Weinberg and Bealer), Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (Kurlansky), and Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World (Garfield). Only slightly less over-the-top than the “changed the world” clause, which also appears in recent histories of vanilla, house cats, Ping-Pong balls, dishwashing liquid, and pocket lint, is the vogue for two-word titles in which an adjective, usually a commodity-identifying color, is paired with the most coveted of precious metals. Some examples are Blue Gold (water [Barlow and Clarke]), White Gold (rubber [Yungjohann]), Black Gold (oil [Woodward]), and Green Gold (tea and marijuana—two books [Bennet; Macfarlane and Macfarlane]). Such titles suggest that all these commodities, even the humblest, have the power to get continents discovered, dynasties toppled, mountains moved. We take some of these commodities for granted, but all of them have changed the world.

A Review of: Maynard, S., Mackay, S., & Smyth, F. (2008). A survey of young people's reading in England: Borrowing and choosing books. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 40(4), 239-253. Objective – To analyze factors affecting book choice: reading recommendations, reasons for choosing series books, book reviews, and school libraries. Design – This secondary analysis of data is based on a selection of findings from a larger 2005 survey that monitored trends in youth reading habits. The large scale 2005 study was designed as a follow up to a 1996 survey. The 2005 survey used online questionnaires and formal statistical analysis to compare gender and age groups. The data on factors affecting book choice were derived from the original questions, responses, and analyses. Setting – Questionnaires were administered in 22 primary and 24 secondary schools in the UK with access to computers and internet. Subjects – Almost 4,200 students from 4 to 16 years of age. Methods – Study authors invited approximately 150 schools to participate in the survey. Forty-six schools (31%) responded. A total of 22 primary and 24 secondary schools participated in the original study between April and June 2005. This study used comparative analysis to examine factors affecting book choice between gender and age groups. Statistical significance was defined as one percent. Other demographic information was collected, such as ethnicity, language spoken at home, and religion, but was deemed insufficient for any meaningful analysis. There were 4,182 responses to the survey, separated into three age groups: ages 4 to 7 (KS1), ages 7 to 11 (KS2), and ages 11 to 16 (KS3&4). Students were asked to describe themselves as readers by responding to multiple choice questions, and then to provide specific information on the places or people most frequently used as book borrowing sources. Participants were considered “enthusiastic” readers if they “read a lot with pleasure” and “average” readers if they “read an ordinary amount”. Participants responded to additional multiple choice questions on specific factors related to borrowing books and book choices, the process of choosing series, fiction, and nonfiction books. Main Results – Readers: The number of children who described themselves as “enthusiastic” readers decreased with age, and approximately half of the children between 7 and 16 years of age described themselves as “average” readers, average rating increasing slightly through this age group. Investigators found a marked difference in gender within the 4 to 7 year olds: 49.7% percent of girls in this age group considered themselves “enthusiastic,” compared to 37.3% of boys. Only 18.5% of girls considered themselves “reluctant” readers, compared to 28.1% of boys. The longitudinal comparison to the earlier 1996 study found that although the percentage of boys from ages 7 to 16 who described themselves as reluctant readers stayed about the same, the percentage of girls who described themselves as reluctant increased. There was also a dramatic drop in the number of girls who described themselves as enthusiastic; from 51% in 1996 to 17% in 2005. Borrowing Books: Libraries of all types (school, classroom and public) were the prime sources for borrowing books. Girls borrowed more books from schools than boys, and girls also borrowed more books from non-library sources (family members and friends) than boys. Both boys and girls increasingly reported borrowing more books from friends than from libraries as they grew older. Over half of each age group rated the school library or classroom book corner as having “enough” books. The perception of “too many books” decreased with age. The perception of quality of the classroom or school library also decreased with age. The number of students in the younger age groups who rated the quality of books in the classroom or school library as “very good” was significantly higher than students in the older age groups. The number of student who rated the quality as “okay” doubled from the lower to the higher age group. Choosing Books: Children were asked six questions related to whether the physical book itself provided motivation to read, and six questions related to other factors for book recommendation. Younger readers were more likely to choose a book for its visual appeal, although this factor (interesting cover or illustrations inside) was more consistent for boys of all age groups than girls. The author’s name and book blurb were stronger factors for girls in the 7 to 16 age group than for boys. The study authors sought to explore the idea of “shared reading” and asked children in the 7 to 11 and 11 to 16 age groups how often they chose a book based on a recommendation from a friend or family member, a public or school librarian, or other adults. Friends were the strongest recommendation source (43.2% for 7 to 11 year olds and 38.4% for 11to 16 year olds). Recommendations from school or public librarians rated only three to six percent for both age groups. All age groups were asked about choosing series books, and the questions were simplified for the younger age group. All students reported that appealing factors were the consistency of characters, familiar storylines, and familiar writing styles. Some students also noted that the availability of series books positively affected their choices. Print or online book reviews were used “hardly ever or never” by over 40% of the 7 to16 year old age groups, while television or magazine reviews or recommendations were highly rated by over 50% of respondents in the same age groups. Participants chose informational or non-fiction books because of personal interests, hobbies, or recommendations from friends, while they selected fiction or poetry for the blurb, title, or appearance and design of the cover. Celebrity recommendations and books about celebrities were popular reasons for choosing books. When asked who helped them choose books, 53.2% in the 7 to11 age group and 66.1% in the 11to 16 age group stated that no one ever helps them. Of the students who had help choosing books, “family members” was the most common response. Local librarians were not used as a source for recommendations.

Nonfiction in Motion: Connecting Preschoolers with Nonfiction Books through Movement by Julie Dietzel-Glair is the author’s companion volume to Books in Motion: Connecting Preschoolers with Books through Art, Games, Movement, Music, Playacting, and Props (ALA 2013). Dietzel-Glair has given librarians everywhere a unique and important storytime resource. With the increase of the use of nonfiction or information reading in the Common Core and other curriculum standards, it is important that librarians develop storytime customers’ love for this type of material as well as for literature. Michael Sullivan has been reminding us for more than a decade that boys approach reading differently from girls, and this includes reading for information. Now it is time for us to use this knowledge to serve all the children in our storytimes. Nonfiction in Motion is the tool to get you started.

Book Review: P.P. Tolochko. Ukraine between Russia and the West: Historical and Nonfiction Essays. Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2018. - 592 pp. ISBN 978-5-7621-0973-4This author discusses the problem of scientific objectivity and reviews a book written by the medievalist-historian P.P. Tolochko, full member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), honorable director of the NASU Institute of Archaeology. The book was published by the Saint Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences in the autumn of 2018. The book presents a collection of articles and reports devoted to processes in Ukraine and, first of all, in Ukrainian historical science, which, at the moment, is experiencing an era of serious reformation of its interpretative models. The author of the book shows that these models are being reformed to suit the requirements of the new ideology, with an obvious disregard for the conduct of objective scientific research. In this regard, the problem of objectivity of scientific research becomes the subject of this review because the requirement of objectivity can be viewed not only as a methodological requirement but also as a moral and political position, opposing the rigor of scientific research to the impact of ideological, political and moral systems and judgments. It is concluded that in this sense the position of P.P. Tolochko can be considered as the act of profound ethical choice.

Latinos are the largest minority group in the U.S.; however despite the continuous growth of the Hispanic population, Latinos are severely underrepresented in STEM fields. One of the reasons that might explain why Latinos do not major in STEM is the way they encounter science curriculum in primary school. Students' limited proficiency in English may constrain their science achievement when instruction is delivered exclusively in English. A quantitative analysis with graduation rates in STEM from 2009 to 2014 at the University of North Texas was conducted, finding that there is a significant difference (p<0.05) in the number of bachelor's degrees in STEM between Hispanic, White, African American and other student populations. Interviews with teachers, librarians and publishing companies were performed to describe the limited science literature in Spanish at the Dallas ISD schools. Improving science literacy by teaching according to ELLs' linguistic skills and culture may lead to a better understanding of science curriculum throughout their education, which may translate into higher college graduation rates by Hispanic recipients in STEM.

This thesis and its corresponding art installation, Lessons from Ziggy, attempts to deconstruct the variables prevalent within several complex systems, analyze their transformations, and propose a methodology for reasserting the soap box within the display pedestal. In this text, there are several key and specific examples of the transformation of various signifiers (i.e. media-bred fear’s transformation into a political tactic of surveillance, contemporary freneticism’s transformation into complacency, and community’s transformation into nationalism as a state weapon). In this essay, all of these concepts are contextualized within the exponential growth of new technologies. That is to say, all of these semiotic developments must be framed within the post-Internet sphere.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2008.
Advisor: Diana Rice, Florida State University, College of Education, School of Teacher Education. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Feb. 24, 2009). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 210 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

This chapter considers how books about history, science, or religion were shared. Library catalogues and diaries show that the borrowing, selling, and reading of sermons, histories, and travel writing dwarfed that of literary works. Records of books sold in parts show that the largest genre available in this form was history, followed by geography, topography, and travel, then biblical commentary, church history, and treatises on morality. The expanding print market created newly accessible formats across many areas of intellectual enquiry, and the display of generalist knowledge about historical figures, botany, or astronomy was a prominent part of polite accomplishment for both men and women. Eighteenth-century readers consumed nonfiction works together at home—for piety, self-improvement, and entertainment.

This chapter provides a concerted overview of Ballard’s short story production and publication, foregrounding key collections, among them The Voices of Time,The Terminal Beach, Vermillion Sands, Myths of the Near Future andWar Fever. It also accounts for articles, essays, reviews, introductions and other nonfiction texts written throughout his life to subsidize his income from fiction. While Ballard’s novels contain the real meat of his legacy, his stories are crucial building blocks, test sites for his craft and the emergent flows of inner space as well as seedlings for book-length works. Before appearing in the aforementioned iconic collections, they were printed mainly in British SF magazines such as New Worlds, Science Fantasy, Ambit andInterzone.

The essay is a genre-buster. Nonfiction genres—article, book review, memoir, news report—form a kind of taxonomy, like that a biologist imposes on the animal kingdom, or an astronomer on celestial objects. Yet the essay is a genre that subverts the idea of genre. It's not news. It bears a personal stamp, demanding something of the writer's insights, experiences, or idiosyncratic take. But once past these slim criteria, to call it “essay” says precious little about it. The science essay can be formal, even stately, as in Science editor-in-chief Donald Kennedy's long, sustained argument on climate change, originally presented as a lecture. It can be amusing, as in Alan Lightman's reminiscence of how a failed college electronics project made him, a budding physicist, an ex-experimentalist. It can suffocate with language, as in Richard Selzer's sense-rich explorations of anatomy in “Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery” (1976). . . . I sing of skin, layered fine as baklava, whose colors shame the dawn, at once the scabbard upon which is writ our only signature, and the instrument by which we are thrilled, protected, and kept constant in our natural place. . . . It can deal with life and death, the cosmos and infinity. Or it can be a slight thing, as in an elegy for the slide rule that I wrote around the time the pocket calculator was supplanting it: . . . Long nights spent working physics and chemistry problems would reveal each rule's mechanical idiosyncrasies, the points in its travel where the slide slipped smoothly and those where it snagged. No two rules were alike. Borrow a friend's—same brand, same model, perhaps purchased minutes apart at the student bookstore—and you'd feel vaguely ill at ease. It wasn't yours: The rough spots were different. . . . The science essay can be spartan and simple. Or it can delightfully digress, as Stephen Jay Gould's so often did. “To the undiscerning eye,” Gould wrote once, barnacles are “as boring as rivets.” . . . This is largely attributable to the erroneous impression that they don't go anywhere and don't do anything, ever. The truth of the matter is that they don't go anywhere and don't do anything merely sometimes—and that, other times, barnacle life is punctuated with adventurous travel, phantasmagorical transformations, valiant struggles, fateful decisions, and eating. . . .