July 15, 2013

Illustrated Books Are For Kids, Right? Nah.

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Respectable books used to be illustrated. Then someone decided that picture books were for kids and boo hoo hoo, suddenly illustrations vanished from "serious" books. Well, I don't know about you, but I like a book that's secure enough in its content that it can throw a couple of illustrations inside and still call itself "serious." After all, why not use all the tools at your disposal to convey your points clearly and concisely?

Agree? Here's your chance to show it. Neil Shubin's second book, The Universe Within, made it onto SciAm's Best Summer Books on Science and it deserves your votes. I don't know how many of the books on the list are illustrated, but I can tell you that Shubin's is (because I illustrated it!) - and it's a great read. If you liked Shubin's first book, Your Inner Fish, his second book takes you further along the journey of discovery - past our shared history with worms and flies to the origin of the universe itself. We are part of that evolution and we just need an astute tour guide like Shubin to show us the signs. So if you agree that science books can be illustrated and serious, pipe up and vote for The Universe Within. Then get to reading! What a stellar list.

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