Exploring the World Around You: A Look at Nature from Tropics to Tundra [Paperback]

Gary E. Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 2003

With key facts, terms, and definitions throughout the text, lots of excellent illustrations, questions at the end of each chapter and an answer key, Exploring the World around You makes a wonderful supplement to any homeschool curriculum. Dr. Gary Parker takes the reader on a tour of the planet on which we live through the seven different terrestrial biomes: desert, grassland, deciduous forest, tropical rain forest, coniferous forest or taiga, tundra, and chaparral. On the tour Dr. Parker explains the ecosystems unique to each biome including the plant and animal habitats and the fragile coexistence and dependencies they share. Fascinating from cover to cover, every reader will come away with an enhanced knowledge and understanding of our planet and the interrelationships of its inhabitants.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An exciting look at the interactions of plants, animals, and humans. This book answers so many questions about nature. --Roger Howerton, Assistant Editor, New Leaf Press and Master Books

About the Author

John Hudson Tiner received five National Science Foundation teaching fellowships during his 12 years of teaching science and mathematics. He is a graduate of chemistry at the College of the Holy Cross (Massachusetts), graduate of astronomy at Sam Houston State University (Texas), and a graduate of mathematics at Duke University (NC). He also worked as a mathematician and cartographer for the Defense Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center (St. Louis).

Today, Tiner is a full-time writer. His popular non-fiction books tell their stories through the lives of people who left the world in a better condition than they found it. He says, “After the research is finished, a wonderful moment occurs when the story takes over and the characters come alive. No longer am I a writer, but a time traveler who stands unobserved in the shadows and reports the events as they occur.”

He has received numerous honors for his writing, including the Missouri Writer's Guild award for best juvenile book for Exploring the World of Chemistry, which was also published by Master Books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Master Books (January 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890513775
• ISBN-13: 978-0890513774
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction?? I think not!, September 11, 2007

By 

JudahFirst "Love to Worship" (East Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exploring the World Around You: A Look at Nature from Tropics to Tundra (Paperback)

This book has been helpful in introducing key scientific terms to my 3rd-grader in a clear manner that is Biblically based. I appreciate that he can learn about creation without my having to explain all the fallacies in the big-bang and evolution theories every other page.

If you are looking for a beginning science book that lays a Biblical foundation, this book is for you! The pictures and bold-face-type help to communicate key concepts better than many other science books I've seen over the years. Questions at the ends of the chapters reinforce the concepts covered in that chapter. The "mysteries of life" questions at the beginning of each chapter and their subsequent explanations at the end can be used to help your child dig a little deeper.

I've been homeschooling for the past 10 years, and so far, this is the best Bible-based science "text" I've been able to find for the elementary grades.

All that being said, I did find that the language used in the book was WAY too advanced for my third-grader. This book would have been perfect on a 5th-grade level. I will likely save some of the chapters for next year due to the difficulty in comprehension.

7 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A creationist text, June 21, 2007

By 

Lisa "lp" (Ann Arbor, MI, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exploring the World Around You: A Look at Nature from Tropics to Tundra (Paperback)

I was surprised and extremely disappointed in the vague customer reviews I read from other sources. I was looking for a general secular text for earth science for 4th graders. The editorial reviews speak of "...key facts, terms, and definitions..." while customer did mention opening text having a "christian" aka--creationist introduction. I thought, "No matter, a reminder to be reverant is fine. Besides if there is anything overtly against my values, I will just skip over it."

Indeed, chapter 1 BUILDING ON THE RIGHT FOUNDATION: Seeing the 4 Cs. These were: creation (via by God), corruption (by mankind), castrophe (i.e. The Flood), and christ (the restorer). And so I would find no word of William Smith's nor The Geological Society of London's work in the late 1700's through early 1800's, in which the idea of a fossil record is unearthed. The ramifications of such a difference the foundation of earth science goes deep.

In chapter 2, instead of a single landmass, "pangea" where the dynamics of plate tetonics results in today's continents--there is mount Ararat where Noah's Ark came to rest and all the animals disembarked and migrated from that point. Instead of geological records as facts there is empirical and creative reasoning, "...animals began to migrate away from Ararat...the more aggressive placental mammals...would lay first claim to feeding and nesting sites, continually pushing the less combative marsupials to the the leading edge of the migration wave. Thus the marsupials reached Australia first, and God in His providence severed the land bridge...." Before I cut this chapter out of the book, I went to chapters on Ecology.

Chapter 15 ENERGY states, "CO2 is a 'greenhouse gas' and it does help hold in heat. In fact the earth seems designed for much more CO2 and that probably contributed the milder climate and greater plant growth before the Flood....Actually, the earth seems well protected against runaway global warming. The burning of fossil fuels that generates CO2 that warms the earth also generates dust that cools the earth."

In sum, Gary Parker mixes threads of science with creative ideas, to create a book of science fiction.

On the other hand, additional titles in the EXPLORING series that are written by John Hudson Tiner are reasonable. For example, EXPLORING the World of Chemistry is a good general text for a multidisciplinary approach to Science and History. The presence and uses of metal ores in ancient cultures is mentioned. Asides, although not placed within sidebars, mention Bible references to various metals, "Gold is also the first metal mentioned in the New Testament. One of the gifts of the Magi for baby Jesus was gold (Matthew 2:11)" It is left to the reader to interpret such asides as fact or literature or theology.

Hence, be aware that the quality of a title in the EXPLORING THE WORLD series is dependent on the contributing author. I do not recommend those written by Gary Parker.