Customer Reviews

Out of Sight: Pictures of Hidden Worlds

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm never disappointed by Seymour Simon books; they feature spectacular photographs and graphics accompanied by fascinating text. His books span the gamut from parts of the body, animals, and natural wonders of our planet. Young readers can count on understandable text, the difficult terms tempered by definition, explanation, and repetition.

Recently I had the good fortune to come across an older work of Mr. Simon's, the prolific author who has written over 200 science books for kids. Out of Sight, a book that explores the unseen domains of our world via modern technology, is just as fresh and vibrant as it was 8 years ago when first published.


Out of Sight is a book of marvelous photographs revealing views impossible to see with the naked eye. Using light microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, thermograms, CAT scans, tomograms, arteriograms, MRIs, the author shares with the wide-eyed reader incredible pictures of unimaginable, hidden words, beyond most of our imaginations.

The massive magnifications are reveal the inner workings of human bodies and the microscopic creatures that dwell in and on us. A bedbug magnified 26X is the stuff of nightmares, and the memory of its gruesome picture is best to forget. With today's technology we can "see" things that even Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the first simple microscope, couldn't have imagined or anticipated in 1674.



One particularly impressive picture shows a tooth surface magnified 2700x and the gross yuckiness of tartar and plaque in all their disgusting glory. It's enough to motivate any kid to brush his teeth.

In addition to magnifications the book features stop action photos like the one of a bullet in flight severing the Queen of hearts. It's a great shot on several levels. Readers will also enjoy pictures of Earth's geographical features through the eye of a satellite camera and pictures of a distant universe taken with the Hubble telescope.


I work with students of all ages and am able to share books with them and get perspectives of different age and maturity levels. Out of Sight was well received by 8-year-olds ,18-year-olds, and all the ages in between. All were impressed by the graphics while the older readers could appreciate and understand concepts conveyed in the text. Even the most reluctant of readers willingly shared this book with me and discussed the wonders represented in the photographs.


My favorite picture is that of a single red blood cell or corpuscle traveling from artery to capillary. Almost equally magnificent is the depiction of a macrophage attacking an e coli bacterium. These are the kinds of pictures over which one marvels and lingers. The kinds of pictures one eagerly revisits and enjoys.
Out of Sight may have been written for the younger set, but it's a book that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

We got this book for our daughter when she was in middle school, and she enjoyed it almost as much as I did. We've never been disappointed by a Seymour Simon book that invariably includes unforgettable graphics and clear text.
The magnificent photos enhance the text and can motivate eager, young readers to seek out more information with further reading.

Readers in grades 4-8 and even adults can readily become enraptured by this fascinating book.

This a fascinating book to use as supplement to science classes. It is about the "inner world", the one we see only in a microscope or instrument that can visualize a world we can't see with our own eyes. Kids will love this book and the photos are the type that will keep some captivated for hours. There is also a section on strobe light photography, used to create stop-motion photography and satellite imaging is used to map the Earth. A fascinating book, I love the text too! Seymour Simon is a good children's writer of science books.

This book has great pictures. A wide variety of intersting things that kids will want to read about. Things in nature and things inside the human body. Great for getting kids interested in books.