Book Review: Before the World Was Ready

Book: Before the World Was Ready: Stories of Daring Genius in Science by Claire Eamer with illustrations by Sa Boothroyd

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

You don't have to be a kid to enjoy the knowledge found in this book. I was fascinated by the information I read. Some information I already knew about such as the Wright Brothers and Nikola Tesla but it was even more that I didn't know such as Rachel Carson's book about understanding chemicals such as DDT and how they may be harming the environment.

All of the pioneers in science had to deal with some form of opposition against their ideas such as with Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis who angered his colleagues at the hospital he worked at by instructing all the staff to wash their hands. He knew it would help prevent deaths but his colleagues thought it was a nuisance as well as being useless. Even though, Dr. Semmelweis couldn't explain exactly why the death rate had dropped he still knew it was from having everyone wash their hands.

However, the opposition was just unwilling to listen and soon the doctor moved on to another hospital where he tried to instruct the same procedure but again he was struck down by negative views.

There is a plethora of information in this book from our solar system to the environment and it's told with enthusiasm for the subject. I would definitely recommend this book for children (or adults) especially in an age where everything is common place such as flipping on a light switch (which can now be controlled by a smart phone or handheld gadget) that it would be interesting for them to read about the ideas that created all of this modern ingenuity.

I thought this was a splendid book.