Men, Microscopes, and Living Things

As a warm-up to Microbe Hunters by Paul deKruif (which I struggled with even though I found it riveting), my middle school homeschool students will start with Katherine Shippen's Men, Microscopes and Living Things. I could have used this at an earlier age had I know about it but I know my 13yos will have no trouble with this. The chapters are 5 to 10 pages and there is nothing really complex in it, though it's engrossing even for an adult. It gets one passage wrong (assigning one finding to "deduction" when it's really an example of induction, on p. 145) but is otherwise a good simple overview of the history of biology. She makes clear connections between the scientific process and the development of new knowledge. She shows each scientist studying lots of examples, noticing what they have in common, and figuring out the causal mechanism through experiment. There are several very straight-ahead examples of integration (Mendel combining Botany and Math, and Lamarck applying his Linnaean classification scheme to animals rather than plants). It is chronological, concise, and imaginatively illustrated. There are nice wide margins and enough white space for note-taking.

My daughter is taking 9th grade biology. This book perfectly went along with her course work. The book arrived in good condition.

In ought this to use with my middle school son and his biology course next year. I read through the entire book in one sitting and appreciated the way the chapters are so engagingly written. It presents a history of biology that is alive and easy to follow that emphasizes the importance of observation and investigation of the world around us to reveal scientific discoveries.

I enjoy the narrative style of this book!

We are using this along with the sabbath mood guide for homeschool science. My son likes it so far. The book was in new condition. Nice feel of the cover and the pages are a good thickness.

Great writing that provides a wonderful overview of the history of science.

This is an excellent history of microscopy and biological science. It is difficult to find. Amazon has been a good source of books like this for me.

The book itself and the printing is fine but the binding quality is poor. The pages became unglued from the spine after just a few uses. We did not lay the book open which can cause the binding to come undone but our copy looks that way.