This book innovatively combines a great deal of historical information with scientific experiments, activities, and explanations. Authors Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone present 10 countries, one a chapter, with facts about its inventions and discoveries. The countries include Egypt, China, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, the United States, Russia, and Australia. Each chapter features a general introduction, one or two experiments or activities (which have their own introductions), and concludes with a sidebar. The fourth chapter, for instance, is about air pressure, and yet the introduction discusses Gutenberg’s printing press, fuel rockets, diesel engines, mercury thermometers, spectroscopes, and automobiles. The main theme of each chapter might be clearer to young readers if this historical material were presented at the end.

The experiments in each chapter follow an orderly progression, from materials needed (usually found among household objects) to numbered how-to steps, and then to an explanation of what happened in the experiment. Laurel Aiello’s black-and-white labeled illustrations help the reader follow the instructions. While the writing is, for the most part, clear and straightforward, the young reader might be more enticed to read the book if the introductions related more to her life experiences. In some cases, instead of reading about the scientific theory behind an experiment, the reader could be encouraged to discover the theory for herself if she were presented with specific “what would happen if” challenges.

Both children and adults can learn a lot from this book, especially from its unique sidebars. Readers will no doubt be interested in reading about a Chinese seismograph consisting of a metal jar surrounded by eight dragon heads, or about a complicated Maya calendar that repeated every 52 years. Teachers who are planning a unit on inventions, or an integrated unit on any of the 10 countries in this book, would find Science Around the World a useful resource.