Visual Aid: Stuff You've Forgotten, Things You Never Thought You Knew, and Lessons You Didn't Quite Get Around to Learning [Paperback]

I'm a fan of graphical design. And this book could have been pretty good. I can't help but be impressed with an effort to capture an explanation of the Big Bang on one small page, using less than 50 words. Unfortunately, the book is full of factual errors. That ruins the entire book because none of it can be trusted. Here are a few examples:
- There are 36 inches in a yard. The book says there are 48 inches in a yard. On the same page it shows a meter being equal to more than 50 inches. A meter is 39.37 inches.
- Gravity is a force that acts straight down. The "How Aeroplanes Fly" page shows gravity pulling the airplane down AND FORWARD because the plane is pitched up (as if taking off). And the airflow diagram shows the air separating off the bottom of the wing and heading straight down. It actually flows around the wing.
- NASA says submarines can dive to about 900 meters. One article I found says the best of the US submarines, the Seawolf, has a crush depth of 2400 feet (730 meters). The book says submarines can dive to 2400 meters. The "2400" coincidence makes it seem like someone didn't understand the difference between feet and meters. As a result, the graphic is scaled incorrectly by a factor of about 3.
- There are 16 fluid ounces in a pint. The book shows it as 20. Or maybe 19, with a generous reading of the graphic. And there are 33.8 ounces in a liter. The graphic shows more than 35.

Then, there might be some cool information on pages like "Proportions of a Human Face," but the graphics are poorly executed so I can't tell what's what, despite careful study. There's a page of Smilies like :-) but without any explanation. I might like to expand my repetoire, but I don't know what many of them imply.

Even physically, the book is not well made. The Human Digestive System and Heimlich Maneuver pages are physically connected. I had to use scissors to separate them.

There are another thousand or so statements of fact in the book which I didn't carefully check. But since they missed the easy ones, I have no faith in any of the more complex ones.

This is a great idea for a book, and I really enjoy it. For the most part its exactly what I thought it was going to be. However, the closer I examined the illustrations (vector images) I saw some disappointing, sloppy work. Certain things just look rushed, or not well thought out. Lastly, the binding of the book is already falling apart! I've only had the thing for a few weeks, and have only looked through about 10 times or so. All in all, I recommend this book. Its a great concept for a book, and some of the content and illustrations are great! Although its not perfect. I feel as though I got my moneys worth.

This is a fascinating and well-executed book that is a delight to browse through; it has its limitations, however. The basic object is to provide comparative information across a range of examples of different entities of many different types, in an attractive and easily-graspable visual style. Each page or two-page spread provides a colorful overview of some category or phenomenon, represented in simplified form, employing arresting and thought-provoking graphics displays to convey basic information about that thing. Typical spreads include: silhouette pictures of various examples of a particular category (dinosaurs, rockets, airplanes, etc.), drawn to scale to illustrate relative size; simple bar charts of some phenomenon, labeled with pictures, that rank each example according to some measurable quantity; flow diagrams (of the blood, rivers, transit systems, etc.) illustrated with colored paths and arrows; and in some cases just pictures with labels. The graphics are simple, brightly-colored, and charming.

The range of topics covered is broad and somewhat quirky; the book is engaging and amusing to browse through. The emphasis seems to be on science and nature, but there are many other types of entries included.

However, it does not really work as either a non-fiction text or a reference book. The information categories illustrated are disjointed, widely various, and not systematically organized. Also, each entry, though fascinating in its own way, actually conveys very little information. Typically, each entry is organized around one particular facet of the entities profiled - size, weight, height, etc. The graphic effectively conveys that information, but usually only that information - the comparative size diagrams are two-dimensional and do not convey volume, speed, strength, or any other information that might be interesting about those items; the flow charts indicate direction but not speed, flowrate, etc. The complete lack of text leaves out vast amounts of information about each entry that a more comprehensive text would include, and the diagrams often lack labeling - for instance, the size diagrams visually indicate relative sizes but there is often no scale given, so you know how big two things are in relation to each other, but not how big either of them actually is in absolute terms!

The book is a fun and intriguing way to find out about a variety of interesting types of things in the world, particular by way of comparison within categories. It makes a great entry point for young children who show an interest in nature, science, or technology, and who relate best to pictures rather than words. It can be a jumping-off point for those who find themselves interested in some of the things shown and then want to pursue other resources to find out more. And it is a cool and entertaining bit of brain stimulation for readers of all ages. It is not comprehensive, scholarly, or rigorous, but there are other books for that. For what it is, it is clever, beautifully laid out and illustrated, and a lot of fun.

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