(#44) / Mental Floss / (founded) by Mangesh Hattikudur & Will Pearson / (Magazine)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Mental Floss / (founded) by Mangesh Hattikudur & Will Pearson

ISBN-10: 7547008896 / Mental Floss, LLC

p. 72 / $4.99 (Retail)

2011 (March/April issue)  

Body of Content

Summary: The magazine often covers a few areas in great depth – as opposed to diverse, article-heavy entries like many magazines.  In this issue of Mental Floss, the magazine takes an in-depth look at topics concerning the human brain and technology.  Further, it highlights a geographical concern – by looking at “8 Things You Didn’t Know about Congo”.  Smaller articles also include looks at a visionary Japanese artist, a Russian playwright’s forgotten play, a look into Turkey’s Islamic yet democratic government, and the magazine signature trivia column, “The Quiz”.  The magazine is cerebral and cognitive in nature – with a nice visual look – with only a few advertisements dotting its pages.   

Critique: The magazine is a bi-monthly publication (6 times annually) and often contains a major theme that unites large sections of its pages.  In this issue, the motif is technological applications in cognitive areas – or more simply, modern issues surrounding the human brain.  The magazine calls this topical umbrella “Hacking the Brain” – with five persons (i.e. articles) standing underneath – “Cyborg Monkeys and the Future of Prosthetics” – “The Art of Building a Better Lie Detector” – “Why Cockroach Brains Will Save Your Life” – “Growing One Animal’s Brain inside Another Animal’s Body” – and “The New Science of Confronting Fear” (p. 38). 

The headline categories within each article often feature word puns or instances of irony.  In the robotic monkey article, the headlines include “Monkey See, Monkey Do” and “The Giant Leap to Mankind” (p. 42-43). In the lie detector article, the headlines include “Anatomy of a Lie” and “Paying for the Truth” (p. 45).

Overall, the magazine contains a humorous, cerebral quality to it – and the magazine completely embraces this identity – of finding interesting article ideas and spinning them with intellectual and humorous information.    

      

Teaser: “Fun facts have never been more interesting or useful – read Mental Floss for an academic, fun-time experience.”

Information about the Author: Mangesh Hattikudur is a co-founder of the magazine, along with Will Pearson.  Both were students – enrolled at Duke University – when they began the magazine.  He graduated in 2001 and over the last decade, Hattikudur and his cohorts have established a magazine that includes commercial spin-off products – such as t-shirts and board games – along with an accompanying web presence via their online site (Wikipedia, 2011).  The various editors of Mental Floss have also written eight books coinciding and based upon their magazine (Amazon, 2011).  

Supplemental Material

Genre: Entertainment / Trivia

Curriculum Ties: History – geography / Technology – machines, robots / Anatomy – neuroscience, animal science

Booktalking Ideas: 1) “Do you want to beat a lie detector test – or find out about robots who can read your mind? Check out this issue of Mental Floss”.

Reading Level: Later teens will appreciate the more difficult sections of cognitive information – best for 16-19.  

Challenge Issues and Defense: This magazine is a pretty safe choice for any library – I would not expect any challenges.

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I wish I had read this magazine when I was in high school – a lighter version of Popular Mechanics with a little bit of Jeopardy mixed in.

Last Thoughts

References:

Amazon. (2011). Mangesh Hattikudur [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/

Mangesh-Hattikudur/e/B001IGNZDO

Wikipedia (2011). Mangesh Hattikudur [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangesh_Hattikudur

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Vanessa Carlton / Album – “Rabbits on the Run” 

(#42) / The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA / (authored) by Mark Schultz & (illustrated) by Zander Cannon & Kevin Cannon / (Book)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA / 

(authored) by Mark Schultz

ISBN-13: 978-0-8090-8947-5 / Hill and Wang

p. 151 / $14.95 (Retail)

2009

Body of Content

Summary: The Stuff of Life is a graphical novel with an educational bent – attempting to explain and delineate scientific processes attached to genetics and DNA.  The book is broken into five chapters – “How the System Works: The Molecular Story” – “How the System Works: Sex and Cellular Life” – “How the System Works: Everyone Gets an Inheritance” – “Applying All That Stuff: For the Greater Good” – and “Applying All That Stuff: Into the Future through the Past”.  The graphic novel is a black-and-white formatted book – with graphics and pictures – but sorely lacks color.

Critique: The novel tries a creative means to the issue of literary point-of-view.  Since the DNA of humans is the chief subject matter, the author uses an alien species – watching Earth from orbit in their spaceship – as the narrator of the book.  As such, it attempts to provide the view of an outside source – an objective source not constrained by the messiness of the human condition.  And in this way, the alien view serves an objective view similar to science – which attempts to observe phenomenon without interfering with the natural processes.  

Such an approach is somewhat creative.  At the very least, it is certainly different from the 1950s voice-over documentaries – teaching teens the importance of proper manners – while the director makes occasion video cuts to the suit-laden, hair-parted narrator.  The alien perspective is not the content of the novel, but it is the means that the authors chose to deliver their message.  For the functionality of the book – and the intended audience – I believe it works better than the know-it-all 1950s approach to educational material.     

Teaser: This graphic novel distills the difficulty and complexity of DNA strains down to visual explanations.

Information about the Author: Mark Schultz is a comic and author.  Besides this graphic novel, Schultz writes various spin-off comics of Superman – and more to his own creations, he writes a series called Xenozoic Tales (MacMillan, 2011).  The latter entry features a dystopian future where two protagonists run a car garage – recreate formerly extinct species – fight dinosaurs – and use dinosaur excrement as a fuel source – in their car-friendly but fuel-ridden future (Wikipedia, 2011).  Most of his projects run through the DC Comics and Marvel Comics routes (MacMillan, 2011).    

Supplemental Material

Genre: Science / Nonfiction / Graphic Novel

Curriculum Ties: Science – anatomy, biology, evolution, DNA, genetics

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Have you ever wondered the DNA relationship between humans now and humans thousands of years ago? 2) Want to read about sex – from the perceptive of a petri dish?

Reading Level: While students read about biology and anatomy during their freshman and sophomore years, this title can apply to the later years of high school, too.  Overall, interest level fits the scope of high school (15-18).

Challenge Issues and Defense: The last chapter deals with evolution – as it pertains to DNA. Sex – from a strictly academic, cellular process – is also discussed.  Some religious groups may take note (of the former issue) – overall, having a balanced school collection for a library is the strongest approach to defending this title.

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: This is a good example of taking a complicated issue and finding a way to lower the entry-level for readers.

Last Thoughts

References:

MacMillan. (2011). Mark Schultz [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://us.macmillan.com/author/markschultz

Wikipedia. (2011). Mark Schultz (comics) [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenozoic_Tales

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Evanescence / Album – “Evanescence”  

(#28) / Billions & Billions / by Carl Sagan / (Book)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Billions & Billions / by Carl Sagan

ISBN-13: 978-0345379184 / Ballantine Books /

p. 296/ $10.16 (Amazon)

1997

Body of Content

Summary: In Sagan’s work, the scientist looks at a host of social issues – from the perceptive of history and science – attempting to evaluate and comment on a myriad of divergent topics under the umbrella of one title.  The book breaks into three sections – 1) thoughts dealing with cosmology (“The Power and Beauty of Quantification”), 2) thoughts on political matters (“What Are Conservatives Conserving?”), and 3) opinions on human morality (“Where Hearts and Minds Collide”).  A few of the morality chapters are co-penned with writer Ann Druyan.  But otherwise, the physicist looks to explore the external universe of the created world and the inner universe of the human person – in a work that popularizes difficult matters in common language. The book contains a varied approach – taking lessons from different fields – though primarily from history and science – to make its case on the various topics.   

Critique: In one chapter, Sagan outlines how both science and religion can find common ground.  The chapter centers on the issue of environmentalism – and how both sides realize – particularly within Western traditions – certain assumptions and actions have resulted in harm to the natural habitat.  Scientists invent inventions without thinking of the long-term ramifications (1997, p. 164), while the Judeo-Christian tradition often overemphasize humans roles as subduers instead of stewards (1997, p. 165).

Often times, particularly in pop culture, the two fields – of science and religion – are treated as opposites.  While their methodologies differ (as science asks “how” and religion asks “why”), they both seek to understand the ultimate truth of the universe – just on different levels.  While Sagan believes this to some extent – saying that “many religions are now comfortable with an Earth that goes around the Sun, with an Earth that’s 4.5 billion years old, and with the other discoveries of modern science …” (p. 167) – I am not sure that he provides the same courtesy to science learning from religion. 

The Big Bang Theory does not prove a creating act by God – but it does say that the universe once had a definite beginning – a central theme in theist religions.  Although Sagan died before its publication, I wonder what discussion might have emerged – if he ever received the opportunity to read Modern Physics & Ancient Faith – where a leading physicist, Stephen Barr, writes of overlap between recent postmodern discoveries in physics and central tenets of Christianity.  Barr does not exposit religious proofs – but like Sagan – wonders at the possibility of shared presuppositions between the two fields.

Teaser: “Humanity stands at the dawn of a new century – and looking back over the past few millenniums – it’s been a wild ride.”

Information about the Author: Carl Sagan was a professor at Cornell University – dying in his early 60s in 1996.  Sagan is a world-renowned author and scientist – mostly in the fields of physics and areas related to cosmology.  He had a particular interest in planetary studies and the SETI project.  Many of Sagan’s works take difficult scientific theories and place them into metaphorical arrangements that the general public can understand.  Such a case of science “popularizing” resides in his TV series Cosmos.  He is also known in popular culture for his novel Contact – which filmmakers adapted into a movie that starred Jody Foster in 1997.   He even won a Pulitzer Prize for his work entitled The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence (Sagan, 1997).   

Supplemental Material

Genre: Adult Crossover / Nonfiction

Curriculum Ties: Philosophy – morality, human existence / Science – cosmology  

Booktalking Ideas: 1) What would an astrophysicist’s take on abortion look like? 2) The 20^th century marked a milestone in humanity progression – but in what areas does it suggest more of a digression than advancement?  

Reading Level: More a book for early college – juniors and seniors in high school would still have interest in the book.  This book applies the “two years over” rule to collection building – as it is intended for 19 to 20-year-old students, but those 17 and 18-year-old students who are more advanced than their peers may still read it.

Challenge Issues and Defense: The book does talk about various controversial issues like abortion, the environment, geopolitics – but it comes at it from academic vantage points.  The book is opinion-based – but it comes at the issues from a scholarly position and invites criticism.   

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I wanted to add a few books that were university-level additions that would still fall into the hands of teenagers as cross-over titles. 

Last Thoughts

References:

Barr, S. (2006). Modern Physics and Ancient Faith. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Sagan, C. (1997). “About the Author” [Book biography]. In Billions & Billions.

New York, NY: Ballantine Books. 

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Misty Edwards / Album – “Relentless”