RECOMMENDED NON-FICTION BOOKS
Recently, Phoenix has become interested in a series of non-fiction books from the ‘Who Was….?’ series.
As you can see from the picture (right) we have started off with a selection of artists, inventors, leaders and, above all, great thinkers in history.
Although not shown, Phoenix is reading the ‘Who Was…?’ book on Galileo right now.
He told me that he was interested to learn that Galileo was considered a trouble-maker and got in trouble a great deal due to his forward way of thinking.
Galileo was placed under house arrest, because his views challenged well-established opinions of the time. He argued against Aristotle who held the belief that a ten-pound cannonball would fall to the ground ten times faster than a one-pound lead ball. Galileo refuted this claim, and stated that they would indeed fall at a similar speed. The balls were dropped from the Tower of Pisa and indeed both fell and hit the ground at almost exactly the same moment. (It is said that a slight wind hit the lighter ball and slowed it down a little.)
Galileo was indeed a forward thinker. Phoenix commented that he must have seemed very strange to many people back then.
We wonder what the people of Galileo’s time would have thought about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates?
Travellinginmybookcase
May 17, 2015 at 10:29 am
These books might be a great way for my niece and nephew to learn about history. Will have to mention to my sister in law. There are another series of books, I think they are called the My Story series, that you might find good. They are fictional diaries about people living in certain times in history relating to big historical events.
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sharon271268
May 17, 2015 at 10:51 am
Thank you for your comment.
I think the ‘Who Was…?’ series is a fantastic way to learn about history – you’re right there!
Thank you also for sharing your information about the ‘My Story’ series. I’ll be sure to check those out.
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Travellinginmybookcase
May 17, 2015 at 10:56 am
No problem – they have a mixture of female and male main characters to appeal to all children. I remember the plague one being particularly good π
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