This Phenomenal Life
The Amazing Ways We Are Connected with Our Universe
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- USD 11.99
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- USD 11.99
Descripción editorial
For hipsters who like to geek out over science and nature
Entertaining, colorful, and full of facts, This Phenomenal Life tells the story of the wondrous ways that we humans are to the natural world around us. Every single atom of our body is made of remnants of stars and massive explosions in the galaxies, and we share the same biochemical basis of life with all living beings on earth, from a single-celled amoeba to a giant blue whale. Misha Blaise’s whimsical illustrations elucidate wild science-based facts, from the unexpected intimacy we have with fungi on a daily basis, to the similar ways that humans and birds learn to communicate. This Phenomenal Life will inspire the reader to look at the world in a whole new way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blaise (My Wondrous Cloud Odyssey) provides illustrations for a trove of scientific facts to demonstrate how closely humans are intertwined with the natural world. Playing with both meanings of the word phenomenal, Blaise depicts dark skies dotted with stars, swirling currents, riotous flowers, and creatures from microorganisms to elephants a vibrant visual world shared with ethnically and culturally diverse humans. Gentle whimsy prevails: a bewigged avian playing a harp illustrates an aspect of birdsong that s similar to human music, while two people shyly sitting far apart are yet connected by their microbial clouds. Addressing such wide-ranging topics as the Big Bang, plant neurotransmitters, insect husbandry, hidden water footprints, and mitochondrial Eve, Blaise encourages a sense of wonder at the phenomenal world. Even in an office with no windows, she writes, every breath we take contains trillions of air molecules that cycle through the world and connect us with life on Earth. Blaise s characters are almost all adults, but older children as well as grown-ups may enjoy this lovely graphic book, which offers a sweet-spirited reminder that all human beings are more alike than different, and that the entire cosmos is interconnected in ways we re only beginning to comprehend.
