The Story of Science: Newton at the Center

by Joy Hakim

In volume two, students will watch as Copernicus's systematic observations place the sun at the center of our universe—to the dismay of establishment thinkers. After students follow the achievements and frustrations of Galileo, Kepler, and Descartes, they will appreciate the amazing Isaac Newton, whose discoveries about gravity, motion, colors, calculus, and Earth's place in the universe set the stage for modern physics, astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry.

In the three-book The Story of Science series, master storyteller Joy Hakim narrates the evolution of scientific thought from ancient times to the present. With lively, character-driven narrative, Hakim spotlights the achievements of some of the world's greatest scientists and encourages a similiar spirit of inquiry in readers. The books include hundreds of color photographs, charts, maps, and diagrams; informative sidebars; suggestions for further reading; and excerpts from the writings of great scientists.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, History Of Science, School, Childrens, Education

463 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2005

About the author

I've just updated A HISTORY OF US to include some new stories, especially those on people who haven't had their full story told, like Native Americans and African Americans. I've been astounded by some of what I've learned, I think you will be too.


My husband and I live most of the year in Colorado. I grew up in Rutland, Vermont and graduated from Rutland High School. I earned a bachelor's degree in government at Smith College, a master's degree in education from Goucher College, as well as an honorary doctorate from Goucher.

I've been a teacher: in Syracuse, New York; Omaha, Nebraska; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. And I've taught in elementary school, middle school, high school, and in a community college.

I've also been a newspaper woman: a general reporter, a business reporter, and an associate editor and editorial writer at Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot.

We have three children and five grandchildren.

from: http://www.joyhakim.com/biography.html

Reviews

[Scarlett Readz and Runz....Through Novel Time & Distance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several of Joy Hakim's books before and I intend to read the last one in this series 'Einstein adds Dimension'. So far, I liked this one more so than 'Aristotle Leads the Way', although it builds on previously set concepts.

Hakim uses these texts to convey an overall overview of scientific discoveries and achievements throughout history while including and explaining alternate background views, factors and political situations chronologically. A mesh of science, math, technology, geography, economics, philosophy/religion art, and music.

The timeline here begins around ca. 1300AD and covers a time span of about 500 years of science and all over development in the making. The layout and format plus the storylike telling of events with the included resources, pictures and shorter timelines used for reference, made this easily readable and interesting for any age. I believe the targeted audience is upper middle grade and up.

Included were the facts, fallacies, and mishaps that led and drove science in trial and error through the ages while the actual persons or scientists backgrounds were partially told in the manner of a biography. This made everything so relatable. Instead of dry text, this gave a palpable feel and understanding of the profound changes that happened in the field and the difficult slow moving progress in science and the endurance of great minds that devoted their lives to the subject.

Thought experiments lead the way, as proving science with scientific instrumentation still had to be invented. Generation after generation, humankind took baby steps in seeing and discovering the natural world and breaking its concepts down into smaller, more detailed bits. From Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton, Boyle, Faraday, Maxwell, Boltzmann and many more in between, achievements are gone through and the building blocks are explained that lead us to today.

Women in science and lesser-known achievers and driving forces were all included here, but I simply can't review every detail in the book. Without voicing an opinion of one way or another because I simply have not done the research to all these occurrences, I was surprised to find out how mainstream knowledge of individuals and their accolated achievements were built on taking credit from other previous scientist's work and principles to call their own. Very interesting.

I believe Hakim did a fair and neutral job to explain views and circumstance, and I would love for more young people to read this unique book. The connection between the elements of time and achievements present an understanding of trials and difficulties tying all components of science concepts and historical footprints together. I see this as an opportunity to make science relatable before or alongside the actual concepts of study. I have only had positive feedback and student involvement while reading this series. It is anything but boring and in my mind not infringing secular or religious views. It mainly stays with facts while explaining tensions, backgrounds, and general thinking or its acceptance and development of science through time.

Give it a try, it's jampacked with good stuff.

[Livy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think she definitely has improved in her writing since her last book. For example not going down to many rabbit holes, staying more on topic, and less non factual statements (more on that later).
It was overall more interesting and maybe that's just because the time period was more exciting but I do also think it had to do with her writing getting better.
A few things she put into the side notes were pretty significant things that I would want to know about so I was kind of confused why she didn't put it into the main section but that's more of a minor issue.
The last book she went on and on about the 50 million year old stuff and as a person who is supposed to be unbiased when it comes to this stuff she didn't do that with this theory. She kind of said this happened and didn't really give anything to back it up. In this book I definitely saw less of that which I appreciated.
She definitely does her digging when it comes to the people she writes about and she tries to find stuff about their childhood, family life, and how they got interested in their scientific path which lead to a significant discovery.
Sometimes she would forget to write the dates of some of the people and me being a student and needing that was discouraging.
A tip for school:
I read this for a school curriculum and after reading the last book I have to be honest I dreaded it. What helped me was writing a little about every person and there accomplishments.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, while still well written (I love this author!) was simply so much drier info. It got SOOOOO technical at times and was way over my head a fair bit that I was happy to finish it. So much more details in this one…or maybe just that the stuff they were discovering in it was just so much more complex. I just found it a much tougher read. I much preferred the first book.

Going to start the third book now…hope it’s not more of the same.

[Josh Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greatly enjoyed my time with this book. I appreciate how the scientific missteps were framed in such a way as to make them seem logical, rather than foolish blunders. And it was made all the more enjoyable when Hakim would lay out how future scientists would realize and corrected the errors. It served to make the sciences (and scientists) all the more relatable.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the kids and I look forward to the part of our day spent with this book more than anything else. We read a chapter in a sitting, stopping often to discuss the concepts, and to delve further via the internet. We just finished the chapters on Newton.

[Michele Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book. It was interesting to read. One of those books that you read short bits at a time.

[Lindsey]

Good back-up source.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another installment in the author's history of science series. An interesting and engaging read, even if it is a textbook.

[Tiff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far, the BEST text books I have ever read. Accessible, understandable, and INTERESTING.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable science text.

[Ami McNay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great middle school science book. I learned a lot.

[Renee Haug · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my daughter as part of her 8th grade curriculum. It is an excellent textbook. It includes photos and graphics to help explain the science. The author uses humor as well.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I have been reading this book on and off for about 3 months. It is a great book and is an easy read. Newton at the Center is the second book of the story of science series which tell the history of science.

[Joy Hakim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Letter to the Head of Smithsonian Books from a school leader, writing about the three volume The Story of Science:


The books are fantastic.

I have been teaching for 25 years with experience in an Ivy League University and a variety of very competitive prep schools. As a former prep school History Department chair (at Landon School) who made it a habit to teach everything in our department, I have probably used 20 different textbooks, including ones for courses in AP U.S. History, AP European History, AP Economics, AP Government, Latin American History, Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, World History, the History of the South. I go to conferences and scout around for the best texts, because they can play a critical role in the value of the course for the students.

Joy Hakim's work is the best I can find... She emphasizes narrative and tries to tell compelling stories about historical figures, with particular attention to their youth...My students like her stories and it is easy for me to get these not-always-eager readers to do so when it's one of her books.  

...She has made the study of the history of science incredibly approachable for a great target audience: middle schoolers. It would work equally well, however, for high school [and freshman college] students. The sophistication of the material, at times, is really beyond our students, but I think it's best to be ambitious with them and teach it since it is so compelling.

There are two traits to the series that make it so good. First, as far as I know, she is the sole writer. Texts are typically written by committees, and often handed down and revised through the years. This makes for prose that reads as if it's been written, well, by a committee. I can't remember ever reading anything written by a group and thinking, "that's fantastic."  

Second, she must be working her tail off to find the right stories to tell. This is actually obvious by virtue of the images she chooses to highlight her work. When I use her U.S. History series, I know the iconic pictures I want to show the students. When I used to teach with other texts, I had to go out and find them. Hakim's books seem to have virtually all of them there. She is a compelling storyteller, she knows what interests young people, and she creates enthusiasm for history and all its associated subjects.  

Todd Barnett
Head of School
Field School
Charlottesville, VA

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd volume in a series of science history books by Joy Hakim, author of The Story of US. The 1st volume was called The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way. This second, much thicker volume, is more diverse than the first. It covers some math (mostly the development of calculus, but also mentions Boolean algebra and some probability), astronomy, physics, and chemistry. There’s little to no biology mentioned. There is lots of neat background information on the various important scientific figures of the times. A couple of chapters near the end of the book are noticeably longer than the others. It felt “wrong”. Either the chapters needed to be broken out, or edited down.
The text is readable and told like a story. I find the layout of the book very distracting. Although the main text is always in black, side notes, captions, quotes, etc. can be in 1 of 4 other colors (red, green, blue, maroon). The layout is very “busy”. While it is visually striking when you glance at the page, it isn’t very functional. I had to read every chapter twice: once for the text and the second time for all the side notes, captions, etc.
All in all, though, it was a good book and I look forward to volume 3.

[Beth Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In honor of my new bookreads friend Crystal Rushing, I want to post these two books by Joy Hakim. For the humanities child such as myself, who averts her eyes when algebra is set before them and prefers simply looking at trees and flowers to attempting to understand science, these books have been marvlous. Joy Hakim is the author of the 10 book series "The Story of US" -- the history of the United States, and her writing is so engaging, so fun to read, she had made history a fascinating subject for middle schoolers and adults alike. Her history of science does the same thing. By reading these stories, I have an amazing new appreciation of science, and I read them regularly. I believe there will eventually be six in the series, I have just the two so far. Who knew science could be a joy?

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second great book in this series. I wish the writing was a little more consistent. Some portions have an elegant lucidity, while other portions make me wonder if the author understands the concept, because I certainly don't based on her explanation. I suppose that is probably the nature of a science book that doesn't assume its readers have high level math ability. From the chapters on motion to calculus, light, atomic theory, electicity, waves, particles, and thermodynamics, this book is mostly very good.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is superb work! As good as her History of US series on American history, but much bigger 400 odd pages! Not only does Hakim cover the history of science, she covers the science as well. Told with many fascinating stories to bring the scientists to life as human beings and incredibly illustrated, this is worth the huge amount of time it will take to read it! This is the second of a trilogy on science. I also highly recommend the first book, but will take a break before reading the last book of the series.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Story of Science: Newton at the Center: Newton at the Center
Hakim, Joy
The story of science continues with newton and the experimentation of people and scientist that change the out look of mankind and all people.
The reader learns the names, lifes, and ideals of the largest steps in the scientific exploration and methods.
I read each of the 40 sections on their own, looking at the steps in learning and scientific exploration.
this is a great resource for teachers and educators to learn details and those moments of learning.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a History Of Science book for young people. I believe it is Volume 2 of 3. Her series A History of US proved that Joy Hakim is the best history writer for kids out there. Like that series, this one is illustrated to the nines. I could do with a few less illustrations, but then I am not the target audience!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A text book, but a good one. It really showed me how little I remember from Physics. Cool stuff, and I hope I have a better clue about how the workd works.

I'd love some recommendation of other books that can share science with me.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a great history of science spine to get an overview of where science has been and who the big names are that have made discoveries or pushed the envelope. Lots of call outs and images/illustrations to keep you interested.

[Emilie[-MLE-] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science text book!! yea!!

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in a three part series. It was fascinating to learn about who these scientist were and what was going on when important things were discovered!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in this series. It's amazing how intertwined everything in this life is!

[Ilib4kids]

509 HAK

[Kristin]

Did not read the whole book. I need to check it out again later.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was interesting but i woldn't read this book if didn't have to