The Book of Comparisons: Sizing Up the World Around You

by Clive Gifford (Illustrator), Paul Boston (Illustrator)

This absorbing and surprising book measures and compares a huge variety of different subjects: the strongest animals, the biggest poopers and eaters, the amount of water in the oceans, the deadliest creatures and disasters, extreme journeys, altitudes and depths, the power of natural forces, and much, much more!

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

96 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Clive Gifford is a highly experienced journalist and author with over 170 books published and more than 800 features and stories written for adults and children.

Clive is an unusual author who likes to work in both fiction and non-fiction. Perhaps this reflects his unusual life which, so far, has seen him travel to over 70 countries, be held hostage in Colombia, go parachuting, coach several sports and run a computer games company.

He says: "What drives me more than anything else is the desire to communicate, entertain and inform through the written word."

Reviews

[Yasmeen Sharif · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Book of Comparisons" by Clive Gifford is an informational book that explores different topics through comparisons. To summarize, the book is organized into chapters that cover topics such as animals, people, places, and things. Each topic is explored through comparisons between different examples, such as the tallest mountains in the world or the fastest animals on land. The book also includes interesting facts and statistics to further highlight the differences and similarities between the various examples. One of the major themes in the book is the concept of diversity and how different things can be compared and contrasted. Another theme is the idea of perspective, as the book encourages readers to look at things from different angles and appreciate the unique qualities of each example. The main genre of this book is non-fiction/informational.

The author uses a variety of writing techniques, such as descriptive language, engaging illustrations, and clear organization, to make the information accessible and engaging for young readers. The Book of Comparisons was a WOW book for me because of its engaging and informative content. n terms of bias, the book is relatively neutral and does not appear to have any significant biases.

[Francisca Barrientos]

Este libro me pareció muy interesante, muy llamativo a primera vista. Lo considero de alta calidad, ya que las páginas están llenas de ilustraciones que tratan sobre lo que dice el texto, es una forma de hacerle llegar de mejor manera la información que se entrega a través de la narración. Sus colores están relacionados con los temas que hablan en cada página del libro. Además, cada página tiene un tema diferente, pero al mismo tiempo están alineados, lo cual hace que el lector pueda seguir un ritmo bueno y coherente de la información que se entrega.
También, me pareció que las ilustraciones ayudaban al texto y la información, la tipografía estaba correctamente esparcida por las hojas apuntando a las ilustraciones para referirse a ellas.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books with facts and info-graphics. This one was cool

[Merylin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, I’m definitely lending this book to many.

[Κόκκινη Αλεπού · Rating 4 out of 5]

Στο εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον αυτό βιβλίο γνώσεων, που μετάφρασε στα ελληνικά η Τατιάνα Ραπακούλια – μεταφράστρια με μεγάλη εμπειρία στο κομμάτι αυτό – μπορούμε να βρούμε όλων των ειδών τις συγκρίσεις, από τις πιο απλές ως τις πιο περίεργες: από το ποιο είναι το μεγαλύτερο σε μήκος κόκκαλο στο ενήλικο ανθρώπινο σώμα ως το πόσο ψηλό είναι ένα πυγμαίο οπόσουμ σε σύγκριση με ένα κουταλάκι του τσαγιού και από τη χιλιομετρική απόσταση που μπορεί να διανύσει ένα κοκκινολαίμικο κολιμπρί σε σχέση με την πεταλούδα Βανέσα και το ποια είναι τα μεγαλύτερα και βαρύτερα ζώα στον πλανήτη Γη.

Περισσότερα εδώ--> https://kokkinialepou.gr/to-vivlio-to...

[Tim Roast · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It's hard to imagine the size of things you have never seen, especially if they're really, really BIG or really, really tiny. Sometimes a measurement can help... but sometimes it can just look like a meaningless number. So another way to imagine its size is to compare it to things you have seen."

That is what this book tries to do in visually-appealing graphic form, although there is still some of the "meaningless numbers" in here in my opinion. For example speeds are presented in kph, kilometres per hour, and not miles per hour which are more relatable in the UK.

But there are interesting facts in here too such as if the Earth's history was scaled down to 1 year then humans would only appear for about the last 35 minutes of it. I had never been able to visualise this before.

There is plenty on each page to catch the eye in this book which is more a pick up and browse book than read cover to cover book, especially as not each topic may appeal. Each chunk of info is bitesize making it easy to digest quickly, and where the book works well is where it presents something interesting in a way that makes it easier to comprehend, for example I read to my 7-year-old daughter how many omelettes could be made from an Elephant bird's egg which she could relate too. Unfortunately she did ask follow up questions about the amount of omelettes the other eggs presented on the page could make too with that information being unavailable in the book (although the bee humming bird egg would make a very small omelette indeed, maybe a doll-sized one) so maybe there is a point here that the book does pique the interest but may not keep it.

Throughout the book the graphics are great and it is that that will sell the book, but the written information is more interesting and more relatable in some places than others. Overall the book would be even better if it were in interactive form, such as on the web. Then kph could be switched to mph, you could guess the amount of people that could fit on a blue whales tongue and then count them as they hop out and the omelette information requested above would be more easily available as there would be the room for it.

So the book looks great but the written content is more hit and miss.