Next to this yardstick of excellence, the other books in this collection
pale. But Siegel does assume some prior knowledge. Beginners should start at
Que’s The Idiot’s Guide to the Internet by Peter Kent and Rob Young
(£19.99, ISBN 0137868235), or Prima’s Learn the Internet in a
Weekend by William Stanek (ÂŁ19.99, ISBN 0761512950). Both are
US-grown, but the first has been adapted for the British market. Its patronising
tone does not sit well with its overload of redundant information that no
“idiot” needs. The second is clearer and better written.

Better value for technophiles is The World Wide Web for ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´s and
Engineers by Brian Thomas (Institute of Electrical Engineers,
ÂŁ25/$34, ISBN 0852969392), which gives a tailor-made overview of
the Internet, followed by an excellent 150-plus pages of hand-picked science
URLs covering 22 science and technology disciplines. A brave but risky thing to
do, which unhappily revealed several unavailable sites. Was this bad luck or my
typing? But I shouldn’t have to type—too bad this is in print form
only.

The next stage up are easy manuals. Here, the prevailing style is to pep up
the dryness with silly cartoons and jocular “Wow, dude” phrases. Into this
category fall Creating an HTML 4 Web Page by Paul McFedries (Que,
£23.49/$24.99, ISBN 0789714906); IDG Books’ Active Server
Pages by Bill Hatfield (ÂŁ28.99/$29.99, ISBN 0764501909), and
Netscape Visual JavaScript by Emily Vander Veer (ÂŁ28.99, ISBN
0764502867). All three come with a CD of starter software and code examples, and
are in an “idiots” or “dummies” series—but don’t be beguiled by that. If
you are learning programming, they are useful references, but are not for the
faint-hearted. The HTML book is basic—it includes style sheets but says
little specifically about version 4. For the other two, you need a thorough
grasp of the difference between client and server, plenty of patience, and
confidence that the technologies are worth learning in view of the current
browser wars.

Once you reach that level of programming, you would probably be better off
with Core Web Programming by Marty Hall (Prentice Hall, ISBN
013625666X), a doorstopper weighing in at ÂŁ35.95. It has everything: HTML,
cascading style sheets, Java, JavaScript, CGI and dynamic functions. Though
aimed at experienced programmers, it is as clear as the so-called “dummies”
books, but serious where they are silly. The accompanying CD has friendly
frames-based searchable reference.

For real state-of-the-art Web programming, the best buy is Steven Holzner’s
XML Complete (McGraw-Hill, ÂŁ39.46/ $44.95, ISBN
0079137024). It is reasonable to take a risk on XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
becoming a future standard, and this 500-page guide and CD will give those who
buy it a competitive edge when version 5 of Explorer and Netscape appear. As the
book explains, XML will make the Internet a much more useful medium for
transmitting customised information than its present chaos indicates. It looks
dauntingly comprehensive and I can’t claim to have worked through the entire
book. I hoped the CD would show an easy way in, but alas not—there’s no
setup file to create a click-through path to accessing the undoubted wealth of
its material.

The authors, both academics working in Afro-American studies at Harvard,
acknowledge the challenge. They describe the book as a “sampler” or “miscellany”
even though it shows an impressive level of scholarship.

Traditions all over the planet, they argue, inform “literature, music, dance,
painting and sculpture, film and television . . . cuisine, language, games and
sports”. Perhaps the representation of each category has been carefully
balanced. It does seem idiosyncratic, however, to omit Pythagoras, Leibnitz,
Faraday, Rasputin, Anubis, CarĂŞme, Escoffier, Genghis Khan, acupuncture,
the Pillow Books, glasnost, perestroika, corroboree
and Maori while including Babe Ruth, Vikhram Seth, Amy Tan, David Lean, Toni
Morrison, Japanese-American internment and revolutionary operas. Modern
Americans seem overrepresented: Kennedy’s entry is twice that of Jesus. The
Cultural and Quiet Revolutions figure, but not the Velvet.

This need for greater inclusivity could have been achieved at the expense of
the large type and thick paper. And one could forgive the authors for biting off
more than they can chew if the entries were balanced with good
cross-referencing.

If indeed half the world’s population will be Asian by 2000, then the Western
world needs a book like this. The second edition must be better than the first.
Wait for it.

IF YOU enjoyed the book Sophie’s World, then try the challenge of
the CD-ROM. It’s not an alternative, but an additional experience. Jostein
Gaarder’s original was a long philosophy lecture disguised as a mystery story.
The CD-ROM is a game cloaked in hypertextual references. Sophie’s World
(Macmillan Interactive, ÂŁ39.99, ISBN 0333 692 896) is based on (note the
“based” on) Gaarder’s book. The book sold 12 million copies, so one can see the
appeal of recycling. But here multimedia is deployed with creditable
originality.

The subject matter, the search for existential meaning, is not classic
mass-market material. But the product will certainly encourage adolescents (and
others) to question and to learn.

Lateral thinking (and not a little patience) is required to work through the
28 scene-bands that take the explorer through some of the history of human
thought. To progress along the inherent linear strand requires solutions to
Mensa-style puzzles. The help screens are cryptic: you have to find out for
yourself how to make progress. This requires a particular mind-set, not an
ability to apply logical thought. This appears to me the CD-ROM’s fundamental
error, for if I learnt anything from my own degree in philosophy, it was that
logic is the basis of it all.

The plot-ploy structure of the book gives way to point-and-click tricks to
engage the reader, and the story proceeds via little e-mails floating across the
screen plus communiqués between Sophie and the rest on a titchy palmtop.
The reader is meant to identify with the sort of girl (speaking with a posh
voice) who receives a camcorder for her 15th birthday. Those reared on Chuckie
Egg will enjoy the satisfaction of notching up to a higher level. But girls tend
to have little patience for this sort of gamesmanship. Perhaps the pitch is not
at girls, and the title is pure sophistry.

Screen space considerations mean that the philosophy is even more simplified
than in the original. The CD-ROM has filled in the odd gap, however. Whatever
kept Ludwig Wittgenstein out of the book?

Philosophy is hard to read on a 5-centimetre square of tiny type narrowly
reversed out of busy colour pictures. Do these multimedia companies ever do any
research into readability theory? Why can’t they get something as basic as
visual clarity right?

Luckily, the user is forced to concentrate, and therefore learn, with The
Genius of Edison in Compton’s Home Library (Windows, £24.99, ISBN 539
0102 414 12 2)—if only because the print function has been disabled. This
is a well-designed product, both visually and structurally—too bad the
hillbilly banjo tune keeps looping, but it’s agreeable and adds flavour.

There are several different ways of accessing the material, changing the
focus from the inventions themselves to scientific discovery generally or the
history of Edison’s life and times. Hypertext links across all sections give
handy pop-up detail without forcing the user to abandon a linear reading. The
timeline section is brilliant: entertaining and informative. No book could put
the man and his context together so meaningfully. Interestingly, Edison spent
only three months of his life in formal education.

Also from Compton New Media are the Interactive Encyclopedia
(ÂŁ29.99, ISBN 539 0102 414 10 8) and World Atlas (ÂŁ29.99,
ISBN 539 0102 414 09 2, 1997 editions). The search engines tear through the huge
databases with astonishing speed and, alas, topics can be copied to the PC
without even the need to read them on screen. Both are future-proof because
monthly upgrades will be downloadable from an Internet site.

The encyclopedia is the better product. There are 37 000 entries, most with
accompanying photographs, sound and film clips. It’s more than just another
encyclopedia—the Planetarium is a stand alone section, which allows you to
look at the sky at any time of the day or night from anywhere in the world.
Click on a star or planet and it is described together with the time it can be
viewed from any home town. This is where technology comes into its own as an
astonishing resource. There are also links to related Web sites. A very
impressive product. All the Compton’s products come with the obligatory quiz
aimed at the 12-16+ age group.

The Challenge of the Universe (Windows and Macintosh, Oxford
University Press, ÂŁ49.99, ISBN 0 19 268 503 1) is for the dedicated
astronomer of 15 or so. There are 18 interactive talks on subjects such as “The
Vacuum” or “Quantum Universe”, but navigation is confusing, and the postage
stamp-sized video unimpressive. The text, easily saved for subsequent use, is
merely unedited transcripts of the spoken word, some poorly translated.
Capturing 13 world-famous scientists expounding their theories of the Universe
may seem alluring, but this is adapted television not multimedia. It does not
work, despite John Gribbin’s helpful introductions.

Science Explorer (Yorkshire International Thomson Multimedia,
ÂŁ29.99, ISBN 0172 15015 9) is for a younger age group. This is a science
museum on CD with seven “rooms” for children to wander around while clicking on
exhibits for information as they pass. It is not as good as the real thing, but
a worthwhile idea. It runs from the CD itself without occupying swathes of disc
space: school librarians will welcome this.

Operation Neptune (Windows, The Learning Company, ÂŁ29.99, ISBN
539 0102 408 99 2) is a maths tutor disguised as a game pitched at 9 to
14–year-olds. There are several levels of problems to be solved, graded in
difficulty. In between bouts of algebra, the student relaxes by collecting
treasure and zapping evil sea-monsters. Good psychology, this—though
typically boy-orientated. It is well-anglicised from the American original.

Dorling Kindersley has The Ultimate 3D Skeleton (ÂŁ29.99, ISBN
0 7513 1560 5), which journeys attractively round the 206 bones in the human
body—invaluable for budding young doctors and targeted at the
eight-year-old or older. The manufacturer’s claim that its product is
“breathtaking” is unsubstantiated: the computer animation is low-tech and the
razzmatazz box wrappings disguise a plodding approach that makes almost no use
of hyperlinks.

All seven CD-ROMs have the vital ingredient of interactivity, which helps to
make learning agreeable and homework startlingly easy. Perhaps we should not
worry overly. Those who will have to live in a world that is constantly
bombarded with information may find they can only remain sane by discarding most
of it unprocessed. They will assess everything on a “need to know” basis. That’s
the real skill fostered by CD-ROMs.

Full marks to Dorling Kindersley for making the loading of a CD-ROM as easy
as opening a book. An appealing plug-in-and-play duo from this company for the
8-plus age group are The Way Things Work 2 by David Macauley
(ÂŁ39.99, ISBN 0 7513 1521 4) and Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Space and
the Universe (ÂŁ39.99, ISBN 0 7513 1537 0).

The theory behind the design of these CD-ROMs is that children learn by
playing: wherever their curiosity takes them, there are more choices round the
corner. Indeed, all three CD-ROMs are packed with facts, pictures, animation and
audio tracks that bring to life complicated principles. There are activity and
quiz sections which appeal to the intended age group and have also proven to be
popular teaching aids.

The new version of The Way Things Work is a substantial upgrade of
version 1 (1994), which reinvented the original book. A stroke of originality is
a connection to mammoth.net—unique to CD-ROM owners—that allows the
young inventor to step outside the confines of a fixed product to a changing
fact-and-chat arena on the Internet. (Access to a service provider is assumed.)
This is a fascinating extension of the book, and it is a demanding development
for the author, who is committed to providing a “thought of the month”, as well
as being on tap to answer e-mails.

The Eyewitness CD gives more for the young learner to
do—linked topics, fact files, cross-references, audio on almost every
topic, plus some remarkable video clips—on solar activity, for
example—which go a long way towards justifying multimedia euphoria. It is
a pity the type in this is too small for the age range, however, and the user
cannot enlarge it. If it can’t do something so basic, then it is not performing
its task properly.

Turning to books, a clear Christmas candidate is Kingfisher’s I Wonder
Why Encyclopedia (ÂŁ19.99, ISBN 0 7534 0108 8), especially if you have
a five-year-old “why-why” in your household. Is the Earth round? How big is the
ocean? Who invented our calendar? Why do I run out of energy (as if they ever
do)? What are bones? It’s all here in 336 packed pages, which display clear,
large print and drawings with juvenile appeal.

Similarly geared towards the curious is Macdonald’s About Your Toys
by Barbara Taylor (ÂŁ9.99, Everyday Science Series , ISBN 0 7500 1988 3),
which is hot on little “did you know that” fact-bites. It answers questions such
as “How did the stuffing get inside my teddy?” Some of the drawings are almost
too quirky—the idea that Tutankhamen had a teddy is just plain odd. An
appealing seasonal gift, but a little low on content.

Better value for the slightly older 8-plus is How Things Work
edited by Alison Porter and Eryl Davies (Wayland, ÂŁ9.99, ISBN 0
7500 1902 6), which includes sections on the elements, machines, communications,
leisure and transport. This is a book full of cross sections and long captions.
The artwork is very clean and clear. Though more limited in scope than other
books on the subject, there is a great deal to look at, question and
understand.

For cross sections, Dorling Kindersley steals the show with
Superstructures (£8.99, ISBN 0 7513 5435 X). This book’s success in
showing the inner structure of buildings owes more to the list of photographers
and model makers than the writer who put words into the gaps on the page. And
the serious engineer could pore for hours over The Ultimate Book of
Cross-Sections, a 300-page compendium of other titles (ÂŁ19.99,
ISBN 0 7513 5488 0).

The children who helped with this review made a beeline for the CD-ROM
“books”, and they do offer good value. The point-and-click approach means that
no two readings will be the same. At eight-plus, however, children like
predictability, and it is noticeable that looking at a CD-ROM is not a private
experience, like reading a book. More is gained by viewing it with friends, or
better still, with an adult with navigational skills.

Today’s children have a real chance of overcoming this obstacle with
first-rate books such as Incredible Comparisons by Russell Ash (Dorling
Kindersley, ÂŁ14, ISBN 0 7513 5421 X). This outsized 64-page hardback,
aimed at eight-year-olds and upwards, is a highly imaginative exploration of
statistics and getting to grips with large numbers. Vivid illustrations show
what size, weight, speed and mass really mean. One drawing, for example, shows
that if all the ice in the world were to melt, the sea-level would rise to just
below the Statue of Liberty’s head. The statue then becomes a symbol of scale
throughout the book, encouraging a firm grasp of the meaning of the figures.

Equally riveting in the same publisher’s Eyewitness series is How
Mathematics Works (ÂŁ14.99, ISBN 0 7513 0310 0) by Carol Vorderman,
who is enormously successful in conveying her enthusiasm for her subject. Pound
for pound, this is possibly better value for the classroom than Incredible
Comparisons—192 pages packed with clearly explained and
well-illustrated theories, projects, experiments and history. The book also
contains superb numerical tricks guaranteed to impress friends and peers—
a definite bonus for any child at school. Followed through from beginning to
end, How Mathematics Works will give an excellent grounding on which to
start the GCSE syllabus. A splendid present for 11 to 14-year-olds.

CD-ROMs are an ideal medium for this subject area. Interactivity with
mathematical concepts is attractive for both teachers and learners, as it turns
problem solving into a game and replaces repetitive testing with enjoyable
quizzes. Peter Rabbit’s Number Garden (£29.99, Frederick
Warne/MindScape, for PC ISBN 0140 888020, for Mac ISBN 0140 88808X) is a
charming CD-ROM for four to eight-year-olds which introduces numerical skills
and covers basic addition, subtraction and sorting. Beatrix Potter’s drawings
are animated in ways she might have appreciated, and there are delightful
touches such as falling radishes to click on as each game ends. Perfect bait for
the reluctant three-Rs learner, and much more fun than learning by rote.

Going up in age group, The Learning Company in the US has Treasure
MathStorm for the five to nine-year-olds, and Outnumbered for the
seven to ten-year-olds (both ÂŁ39.99/$45, ISBN 0 7630 1034 0, ISBN 0
7630 1031 6, Tel: 617 494 1200, UK SoftKey Tel: 0181 246 4000, available for Mac
and PC in CD-ROM or disc versions). Neither has the design subtlety of Peter
Rabbit’s Number Garden, but children will probably love them, as a
zap-and-annihilate game is used to convey the lessons. Both require the player
to solve mathematical problems before they can move to the next stage. These
games are fun and the maths is well-structured, progressing through challenging
levels of difficulty. A useful way of channelling all that rampant Nintendo
energy.

By GCSE level, students have supposedly left entertainment-learning behind
and are turning to functional teaching tools. Look out for Letts Education’s
Multimedia Revision Guide for GCSE Mathematics on CD-ROM (available in
November, ÂŁ17.99, ISBN 1 85758 459 7). This is advertised as covering the
complete Key Stage 4 curriculum, and as offering a comprehensive monitoring of
the four Attainment Targets required at that level—Number, Algebra, Shape
and Space, and Handling Data. Judging by their Multimedia Revision Guide for
GCSE Science (ÂŁ19.99, ISBN 1 85758 458 9) this is likely to be an
excellent revision aid. The science disc is classy, displaying a sense of humour
that rescues it from the potential dryness of the task. Both products are priced
competitively so that parents can help their struggling offspring get down to
business.

Ours is a curious culture which seems to undervalue the ability to deal
comfortably with the fundamentals of number and chance. Any one of these
products will fire the young imagination and help redress an imbalance by
catching it early.

A typical example is Black Holes and Other Space Phenomena by Philip Steele (Kingfisher, ÂŁ4.50, ISBN 1 85697 407 3). It ought, in honesty, to be called Space Phenomena and a Paragraph on Black Holes, but that would be far less saleable to the 8 to 11-year-old interstellar enthusiast.

Even so, it grabs the reader’s attention with its dramatic colour changes on each page turn, making the diagrams and photographs of space leap off the page with the 3D effect of computer graphics. It is surprisingly densely packed with information, even if the visuals threaten to dominate. It will appeal to kids (particularly boys) with a mania for collecting facts and statistics, and the bright child will enjoy the quizzes dotted through the book. Whether teachers will find it educationally sound to pose questions that could not possibly be answered from the text that precedes them is open to dispute.

A more meaty book for the fact collector is 1OO Greatest Inventions (Dragon’s World, £8.95, ISBN 1 85028 311 7). No author is credited on the title page (the text is ascribed to Philip Wilkinson) but there is a team feel to it. This is the only book in the collection to define its target age group (10-14), which is useful for adults buying presents. It follows the current fashion for a single-page display per topic, putting a neat frame round 100 everyday objects such as plastics, clocks, detergents and credit cards.

The book is visually appealing, with attractive pictures and clear text that will be useful for topic work. I wondered, though, about the rationale behind its structure. The topics appear to be arranged in a random order, but closer inspection suggests they follow a loose chronology. So Safety Pin (originating 4000 years ago but reinvented in 1849) sits side by side with Elevator (launched in 1854) while Aerosol is followed by Television, and Moving Pictures by Paperclip. This format ignores the fact that there is more to say about moving pictures than paperclips. Film or Cinema would have been better topic titles. It is a pity that the child’s search for either of these would be frustrated – they are not in the index.

At the upper end of the same age group is Tales of Real Survival by Paul Dowswell (Usborne, £4.99, ISBN 0 7460 1725 1). There is more to read here and the writer’s use of language is quite demanding, but because the subject is so fascinating – engaging the fantasy fears of that age group -young readers will enjoy its descriptive power. How could they fail to engage with Simpson dangling on a rope down a gash of a glacial crevasse, or the stowaway on Ernest Shackleton’s expedition being told he would be the first to be eaten? Most of the illustrations are informative rather than decorative, adding value by showing cross sections and route maps. There is more science within these adventure stories than in knowledge-byte fact books.

Two books that are also wordy are The Magic Wand and The Cheshire Cat both by Paul Doherty and Don Rathjen (John Wiley, £7.99/$10.95, ISBN 0 471 11515 0, ISBN 0 471 11516 9). Both contain experiments that are miniature versions of exhibits in San Francisco’s Exploratorium: the first on light and colour, the second on how we see the world. Theoretically, these books are useful and absorbing; undoubtedly, children will learn a great deal from any one of these experiments. But the American gung-ho terminology is a warning that British readers will have difficulty getting hold of some recommended materials. These two books are for teachers, while they are addressed to children, because they are unrealistic in their expectations of what children can do unaided. This is gee-whiz, hey-look at-that science: the principles are sound but there is no rationale.

At top-infant and lower-junior school levels (Key Stages 2 to 4) this is a successful approach. It supplies bite-sized chunks of information useful to children in their topic work. The five books reviewed here are seductively attractive and will certainly stimulate incipient scientists.

But there are dangers, too. The language of science is highly conceptualised, and limited space may lead to oversimplifications that will starve, rather than feed, the inquiring mind. In books that are picture-led, and where words are subservient to the design, the claim that the words will provide understanding may be overoptimistic.

How Things Work by Neil Ardley (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99, ISBN 0 7513 0215 5) does better than most because there is an extra dimension: it doesn’t tell, it shows, By following some simple step-by-step experiments the child discovers scientific principles, including how levers work and why skyscrapers don’t fall down.

In all, 81 themes are explored, beginning with the basics of machines and ending with information technology. The experiments are clearly described and close attention has been paid to safety. There is a good glossary and index -vital in a book of this kind. Not to be confused with the imaginative book and CD-ROM The Way Things Work (by David Macaulay and Ardley) from the same publisher or 101 Great Science Experiments by the same author and publisher, this will be invaluable on primary teachers, shelves.

Also from the Dorling Kindersley stable is a newcomer in the Eyewitness Science series, Technology by Roger Bridgeman (£9.99, ISBN 0 7513 1058 1). Visually it is an equally attractive book, but the constraints of the design show more sharply – the print is too small for the level, for one thing. Information is packed onto the pages, with Karl Marx appearing as one of 11 items on a spread devoted to “The factory”, opposite a museum photograph of a hand spindle with yarn twisted round it in a way that gives erroneous information about how a spindle functions. Similarly, midway through the sequence that is supposed to show the making a coil pot by hand, the photographs switch to something turned on a wheel. Such faults come close to spoiling an otherwise thought-provoking book.

Usborne’s Astronomy (£6.99, ISBN 0 7460 1362 0) is shorter, cheaper and not quite as impeccably designed. But it still comes out of the information-bite mould. It is lively and accessible, and if Stuart Atkinson struggles a bit to pin down gravity in just 46 words, who can blame him? The star charts are useful.

Microbes, Bugs and Wonder Drugs by Fran Balkwill and Mic Rolph (Portland Press, ÂŁ12.99, ISBN 1 85578 065 8) has attractive illustrations too, but here they enhance and amplify text that is already simple, clear and discursive. This book deals successfully with a topic that is generally given less attention than it deserves. It has a good glossary, which doubles as an index, and also gives pronunciation details. Word origins are frequently provided too, so children learn where the terms virus, vaccine or aspirin came from. The text is best read sequentially, but if you wish you could jump about for details on AIDS, cocaine, addiction and so on. The book could have clearer signposts to help readers find their way around, but is otherwise excellent.

The World of Weather (Kingfisher, £12.99, ISBN 1 85697 343 3) is another glossy product. There are 46 pages, but some are cut in half and others pop upwards to reveal cloudy sky. This is the sort of book parents will buy for 8 to 12-year-olds, beguiled by the openable flaps and 3-D glasses. Conceptually, it is poorly thought out. Four difficult words appear on the first page, with no explanation until the “Useful Words” section at the back -a trap that many children’s books fall into.

With books such as these, the role of the adult is paramount. It is personal interaction that makes the difference between imparting true understanding and merely parcelling in general knowledge. Children’s science books are generally undecided about which they are trying to do.