Monday, November 29, 2010

Microcosmos by Brandon Broll


Did you know that a butterfly’s wings magnified 585X their size reveal that they are made of feather-like scales? Or that shark skin magnified 135X its size reveals it is made of steely tooth-like scales actually called dermal teeth?! Microcosmos is divided into six chapters: Microorganisms, Botanics, Human Body, Zoology, Minerals, and Technology. Each two-page spread contains a full-page color photo of the chapter’s subjects magnified 20X to over 22,000,000X times its size, the subject’s title, a brief description, and how largely it was magnified. I love asking students to guess what the photos are really of before revealing the answer. They dive into this book, pulled in by the strange and bizarre worlds we are unable to see with the naked eye. This book would be perfect for any science classroom, and is a great discussion starter.

Broll, Brandon. Microcosmos: Discovering the World Through Microscopic Images From 20X to Over 20 Million X Magnification. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2007.

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