[meteorite-list] Need basic book recommendations

[MARK BOSTICK]

Hello Dave,

Sorting through the old junk box and I found your e-mail.  I do not remember 
seeing it or a reply....which of course does not mean a reply didn't happen.

I do not know children at the age level well, to answer this as well as some 
can, not having children of my own and those of friends seem to grow up so 
fast.

However, I suggest would suggest, The Day The Sky Split Apart, by Roy A. 
Gallant (c) 1995.

Which I would suggest to anyone who has not read it....child or adult.

I really like Kevin's book, and unknown to him, have helped him sell a few.  
However, I would avoid meteorite books that have any sections on the value 
of meteorites or the like. Or at least as a first book on meteorites.

Now if your not a kid, you should also get Gallant's book....but, I would 
suggest getting Kevin's book as well.  It is very affordable and I like many 
of the terms he came up with.  I imagine in years some of these will be 
common meteorite words.  And if you do not know what I mean by that....you 
haven't read it.  Buy it now, read it and re-read.  I could list other 
praise for Kevin's book...but that is not exactly the nature of this e-mail.


Hardcover, Illustrated dust jacket, Simon & Schusters, ISBN: 0-689-80323-0, 
Further Reading, Index. Juvenile literature. Release price: US $16.00, 
Canada $21.50. Book weighs: 431 grams or 15.2 oz.

My comment: This is children's scientific study book that was part of a 
series done by the publisher.  However, you might not realize this while 
reading it.  Gallant did a great job of making this book enjoyable by all 
ages, I personally wouldn't have wanted it published as a children's book, 
but it is easy enough for an advanced child to understand...Now do you know 
any kids that want to learn in depth about the Tunguska event?  With a vivid 
description of his journey, currant photos of the site including Kulik's 
buildings and recent information missing from earlier written Tunguska 
book's I have to give Gallant a no-prize award for a great job done.  After 
reading this book, I have a better understanding into Leonid Kulik.


>From Dust jacket: On June 30, 1968, something extraordinary happened in the 
Tunguska wilderness of Siberia. A nineteen-year-old eyewitness later 
describes it: "Suddenly before me I saw the sky in the north open to the 
ground and fire poured out. We were terrified." There were a series of 
explosions, and tremors were recorded on seismographic instruments around 
the world.  Then in the 1920s, an anthropologist collected eyewitness 
accounts from the Tungusk natives and Russian traders, and in 1927 Leonid 
Kulik, a Russian geologist, began investigating the area. The Soviet 
Government kept foreign researchers away until recently.  In 1992 Roy A. 
Gallant joined the first American to travel to remote Tunguska where 
scientist are still working to determine the exact nature of the blast that 
devastated an area haft the size of Rhode Island. Gallant describes his own 
trip to the research area deep in Siberia and tells of Leonid Kulik, who 
devoted his life to determining what happened.  He also reports the work of 
other scientists whose studies have shed light on this cosmic mystery.  
Gallant discusses how learning more about the Tunguska Event and studying 
the near-Earth objects in space will help scientist find ways to prepare for 
future hits and the devastation they are bound to cause.


About the author: Roy A. Gallant, called "one of the deans of American 
science writers for children" by the School Liberty Journal, is the author 
of more then seventy books on scientific subjects.  Formerly on the staff of 
New York's American Museum of Natural History and a member of the faculty of 
the Hayden Planetarium,  Gallant has been director of the Southworth 
Planetarium at the University of Southern Maine since 1979, where he holds 
an adjuct full professorship. He has also been on the faculty of the Maine 
College of Art, where he has taught astronomy. He resides in Bangeley, 
Maine.


Photos in book:  Tons of then.  One of this book's positives. From photos of 
Kulik's camps to recent photos of the site.


Quote from book: The destiny of a scientist is inseparable from the problem 
that the scientist is investigating.