Amazing speculative fiction + Curricular ideas

Well, the break is over and it's back to the salt mines tomorrow. But it's all good because as I've already mentioned, THE THESIS IS FINALLY COMPLETE and out of my hair! I think I can say a hallelujah to that :-P I'm hoping to finally get back on track with some goal outlining and planning starting tomorrow - atm I've just been focusing on getting the random clutter picked up and put away that accumulated from my hyper-focusing on the test, paper, and thesis revisions I had to get in before spring break... So anyway, for tonight I wanted to go ahead and post a couple more book reviews since I finished reading both of these over a week ago and I've just been too lazy to give them their due (which they both deserve!).

The Harvest by John David Krygelski (Book #18 of 2012)

One word: AMAZING!! Be aware that this is strongly speculative fiction and should not be taken literally in regards to Christian doctrine. But if you keep this in mind, you are in for some creative ride. This novel is about 440 pages long and you are left wanting to know even more! I don't mean know more about the characters, but more about the way God made the world and how the world functions - it is some trip. The vast majority of the story is dialogue (or rather monologues from primarily Elohim and Dr. Reese Johnson), but the topics discussed were so fascinating that the lack of action scenes throughout the majority of the novel was actually what made this book so incredibly intriguing. The only downside I saw in this novel were actually the action scenes, which seemed to be a little too drawn out when they did take place lol. If you don't have a conservative bent, I would warn against reading this one as it points out very strongly the harm that atheism has done to the world at large; something I strongly agree with (I was cheering on pretty much everything stated by Dr. Johnson), but that others may take issue with. Elohim (God as a guest in the FBI building - I know, crazy right? Trust me, it REALLY works!) describes the real functioning of physics, evolution, our souls, and more, to a point that the reader really has to be careful not to take these creative and believable explanations to heart! Read THIS BOOK, you will not regret it ;-)

Janice VanCleave's Ecology for Every Kid: Easy Activities that Make Learning Science Fun (Book #19 of 2012)

I borrowed this curricula book from my advisor because at a quick glance it looked like it had a lot of interesting ideas to offer as well as some great simplified explanations of ecological concepts. Not to mention it was a trip down memory lane since I used Janice VanCleave books back in middle school to help give me ideas for science fair projects. While I realize this book was for more of an elementary or middle school level, I found some activities that could be used as fantastic demonstrations in the high school classroom. Think a transparent earthworm home to demonstrate niches, or an ant farm to clearly show how division of labor works in a colony, or 3 different plants with 3 different watering treatments to show the effects of acid rain. All such simple activities, but the way she puts these activities in the context of ecological concepts made reading this book SO worth while!