Happy Earth Day!

 You go ahead and Learn More if you dare.

$5,100,000,000 annual budget and this is the best they can come up with for a banner? Who are they targeting? Where are Kermit and the Kids? What ever.

[UPDATE: I have no idea what's going on with the photos. I'm seeing the ones below the fold just fine. But of course, I was seeing these just fine a little bit ago.]

In honor of Every Day is Earth Day-- and with The Children in mind-- I opened up the special bookcase and removed this crappy old slim volume:

All Around Us (Beauchamp, Crampton, and Gray, Scott, Foresman and Company, 1956)

I've had this book for quite a while and have always-- even now-- enjoyed looking through it.

M-a-r-i-c-a

There are very few words. As the front matter indicates, it's a picture book of "Basic Studies in Science." It begins with a section on Animals which presents lots and lots of pictures of all sorts of animals, both domestic and foreign.

[Some great illustrations below. Remember, you can click on each to enlarge.]

This is what kids learn now in Freshman biology lab.

There is a particular emphasis on growth and development.

These are two of several pages showing maternal behaviors (or lack thereof in some taxa).

Frankly, I could have done without the snail but I know first-hand that snails are part of the world around me.

The Animals section concludes with this:

Note the numerals "1" and "6" on the two top pictures. Is there a story to be told?

The Getting Work Done section is what you'd expect from 1956-- picture after picture depicting humans and their danged tools and newfangled engines exerting control over The Earth. It's followed by the Sun, Wind, and Weather section.

How quaint. A man-- with a tie no less!-- leaving a home with a lunch pail.

A clothesline!

Another clothesline! And a windmill!! My! They were greener in 1956 than I thought they were.

There is only one picture in this entire crappy old book showing a girl in pants. I believe they were called snow pants. Note also how the urban and rural scenes coexist.

All Around Us (for The Children) concludes with the Plant section. And what a fine section it is. There are pages and pages of flowers and leaves and seeds.

Reproduction

The Scientific Method

Happy Earth Day. Enjoy the World Around You!