Exploring the World of Biology: From Mushrooms to Complex Life Forms (Exploring Series)

Upon receiving this book that I ordered for my 8th grade son, I read some of the first chapters our of curiosity. We homeschool and are fortunate to have a gentleman with a PhD in Chemistry (who actually worked in his field - not the typical academic!) teaching science in our area.The first few chapters were very interesting, well written, and left me wanting to read the remainder of this book. It is not a dry, boring textbook that is commonly used in the Public aka Government schools. This book brings the subject ALIVE - which considering it is a book of biology - is quite appropriate.This could easily be used in the home for any parent desiring to teach science or learn along with their children.Thank you Dr. Reid for this book!

Got this for my 13yo’s science curriculum this year and they LOVE it. My 11yo is using another book in the series. Will definitely be continuing with them. Very interesting and engaging. I like reading them, too :)

Better than expected & fast! Using as part of a CM 10th grade Reading list.

I bought this as a supplement to go along with our homeschool curric for biology.It was a great resource and I am so glad I got it. The children enjoy reading it. The quizzes we do orally and it helps me to know how much the children are understanding.

We bought this book for our grandson. He showed it to his Biology teacher, who was very well impressed. He said it is better than their present text. I expect he may change that quite soon. Thanks!T. Steven BrownAuthor and faithful customer of Amazon.

Sadly, "Exploring The World of Biology" is little more than a Creationist propaganda piece. Although much of the book contains legitimate facts appropriate for elementary/primary school students, the rest of the book drips from cover to cover with common fallacies and even outright deception in an attempt to insert dogma into the science classroom. Of particular fault is the final chapter, titled "Frauds, Hoaxes, and Wishful Thinking," in which the Tiner, the author, attempts to discredit evolution by painting scientists as wishful thinkers, easily deceived by frauds and hoaxes.First Tiner recounts in detail the story of Archaeoraptor, a fraudulent fossil "found" in China in the 1990s. Tiner claims that scientists wedded to Evolutionary thinking have been desperately searching for a feathered dinosaur, a missing link between dinosaurs and birds (not true, as dozens of such fossils have been found). He paints the picture, without saying it completely explicitly, that the scientific consensus believed Archaeoraptor to be a genuine fossil. In reality, the "scientific unveiling" of the fossil that Tiner recounts was done by National Geographic, which is not a peer-reviewed scientific journal by any stretch of the imagination, and the fossil was questioned from the get-go by many prominent paleontologists such as Storrs L. Olson of the Smithsonian Institute. Despite the fact that the fossil was discredited over a decade ago and has been relegated to the annals of history, Tiner insists that it was the only dinosaur-bird transition fossil candidate ever to be found. In the section of the chapter about Archaeoraptor he displays a picture of Archaeopteryx and captions it "Archaeoraptor Liaoningensis" even though Archaeopteryx is a legitimate and completely distinct species from the fraudulent Archeoraptor.Tiner then tells the story of Piltdown man, an alleged Ape-Human transition which was later proven to be a hoax. He fails to demonstrate why a 80 year old hoax has any bearing on the state of biology today. Tiner claims that no Ape-Man transition fossils have been found, only ape fossils or human fossils. In actuality the scientific consensus, as derived from genetics, is that humans are apes and that the fossil record should contain a spectrum of hominids transitioning from our common ancestor with modern apes towards modern man. And surprise surprise, that's exactly what the fossil record shows; Tiner completely glazes over this fact.Tiner then discusses Neanderthals. He says that when neanderthal man was discovered, it was thought to be a normal human, but after Darwin came along its story was changed to that of a savage, ancient creature between ape and man. Then in 1957, everyone was shocked when a fully reconstructed skeleton stood upright. It seems outrageous to Tiner that by using the scientific method, the consensus of Neanderthal Man's posture would change; ironically, he later affirms that scientists should change their views to suit the evidence.Finally, Tiner attacks cave paintings, of all things. Apparently, people used to think that early man was too primitive to create cave paintings, then cave paintings were discovered and the perception changed.To summarize, in order to debunk evolution Tiner glazes over all dinosaur-bird transitions and all ape-man transitions, then casts doubt on the veracity of science because the scientific consensus on Neanderthals and Cave Paintings was initially incorrect. This kind of tripe doesn't belong in a legitimate science classroom. Some of Tiner's content in the rest of the book might be fine, but you'll be better off looking for a book that isn't attempting to force an agenda into the classroom.

This was a very interesting book to read along side my daughter as she took biology.

Love Tiners books. Makes science more like dessert.

This book is educational and interesting at the same time. Very informative. I love the little quiz that comes at the end of each chapter to ensure and re-inforce what has been learned. This series of books provide truth for our children.