Close Up: Microscopic Photographs of Everyday Stuff

Ian Wylie Toal is a Martindale-based freelance science writer.

This frustrating book exemplifies the problem I have with picture books
in general: that by trying to combine pictures and text, the author does
justice to neither. The book features about 30 electron micrographs of
everyday things like sugar, flies, plants, and house dust. Each object
is illustrated by a picture or two and accompanied by a snippet of text.
The micrographs are quite interesting in themselves, an eerie contrast
to conventional light pictures. Similarly, the text alone explains
clearly and concisely such things as the structure and function of an
eggshell.

But as a whole, the book is confusing. Right at the outset, the
introduction fails to explain what an electron micrograph is. The
average 8-year-old will have little idea how an electron microscope
works after reading Close up.

There is no flow to the book—it jumps from insects to plants to food
to animals and so on. It is not always clear whether the text relates
directly to the pictures or to the subject in general. The pictures have
neither titles nor captions. The introductory headings to each subject
are placed near the gutter of the book, where they effectively
disappear. Nor is the identity of some of the micrographs always clear;
captions placed right on the pictures would obviously have helped.

It is not surprising that a book this haphazard contains neither an
index nor a glossary to elucidate the many undefined technical terms in
the text.