Aimed at kids age 7 to 9, this picture book shows how Léon Foucault and his pendulum demonstrated the Earth's spin. Tricycle Press, 2010, 32 p., $17.99. (p. 34)

In what he calls a "natural history of innovation," a science writer identifies patterns throughout history, mining the past for lessons in creativity. Riverhead Books, 2010, 336 p., $26.95. (p. 34)

A communications expert gives scientists a practical guide to making their work better understood. Island Press, 2010, 272 p., $27.50. (p. 34)

By viewing technology as an organism, a tech journalist projects how new devices might evolve. Viking, 2010, 336 p., $27.95. (p. 34)

Quality check Thank you for great reporting. I’m a longtime subscriber to Science News (since the 1970s) and want to compliment your reporters, writers and editors on the high quality of your articles, which often involve material that is difficult to explain. They make the news of science understandable, informative and entertaining. Hopefully, publications like yours, together with good science education in our schools, will inspire our youth and combat the politicized science and the pseudoscience now prevalent in our society. Leon R. Pacifici, Underhill, Vt. Viral infection and obe... (p. 35)

January 3 – 4 The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks. Look east and up between midnight and dawn. Visit www.seasky.org/sky.html for more information. January 8 Test engineering skills in a LEGO Building Challenge in Portland, Ore. See www.omsi.edu January 11 – 20 Preschoolers experiment with the rainbow's colors at Phoenix's Arizona Science Center. See www.azscience.org (p. 4)

"TAKING IT EASY" IS BAD FOR BUSINESS EXECUTIVES— Physicians should not always tell worried, nervous business executives to "take it easy," [said] Dr. Gerald Gordon…. If the emotions were not released, they would be turned inward and result in "suicide through stress diseases like heart disorders," [he] said.... The basic emotions of pain, hunger, fear and rage are designed to help us adapt to the complex, changing times. "That is not to say that many men do not work too hard and should not take a vacation once in a while," he said. "Many do. But modern man seems to have forgotten that life... (p. 4)