For kids non-fiction, the balance between readability and level of detail is key. Birmhingham has found the perfect level of information without becoming overwhelming.

This is a reference and introduction book about Biometrics. This book can be used to introduce children about the subject. The book captures the children attentions with the illustration and real life examples.

Fabulous introduction on biometrics for middle and high school readers! The language, layout, and illustrations are all age-appropriate, complement the content, and will even draw the interest of reluctant readers. Each set of pages about a different biometric has a similar format, so it's easy to follow and to find specific kinds of facts (e.g., how it's collected, how secure it is, examples of current use, etc.).

This book is both an enjoyable and informative read for middle and high school readers. It's even an enjoyable and informative quick read for adults! The author also includes a page of selected sources in the back of the book, which may be valuable for teachers, curious students, and students writing reports on this subject. I highly recommend this book for libraries that serve middle and high school students!

I enjoyed this book, it was full of facts and useful information and I did learn from it too! Entertaining and great as an introduction to Biometrics

Biometrics is a great introduction to the idea for middle grade students. The book goes over all of the current and past biological identification systems used, from signatures, to fingerprints, to retinal scanning. It also goes into other potential new ways we could use an individual's biology to identify them such as smell or foot pressure. The descriptions are interesting and concise with great pictures and side notes. Kids will really enjoy this book.

My, What Unique Eyes You Have!

In BIOMETRICS, Maria Birmingham gives an overview of all the different ways to uniquely identify a person. I found the book to well-written, with all kinds of fun and wacky biometric possibilities. Although the book is aimed at children, I enjoyed reading the book, and I learned a lot about the field.

The author first gives an overview of the field: “Biometrics focuses on who you are. Since your body and its specific traits are a part of you, they can’t be misplaced or taken, and they’re extremely difficult to duplicate.” The point is, two different people will never have identical features: “Biometrics takes advantage of the fact that no two people are exactly alike.”

Of course, there are simple methods like signature recognition, or the classic fingerprints; but that’s not all. There are also some weird ones, like odor or vein recognition.”

The author briefly explains the possible downside of Biometrics—i.e., privacy. Opponents of biometrics “Worry about the fact that ID can be collected without a person’s knowledge.”

The author identifies some really far out biometric research. Just when you think you’ve heard about all the novel ways to identify a person, there’s yet another one. In Japan, “engineers are working on a car seat that identifies you by your bum. Yup, bum recognition!”

So all in all, I found BIOMETRICS to be a fun book. Well-designed and easy to read. I thought the illustrations by Ian Turner were especially fun. I confess I was laughing so hard at some of the illustrations that I had trouble focusing on the text. I’m pretty sure, however, that Ian did NOT include an illustration of the “bum recognition” method.


Advance Review Copy courtesy of the publisher.

An introduction to the types of biometrics currently out there, how they work with side charts informing how invasive they are to record, how secure they are, and potential drawbacks.

What a fascinating read! This was very well done in layout and language used. It breaks down the science in easy to understand terms concisely. And it covers an array of common and not so common ways we can use physical traits and actions of our bodies to identify people. I had heard of some of these but definitely not all of them. Kids love spy stuff and much of this is the kind of equipment used in those spy stories (and also in everyday real life too…which the book does point out). This should be a huge hit with curious kid and tweens. And it would make a great filler read aloud for science classes that have just a little extra time. Definitely need to add a copy or two of this book to the library when it comes out.