When I was a kid I read a number of children’s books on science by a writer/illustrator whose name, I believe, was something like “Joe Kaufmann.” They were large-format books, and I remember a few drawings from them (probably my only hope of getting anyone to ID them!)
A picture of all the continents coming together into a future pangea, with (IIRC) little future people standing on the newly fused continents.
A fellow in bed wearing a helmet hooked to a sleep-learning machine
a picture of a 30-foot tall kid whose intestines were in a straight line, instead of coiled
I remember a few more images, but nothing that would help much. Kids doing the “eat an apple and a raw potato while holding your nose” trick, a picture of a kid made of food (“you are what you eat,”) and three kids, one with straight hair, one with wavy hair, and one with curly hair, demonstrating the different cross-sections of hair with different degrees of waviness. There was also a girl with long, wavy red hair trying to iron it straight.
Holy schmolies, numbers 3 and 4 ring a number of bells…very faint ones, though. Argh, I can’t remember the titles either. I want to say it was a Webster’s Encyclopedia for Kids or something along that line, but it probably isn’t that.
I continued my web searching after posting this, and found that it was indeed Joe Kaufman (note spelling.) Unfortunately the public library doesn’t have anything by him! Oh well…
That #4 thing with the apple and the potato–I have a book that has that in it somewhere, I think. Does that same book also have a section about why you should breathe through your nose when it is cold rather than your mouth?
I remember that (the one I have, at least) it is a green paperback.
I know this doesn’t really help but it has intrigued me now!
