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Book Reviews Author Reviews eBooks Movie Reviews Our Favorite Books eBay eZine   More About Us Contact Us	Author Review: Irving Adler (April 27, 1913 - ) and Ruth Adler (April 20, 1915 - March 30, 1968) "Writing books is like eating peanuts. As soon as you finish one, you start on another." --Irving Adler Irving Adler was born in New York City on April 27, 1913. He was the third out of five children in his family. He went to the New York public schools and graduated from City College in 1931, with a bachelor of science degree. He began his graduate work at Columbia University that fall, taking time off from school to teach when his funds ran low. He was also supporting his family during these depression years since his father was unemployed. While a graduate student he met Ruth Relis, a seventeen-year-old sophomore attending Barnard College. Ruth was born on a farm in New York and went to a one-room schoolhouse when she was young. She was sent to college in New York City when she was 16. They were married in 1935, one day before Ruth received her college degree. Adler was a mathematics professor at Columbia University and Bennington College, and at one time was the head of the mathematics department of a New York City high school. In 1937 he took a course in atomic structure at Columbia University. He says of this course, "This course planted in my head... that the main ideas that physicists have put together in their theories of atomic structure are so simple that it should be possible to explain them to children... By this time there was a full-grown book in my head clamoring to be let out to explain to children how we learn about small things like atoms and big things like stars." So, he wrote the book that was clamoring to get out of his head. Later it was divided into two books, The Secret of Light and The Stars: Steppingstones Into Space. At first Ruth illustrated the books that Irving wrote. Later she helped selected subjects, discussed outlines, and read and critiqued everything he wrote. When they began the Reason Why books, she began writing whole books herself. There are 30 books in this series, Ruth wrote 23 and illustrated almost all of them. Writing allowed Adler more time for his studies than teaching and he received his PhD in pure mathematics in October 1961. Mrs. Adler also returned to graduate school after their children were in school and received a master of arts degree in 1959. Together they have written more than fifty books about science and mathematics. Their books have been printed in 13 languages! Dr. Adler also wrote seven books under the pen name Robert Irving. I also thought it interesting that one of their children became a theoretical physicist and the other became an author and illustrator! Ruth became very ill in 1968. When she became too weak to write to her friend, Joyce, in South America, Irving would write letters for her. After Ruth's death, he continued to write to Joyce. They later became good friends and eventually married. "The Adlers have an unfailing ability to get at the heart of science and express great truths in simple, direct prose." - Horn Book List of titles by Irving and Ruth Adler: The Reason Why Series, published by The John Day Company, New York in the 1960s. Science books for young readers that show basic principles at work in this fascinating universe, explaining them with imagination and clarity.: Air Coal Earth's Crust, The Evolution Fibers Heat Houses Insects and Plants Irrigation: Changing Deserts to Gardens Machines Numbers Old and New Numerals: New Dresses for Old Numbers Oceans Rivers Shadows Storms Story of a Nail, The, c1961 Things That Spin: From Tops to Atoms Why? A Book of Reasons Why and How? A Second Book of Reasons Your Ears Your Eyes Books for Older Readers by Irving Adler: Color in Your Life Dust Elementary Mathematics of the Atom Fire in Your Life Hot and Cold How Life Began Inside the Nucleus Logic for Beginners Magic House of Numbers Man-Made Moons Monkey Business: Hoaxes in the Name of Science New Look at Arithmetic, A New Mathematics, The Probability and Statistics for Every Man Secret of Light, The Seeing the Earth From Space Stars, The: Stepping Stones Into Space Sun and Its Family, The Thinking Machines Time in Your Life Tools in Your Life Tools of Science, The Weather in Your Life What we Want of Our Schools Home Last Updated: October 3, 2003 Website created by Lauren Tatum