Focus on The World We Live In (Life magazine) and explain the Factual accuracy.
Much of The World we Live In is and always was intentionally out of date, due to differences between the latest theories of modern physics, which are mainly incomprehensible to the general public, and the more popular theories of classical physics. This dichotomy of theory developed in the 20th century and continues today. Faced with it, Barnett chose the more classical theories for his presentation.
Barnett primarily offers the Newtonian universe. At the time of publication, his parts were up-to-date with contemporary theories on the natural world, but major scientific breakthroughs in astronomy, geology, and biology date the series. For instance, the sections on geology assume geophysical global cooling instead of plate tectonics to explain uplift. The paleontological parts (V and VI) are especially dated, considering the speed of new discoveries in the field and the Dinosaur Renaissance.
The frontier of research had already dissociated itself from the Newtonian universe in Barnett's time, in favor of the Einsteinian. Writing in the mid-20th century, he was well aware of this development. He copes briefly with Einstein in the last few pages of the last part as a special topic, but for the most part modern cosmology, quantum mechanics, and advanced particle physics are beyond his chosen classical subject matter. For example, Newton's gravity prevails, but its equivalent relativistic curved space-time is neglected. There is no force of gravity in the relativistic universe; however, it is acceptable to use the language of gravity with relativistic meanings.
The sections on various biomes such as the desert, rainforest, and woodland, which depend on more immediate observation, are still more or less accurate as far as they go, which today is more limited in reach. They reflect the ecology of the time. Neither Barnett nor any other writer had any hint of the massive changes to the biomes caused by climate change, such as the rapid melting of the polar ice caps, the bleaching of most of the world's coral, and the threat to the atmosphere's ozone layer, narrowly placed in abeyance by world collaborative action.
ecology curved space-time Einsteinian geophysical global cooling ozone quantum mechanics Newtonian cosmology classical physics ice caps logic uplift Dinosaur Renaissance plate tectonics climate change language gravity gene modern physics biome particle physics coral