World Famous Comics: Encyclopedia of World History
Encyclopedia of World History
By: Jane Bingham Publisher: Usborne Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Usborne Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 415 Publication Date: 2003-01 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: Combining text with photographs and illustrations, this book provides children with a global view of history, from the creation of the Earth to the beginning of the 21st century. It also includes hundreds of web site addresses for further research. It features easy access to Web sites and free downloadable pictures and maps with test covering events from the Big Bang to the dawn of the 21st century.
Amazing homeschool prehistory-modern history resource My first grader, a very visual learner, loves this book. He asks for history first thing every morning because we use this book as our primary resource to study prehistory. To be precise, pages 12-101 offer a highly visual overview from the birth of the Earth to the first farmers.
We read a double page spread every day or two, then I'd type out his brief oral narration. As a treat, we'd visit the Quicklinks every Friday to further delve into what we'd read the whole week. Like another reviewer mentioned, the Quicklinks clearly set this encyclopedia apart.
My son was so enthralled by this book that he wanted to create a Prehistory Timeline of his own and we adapted the text from this book for notes for our timeline. We are now stepping into the study of the Ancient Civilizations and I must say this book is proving to be a winner in this area too.
It's such value for money because it can be used for at least 4 years of world and American history studies. That's great news whether or not you intend to follow the Classical Method's 4-year history rotation.
Many thanks to Usborne for creating this gem and helping to plant a passion for history in my son's heart.
Wonderful addition to our home library! We bought this book to use to supplement our home school history and we just love this book. The pictures bring the words to life and make it all very interesting. The home school family should not be without this book.
I use this as the spine of my homeschool history classes I teach history classes for homeschool junior high students and use this book as the spine of our program. The paperback's font is way too small-- I recommend the hardcover.
The book is divided into 4 sections: prehistoric, ancient, medieval, and modern. The Ancient and Medieval sections are available as stand-alone volumes from Usborne. But, you have to purchase this thick encyclopedia if you want the first and fourth sections. For my kids, we purchased the large hardcover and had our local Kinkos slice the spine off the book and spiral-bind the four sections into 4 different books that were much smaller and more manageable.
I give it only 4 stars. It's the best history encyclopedia available, but I hope something better will someday be available.
PROS: great review of ancient and medieval history, great illustrations, good readability. Internet links are fun and easier than googling.
CONS: Insufficient coverage of 20th century and *WAY* too much time spent on prehistoric life. I'm not anti-evolution (I haven't yet made my decision on this topic). I simply feel the the information would be better suited to an earth science book rather than a history book. It's simply a waste of money for parents to pay for 1/4 of a book not even used in the majority of history studies. I suppose Usborne wrote the book from the perspective of "Earth's History" rather than the history of just humans on the earth.
A page turner I bought this book at the request of my homeschooling sister. She says that she and her almost 5 year old read a few pages a day and are already halfway done with the book. She says each section is brief, but would help to build a broad basic knowledge. It is a good starting point for deeper research. I looked it over before I gave it to her and it is a very appealing book. It is full of illustrations that look like they would be hours of educational entertainment.
Beautiful illustrations This is a beautifully illustrated history of the world. It's a bit dry, but if you can make it through, it gives one a good sense of perspective.
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