encyclopedias

Learning Family Book Review

If you could only have one history book in your home library, this should be it. Written like an encyclopedia of historical events, the Illustrated History is an incredibly easy to access work, covering almost any historical even you could imagine. The illustrations and photos are excellent. The text is brief, but enough to get a basic understanding. I've begun using this one as a first source for history subjects, to get myself oriented, then continue into more specialised books as needed. The chronolgy is listed in the outside column of the pages, which makes thumbing through it quite easy. Though it isn't a history course in one volume, all of the more major events in history have several pages devoted to them covering archaeological data, social background, art and more. An outstanding book.

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia appears to be the updated version of the Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World, which received high accolades from Amazon reviewers and others. I've compared the two books. This "replacement" book is better laid out and has better graphics than its predecessor.

The colorful text highlights periods in history from 40,000 B.C. to the present. It is divided chronologically into segments:"The Ancient World" 40,000 BC to 500 BC, and The Classical World, 499 BC - AD 500, Early Middle Ages, 501- 1100, Trade and Empire1601-1707 , Revolution and Independence 1708- 1835, etc.

I like that it covers all regions of the world, including African history, and Indian, Asian, South American, Judea, etc, rather than the typical European history we're all used to. The information is broad in each section and includes wars, empires and dynasties, architecture, culture and arts, science and technology, maps, small biographies of important people in those times. I like that the book is chronological and also broad based in its approach. Each reference takes a full page or full two pages, with easy to find headings at the top of the page. There is a time line across the heading of each page so you know where you are in history. There's a nice "ready reference" in the back with quick notations of rulers and popes and the time period they ruled. I highly recommend this book for middle school years and adults who want a cursory but thought-provoking look at history. This book makes you want to delve more deeply into the different time periods. It's a good starting place for beginning your understanding of ancient history and getting a sense of time and place with regard to history. I homeschool and this is a great resource.

Beware -- this is not the update to the highly regarded Kingfisher Illustrated History. Instead, it reformats the previous work, departing from the orderly 'accent of western civilization' theme, de-emhasizing Greek and Roman history in favour of lesser known, minor world cultures and in general, adds aggresive PC editing. Using this book as a homeschool reference will result in you needing to spend time explaining the PC biases to your children, and ultimately, needing to purchase an additional reference book.