Brain Power: World History Time Lines

by Penny Clarke

Young readers will enjoy browsing through this heavily illustrated capsule history of the human race. It opens in the time before written history-- approximately 1,800,000 B.C.--when the first human beings are known to have lived in Africa. Moving rapidly on, boys and girls will find dates for the beginning of farm communities (c. 6000 B.C) in what is now Turkey, the dawn of Egyptian and Sumerian cultures beginning some 3,000 years later, the development of civilizations in Greece, Rome, China, and the Indus Valley, the rise and feudal wars of European kingdoms, the age of world exploration in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the rise of America, the wars of the twentieth century, the race to the Moon, and the world after 9/11. Hundreds of important dates are listed that mark major historical events, life spans of world leaders, major catastrophes, and great human achievements. The illustrations on every page are lively and in full color, and the book's endpapers display dated tables of ruling dynasties around the world.

64 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2006

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

First sentence: Can you imagine living without time? Living without not knowing what day it is or what month or year?

Premise/plot: This is an over-sized, heavily illustrated "picture book" for older readers. Each two-page spread covers a different period of world history. Included with each spread is an introduction, a timeline, and a feature starring famous figures related either to the topic, the time period, or both. For example, Cleopatra is mentioned in the spread on "First Civilizations" which technically covers 6000 to 3000 BC when she didn't live until 48-30 BC.

The topics include: "The First Civilizations," "Chariots and Wars," "Long Live the Pharaoh," "The Birth of Democracy," "Empires Rise and Fall," "The Power of Rome," "Powers in Decline," "The End of an Empire," "Land and Sea Raiders," "Raiders to Rulers," "Wars of Religion," "Warfare and Rights," "Palaces and Plague," "An Age of Exploration," "Nationalism vs. Religion," "Exploring the New Worlds," "Tax and a Tea Party," "Revolution!," "Revolutionary Wars," "Crossing Continents," "Icebergs and Ice Caps," "War--and Peace?," "Peace for Our Time?," "A Second World War," "The Race to the Moon," "Changing Regimes," "The End of Communism," "A Future in Space?".

My thoughts: I liked it okay. It is very at-a-glance. This book was made for skimming. There is not a thing wrong with that. Not every book has to be read cover-to-cover, word-by-word. Reference books are important too. That being said, is this the perfect reference book? Maybe for children--the intended audience. Events get a one-sentence mention. That's it. No details. No context. No explanation. Famous Figures may get a couple sentences instead of just one. But everything is kept basic and on the surface. The book is a fairly good reminder that no one can know--can remember--everything.

I really disliked the illustrations.

[Marcie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just tried to cover too much and was too much at-a-glance for me.