On This Day: A History of the World in 366 Days

by D.K. Publishing

Ever wonder what happened 100 years ago on your birthday? What about on Christmas Day in the year 800? Or Halloween in the distant past? You might be surprised by what you find out.

On This Day is a history book with a difference. Travel back in time and discover the weird and wonderful things that happened around the world on every day of the year, from January 1st to December 31st. From the first day of China's rule by the Han dynasty on February 28th, 202 BCE, to the introduction of Dolly the Sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, on July 5th, 1996, there is something incredible to learn on every page.

Unlike other day-by-day history books, On This Day is packed with historical photographs and quirky illustrations that visualize the events of the past. No matter what your interests, from arts to sports to science, you'll find them represented here in a diverse range of events that are collected together by the day they share.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Historical

375 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2021

About the author

Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fun book that is packed with so much information! The pages are a bit cluttered, which would bother me in a different kind of book, but it works for this book. This book is great to start at the beginning of the year and read throughout the year to learn new things. I love the large variety of information in this book. You get some ancient history, recent events, celebrity information, well known history, odd facts about well known things and other completely random, odd trivia. There really is something for everybody here. I also love that DK blends all of their educational information with great pictures. Some are actual photos and some are drawn illustrations and all add so much character and appeal to each page. The book is arranged in order from January-December, with each page being a new day. It even includes February 29, so no leap year will be left out! The book also contains an index to easily find information about any topic of interest. I think this book is a lot of fun, even for people like me who never loved History classes in school. I think this would be a great gift to those who love history and/or trivia. I also think this is a great family activity to be used as just a small amount of reading together each day. This could easily be used to spark further education as well.

[Lorilin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest and say that I don't find this book particularly great. I was hoping for facts about people who are more popular or at least known to me. More than half are kind of obscure and just not that exciting. However, my kids love this book. I keep it in the family room, and at least one of them will pick it up each day and read facts for today's date. There's something about the book being so focused and contained--like you know before you open it that you're only going to read one page--that makes it feel very accessible to them, and not overwhelming. So that makes the book more interesting to me. If it keeps them reading, how can I complain?

[MK · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unique concept is to fill 365 calendar days with world events.

Unlike other DK encyclopedias that explain historical events, this book picks up events from a wide range of fields such as the royal family, science, and architecture.

However, due to the focus on months and dates, I found the book difficult to read in that the events are arranged in a disjointed chronological order (i.e., 1700s, 2000s, 1800s, etc.).

This DK history encyclopedia allows you to learn history in chronological order.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW!
If you ever wanted a book that covered major historic dates in history, holidays, days of recognition or any other feat in history, this is the book for you.

It is full of truly wonderful and unique factoids about people, architecture, cuisine, animals, wars, cultures, and is encompassed here beautifully.
366 Days? more like 9 Billion Days with all of the facts crammed into this engaging resource!

[Kevin Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun approach to history. Each days describes a couple of major events, briefly mentions a few others, and lists one or two famous people with that birthday. It gives a good range, although it sometimes doesn't give enough context to feel satisfying. Some fun trivia, or a good jumping-off point for some historical research.

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good layout. Fun facts. I found a mistake in the year that Lucy of I Love Lucy fame was born. I reported it, took a picture of it like they asked, and was told they would look into it. Makes me feel like it shouldn’t be in my classroom because of what else might be wrong.

[Tangible Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for daily reflection of what happened in history. Colorful, thick pages, hard cover, and inclusive of women and other minority history. Great representation.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great fun to read day-by-day through the year and learn all sorts of interesting tidbits along the way.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a let down. A lot of historical things/dates were not featured. It just was not what I was hoping it would be.

[Great Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find out what happened on every day of the year through history. This visual adventure through time is organized by date and full of interesting historical facts as well as obscure tidbits and modern history for each day of the year.
Ages 10-11
Reviewer 19