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.

[ ^Top ]

Religion aside, this is a useful tool and a great resource        Rating:

To touch on other comments: there is some religion. There are a few links that don't work anymore. Yes, you can find some of the links yourself. The type is NOT too small.

We used this book AND the kingfisher book for 6 months within our studies of ancient history at a 3rd grade level. Our family of 5 unanimously agreed that this usborn book is far superior to the kingfisher book.

There is a timeline on the bottom of every page for the spatial learner to see where they are within the context of time. The pages are illustrated nicely and appropriately. Items are labeled for the compulsive reader. The index is comprehensive. The breadth of information is appropriate for kids, under the heading of "put it before them and let them feast." If there is something your child wants to know more about it, for all means, look it up online or in other resource books. Many of the links provided will yield endless hours of additional information (and while you can look them up yourself with a search engine, I have three kids and am not interested in searching through pages of links, and I found it very helpful to have a ready-to-go link handy).

The comments about religion vs evolution are interesting... I personally don't think it is possible to provide a comprehensive overview of history without some sort of slant. We are a Christian family who also believes in science and evolution, and I am competent and smart enough to use the information in these books as a tool with my kids to teach them about what OUR beliefs are. People who are blaming the information in this book are perhaps expecting this book to parent their kids for them.

After six months of side-by-side weekly usage between this usborn book and the kingfisher book, this is - in the opinion of our household - a better book, with more interesting illustrations, better written text for kids, and providing in general a better single resource. If you are comparing the two books, this review was for you.

Wow!!! From the very beginning to 2000 AD!!!        Rating:

What an AMAZING book! While it was a required portion of our history program for our son, I will never hesitate to purchase a Usborne IL Encyclopedia again! The information is accurate and descriptive and the book in your hand is worth it's weight in gold (and it's heavy!) But when you add the internet extensions, it becomes a priceless connection to history through the ages for children to explore and enjoy. I can see this book being a favorite in our home for many years to come.

Bought for my kids and I can't put it down!        Rating:

This is a well-written resource that I think should be a part of every collection. I find that everyone in the family (including myself) opens it to look up one thing and then ends up reading page after page for enjoyment. (Yes, we are kinda geeky like that!)

The book is well-organized and indexed. It include color coding to indicate the region of the world where the events took place and timelines on almost every page. The book also includes bits of science and a lot of culture which helps to make it both well-rounded and intriguing. Although it is intended as a reference book, it contains enough interesting information and gorgeous pictures to make it enjoyable reading.

My son who reads on a 2nd grade level is able to read much of the book and is not intimidated by it -which is partly due to a nice (comfortable) font size and the illustrations on every page.

I am THRILLED with our purchase of this book!

Best Available Home School History Book        Rating:

We are Christian parents homeschooling our two girls using a trivium-based curriculum of our own design. If we had to limit ourselves to one history book it would be the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History (Hardcover).

We also use Parragon and Kingfisher World History books, Usborne Atlas of World History, Usborne History Dates, and the Mystery of History. I also use Cracking the AP World History Exam (by Princeton Review) as an aid in linking key history concepts when putting our history lessons together.

Because we are using the Well-Trained Mind to guide our homeschooling I have looked at Story of the World several times but can't bring myself to like it. I feel it (and Mystery of History) are inadequate for use as a history spine, although we occasionally use Mystery of History as a supplement. One reason Mystery of History is inadequate is that it's 50/50 religious/secular history, crowding out to much world history in the process. We do our Bible study in addition to history rather than trying to kill two birds with one stone.

The Parragon book is similar to the Usborne book and, though not as complete, it provides a very good complement. The Kingfisher was intended to be our primary history book for grades 5-8. It is more detailed and requires a higher reading level but overall doesn't flow nearly as well as the Usborne World History. I expect to lean primarily on the Usborne EWH again in grades 5-8 while still using the Kingfisher as a supplement. We'll just use it more often than in grades 1-4.

The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History has great maps, great graphics, and well-written text. The sections are complete and it does a decent job of connecting the dots from one civilization to the next. It's also been very helpful in building a history timeline. Our Amy Pac timeline figures are really not that great and have numerous errors, so being able to download graphics from the Usborne Encylopedia has been very useful in generating our own timeline figures. The Usborne internet links provided are generally pretty good and are maintained current. Sure you can Google for similar content but it doesn't take long to realize how much time gets eaten up sorting through sites looking for something worthwhile. Using the Usborne-quicklinks is a no-brainer and time-saver.

As noted by other reviewers the first 100 pages covers creation to the dawn of man, including changes to the earth and life on it. It's well done and what we used for our daughter's Kindergarten "history" lessons. The girls always looked forward to the readings and, other than a few skipped pages, we had no trouble reconciling Usborne's pre-history with our Christian faith.

I spend a fair amout of time each week putting together history lessons using multiple resources, so I agree with the reviewer that wished for something better but wrote that it's the best history currently available. I'm also confident that if our girl's history lessons consisted of nothing more than reading from the Usborne Encyclopedia Of World History they would still love history and easily learn more about it than 98% of our country's children.

[ ^Top ]