Discover the Savage World by Simon Adams, Camilla de la Bedoyere, Ian Graham, Steve Parker, Phil Steele, Clint Twist and Amanda Askew
| Discover the Savage World by Simon Adams, Camilla de la Bedoyere, Ian Graham, Steve Parker, Phil Steele, Clint Twist and Amanda Askew | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Margaret Young
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| Summary: Very boy-friendly bite sized bits of science, history, geography and more in a fun annual series from the Discovery Channel. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 224 | Date: October 2013 |
| Publisher: Miles Kelly Publishing Ltd | |
| ISBN: 978-1848109186 | |
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The range of subjects covered in Discover the Savage World is astonishing. The first three chapters are science related topics. The first section Earth's Power covers the birth of the universe, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters. Deadly Nature brings new meaning to the phrase acting like animals, as we see the darker side of nature, from venomous creatures, deadly carnivores and a real surprise about a very common and well known bird. Wild Science has a mixed bag of topics with dangerous elements, explosions, fireworks and exactly how a bullet works, as well as the birth of a star. Tough Machines dips into technology and innovation with an incredible variety of mechanical subjects with everything from massive transport vehicles and diggers, to robots, military vehicles, ice breaking ships, rockets, and flood control systems. The focus turns to geography with Harsh Lands show a myriad of cultures and lifestyles in inhospitable locations. Life is difficult in some regions due to nature, but man made hazards like Chernobyl and land mines occur as well. Finally we close with history and Brutal Battles. This covers ancient warfare with events such as the Battle of Marathon and the Siege of Masada right up to the Somme, the Battle Of Stalingrad with a heavy focus on snipers and the Battle of Kursk.
Looking through this book closely, I've realised that every core subject in the national curriculum is represented with the exception of maths. This is an excellent text from an educational standpoint, but the children will never realise just how much they are learning. I do believe this book was written with boys in mind. That isn't to say that girls won't enjoy this as well, but it is as if the author was able to tap into the collective subconscious of the western world and pull out all the topics that fascinate boys the most. My children absolutely loved the book, although it took ages to get through. I imagine many children will dip in and out of this book rather than read straight through, and this book is well suited to children who would like to read just a page or two at a time, as well as those who can spend hours immersed in a book.
The only real drawback to the book in unavoidable in a book that covers so many topics. Most subjects have only a very small amount of information. A few do have a full two page spread, but many such as Robert Oppenheimer, or the invention of dynamite have only a single paragraph. This isn't the type of book a child could pick up and write a report for school from without extra sources, but it is a wonderful book to help children find topics that interest them and look up more online or in other more specialised texts. We've already looked up a number of topics brought up by the book including why so many lives were lost in the Mount Saint Helen's eruption, when the fact that it was going to go was pretty well known, National Geographic's Deep Sea Challenge and The Manhatten Project to whether you can but the ingredients to make home made gunpowder on eBay (and yes you can, but only the ingredients are given, not the proportions). We have quite a few more topics we would like to look up and read more about, and I am certain this book will be brought out as an additional resource quite frequently as so many of the subjects covered in this book are things my child would study anyway.
My children are ages 5 and 8. The five year old really enjoyed the pictures, and he did enjoy hearing about many of the subjects, especially the animals, but found the history and geography sections a bit less interesting. I do feel that some aspects of the book might be just a little advanced for such a young child as well. His favourite topic was a page called Fight - Off which discussed various pairs of animals and which one would be most likely to prevail in a battle. He especially liked the contest between bear and wolf, which according to the book is results in a lot of noise and display, but no actual bloodshed. My oldest really liked that section as well, but his absolute favourite was the Mount Saint Helen's article. He says he would recommend this book to other children because there are so many cool subjects and you can learn a lot about science. The pictures are really good too.
Ideally I would recommend this for ages 7 - 14, if you expect the child to read the entire book. There really is something for everyone though, and both younger children and adults will be sure to find some topics of interest. If you are happy enough to choose a book for the child just to browse through and pick an occasional topic to read about - this age recommendation could be extended on both sides.
If this book appeals then we can also recommend:
Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2014 by Robert Leroy Ripley
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You can read more book reviews or buy Discover the Savage World by Simon Adams, Camilla de la Bedoyere, Ian Graham, Steve Parker, Phil Steele, Clint Twist and Amanda Askew at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Discover the Savage World by Simon Adams, Camilla de la Bedoyere, Ian Graham, Steve Parker, Phil Steele, Clint Twist and Amanda Askew at Amazon.com.
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