Time Atlas: An Interactive Timeline of History by Robert Hegarty and Marcelo Badari
| Time Atlas: An Interactive Timeline of History by Robert Hegarty and Marcelo Badari | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A very informative book with a lot of detail, but with that and lift-up flaps I have learnt everything except what age range the book is aiming for. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 18 | Date: August 2017 |
| Publisher: 360 Degrees | |
| ISBN: 9781848575929 | |
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While it's always useful for a child to have access to an atlas, so they know where they are and what there is in every other location, it's equally important that they know when they are, and what has happened at any other place in time. That's the ethos behind this Time Atlas, which only has a few spreads, but takes us right back to prehistory, through the birth of civilisation, and up to today – as well as asking a few questions of what might happen in the future. It is, after all, vital we know not only where we are, but where we may be going…
I have to admit, however, there are issues with this book. The lift-up flaps, and the spinning card dial with the window to pick out successive travel speed record holders, are all well and good – I love a bit of paper engineering like the best man. But that's married here with some very small print, and an approach to the script I certainly don't associate with an audience that needs flaps and interactivity. Phrases like Mandela's promoting reconciliation between racial groups don't exactly trip off the tongue for an emerging reader.
That said, I did like the varied timelines. We go through prehistory, with quite a few flaps to pick up the evolution of life on earth, and in fact two timelines to portray the different epochs. You get the standard ones you may expect – the growth upwards of our buildings from the Cairo pyramids on, those vehicles and how they have got faster and more modern – but also a cultural one, which was most refreshing for me to find, showing the development of fashion, literature, art and music. The youngster may remember more from an equally inventive one, that portrays the typical day (well, that and a steam iron) and spins off to tell us when the things they take for granted (corn flakes, playgrounds, etc) first came about.
Each timeline is suitably varied visually – the inventions and technology of mankind go down the page in a zigzag path, for one, with the spine of the book horizontal. It is a good volume to look at, with or without those flaps – and I did like the flaps under the flaps, as I'd not seen those before. But I did wonder if this material was not suited for children who had found that sort of thing passé. One final pop-up at the end seemed a little bit of a token effort, when the volume presented its data with much common sense and care. The script, with its small font, is not patronising, but the design of the book may well be.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
Timeline by Peter Goes artfully portrays the river of time, focussing on a few headline aspects of our civilisations.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Time Atlas: An Interactive Timeline of History by Robert Hegarty and Marcelo Badari 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 Time Atlas: An Interactive Timeline of History by Robert Hegarty and Marcelo Badari at Amazon.com.
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