In the words of Shirley Temple "Goodness gracious!" I know the Eyewitness volumes are supposed to be "Like a mini-museum between the cover of a book" but "Film" makes me seriously wonder if there is such as thing as too much information. Actually, this book by Richard Platt with special photography by Dave King traces the history of motion pictures back beyond film. The first couple of spreads are devoted to magic lanterns, whirling wheels and mutoscopes. There are examples of not only the machines involved but what they showed to 19th-century audiences as well. I really cannot think of anything that is not covered in this book. There are spreads on film, cameras and projectors, as well as the arrival of talkies and the picture palaces of the golden age of film. We see examples of makeup, costumes, stunts, sets and props, special effects, sound and score, and editing. The only four-page section is on animation from cartoons to clay to computers. I should point out this is not just an onslaught of general information because there are fascinating details as well: in the section on comedies we learn where Charlie Chaplin got the bowler, coat, trousers, shoes and cane he used to create the Little Tramp. Ultimately "Film" is more about movie making than it is about the movies, although there are plenty of references to stars and movies both famous and almost forgotten. There is a lot of information included within the covers of this "maxi-museuem." Students are not going to just sit down and devour this book in a single reading. Just think: when Thomas Edison invented the Kinetosocope he thought it was just a cheap toy.

This was a excellent book and I would like to see more good stuff like this

This is an incredible book!!! The illustrations are wonderful, of course, DK. It describes everything from the Egyptians to WW II very thoroughly. I recommend this book to all ages, and especially to people who like history, but don't want a too detailed version of it. This fantastic book puts all important events of history together, and makes an interesting "walkthrough" out of it. The thing that impressed me most was a map of all the places that were in Alexander the Great's journey, and picture next to each location. So, if you want a book with every imporatnt bit of history in it, but not too long, get this marvellous book.

Illustrator Stephen Biesty carved out his own niche in books by grabbing a concept and doing it well, over and over again. The concept was to take well-known but complex things, like cities, the space station, and a movie set, and make them more understandable by giving a series of drawings, for each object, showing what that object would look like if it were sliced in sections. Kind of sounds like an MRI in medicine! The drawings are bright, colorful, and extremely detailed. With each, there is a short, clearly-written description of the object and some of its aspects. These books make great gifts for older kids, who will get a kick out of the fact that most items show the bathrooms in use, and don't be surprised if an adult or two peeks at the book several times.

If you believe in portents, soothsayers, and the like, then the auspices are not good for "Julius Caesar: Great Dictator of Rome." On the opening page there appears a bust of Julius Caesar and a quote from Shakespeare's play of that name, to wit "This was the noblest Roman of them all." The only problem, of course, is that the line is uttered by Marc Antony at the end of the play about Brutus, not Caesar; the compliment is that because of all the conspirators, only Brutus did so because he thought it was the best thing for Rome and not because it furthered his own political ambition. Still, there is reason to hope that those who put together this volume for the DK Discoveries series paid better attention to the historical and biographical details of their subject.

This book is as much about the transformation of the Roman Republic into an Empire as it is a biography of Julius Caesar. We begin by looking as Caesar's Rome and what the Roman world was like when Caesar was born in 100 B.C.E. Richard Platt provides the text and the book combines illustrations by John James and Jim Robins for the key events in Caesar's life while the margins are field with detailed notes and photographs of ancient statues and artifacts. As is usually the case, I like the combination of biography, history and archaeology. The book even puts its subject in the context of the Hero Through History and other Rulers of Rome.

Even if you know the basics of Caesar's life, this book still provides fascinating details. My favorite: The Roman Senate met in the assembly hall at Pompey's theater complex, Rome's grandest building. While Caesar was being assassinated, an audience of thousands of Romans was being entertained on the vast stage next door by gladiators (some of who were hidden in the Senate to help the conspirators). I had never heard that before, having assumed, like most people, that the Roman Senate met at the Roman Senate. There are other equally interesting tidbits (e.g., the Temple of Julius Caesar was built by Augustus on the site of Caesar's cremation). So, despite the opening gaff, this is a solid effort that will help students learn about Julius Caesar and the Rome he helped build.

I checked this out from the library originally. Had to purchase it after seeing how it enthralled my children. We home school and intend to use this as a guideline for history and science projects- projects will be based on the inventions

This is an amazing story with beautiful illustrations. This follows the life of a paige throughout one day in his life. A must have for those that are interested in midevial times!

Castle Diary is a wonderful book about the Middle Ages. It is the diary of a young boy, Tobias Burgess, who spends a year as a page in a castle. He hopes to later become a knight. Tobias has many fun adventures and enjoys the castle life. He gets to ride in a hunt and discovers a poacher near the castle. He is always getting into trouble, as he is not used to the castle rules. His punishments are very harsh. Tobias always keeps up with his journal, because he always wants to remember his experience. I loved this book because I learned so much about the Middle Ages, and the illustrations were absolutely wonderful!

An extremely descriptive book, both in text and illustrations. Each page is riddled with short passages (by day) and small illustrations to follow most passages. The text is exploding with vocabulary used by the people of the year 1285 (The Dark Ages). The illustrations are very detailed and descriptive. There are many double page illustrations that add a lot to the book. The detail, color, and facial expressions used in the illustrations catch an observer's eye and force their eyes to wander throughout the illustration to acquire all the information it has to give. Illustrations include the layout of the castle, as well as the inside of many rooms. The text is broken up into easy to read and find sections and a glossary and index is included to aid the reader. At the end is a great section titled "Toby's World". This is a small section that goes into good detail about weapons, armor, houses, castles, and titles of the day. An informative short novel that could be enjoyed by children age 9 to 99. It can be used as a reference, an enjoyable reader, or as an addition to a Dark Ages discussion or curriculum.

This is an excellent book for teachers and librarians to share with a group. The pictures are bright and detailed and there is a lot of useful descriptive information. The book could be used to initiate discussion about the natural disasters as well topics in history, geography, and science.

It was very cool! It had lots of information and awesome pictures. I like the part about the black plague. This a very good book about disasters. I wish they had a sequel to it.

This book illustrates and explains very well about cyclones, earhtquakes, floods, etc. that happened in the past.For children it's very important to know what kind of natural disasters (still) can happen, all over the world. Disasters is really a valuable book of reference for all ages.

This is an exceptional book that is intended for children aged 9 to 12, but is fascinating even for adult readers. You get to see and learn about a fully functional castle in it's heyday. A grand medieval castle is divided into it's many different subsections. Each part of the castle is shown and described in great detail. Its inhabitants, from the Royalty and their residential area, to the toiling peasants and craftsmen, to the military with their weaponry and defenses, are included. There is also a "Where's Waldo" type "Find the Spy" hidden in each cross section. While the squeamish may have some objection to the miniscule amount of material depicting the treatment of captured enemies, and some potty humor involving the functioning of the castle lavatory, I suggest it's a good opportunity for discussion as it really only enhances the thoroughness of the material. It is a good educational resource and a fun book to "read".

This is an exceptional book that is intended for children aged 9 to 12, but is fascinating even for adult readers. You get to see and learn about a fully functional castle in it's heyday. A grand medieval castle is divided into it's many different subsections. Each part of the castle is shown and described in great detail. Its inhabitants, from the Royalty and their residential area, to the toiling peasants and craftsmen, to the military with their weaponry and defenses, are included. There is also a "Where's Waldo" type "Find the Spy" hidden in each cross section. While the squeamish may have some objection to the miniscule amount of material depicting the treatment of captured enemies, and some potty humor involving the functioning of the castle lavatory, I suggest it's a good opportunity for discussion as it really only enhances the thoroughness of the material. It is a good educational resource and a fun book to "read".

I was reading Michael Crichton's "Timeline," which involves an attack on a medieval castle, and was looking for something to help me better appreciate the details. One of the most useful books I found was "Castle: Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections," because in addition to showing how castles were built and how they lived and worked, there is something of a narrative to this book. At the beginning we see an enemy army approaches and people from the town flee to the heavily fortified gatehouse to enter the shelter of the "Castle." At various points in the book we see the enemy attack and the castle being defended.

Of course, "Castle" does more than simply provide cross-sections of the title feature. All sorts of details about medieval life are jammed into this book by writer Richard Platt (who claims to have been a serf earlier in life) and illustrator Stephen Biesty. The feudal system is explained, as are arrow loops, how to test beer, tax demands, and finger pillories. Readers are encouraged to "find the enemy spy" as they read the book, and will discover dozens of minor unexplained details (e.g., a baby being born), that will have you looking carefully at every square inch of these drawings. The key to education, whether we are talking children or adults, is getting them to pay attention and "Castles" certainly gets its readers to do that.