CASTLES & FORTS by Adams, Simon ( Author ) on Apr-18-2007[ Paperback ]

by Simon Adams

An illustrated exploration of a wide array of castles and fortifications throughout the world, from Norman mottes to Maori forts, including how and why they were built and their importance in history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War

Paperback

First published September 15, 2003

About the author

Simon Adams is a writer and editor of children’s non-fiction and reference books. He specializes in history, politics and current affairs and has written extensively on exploration, music and the arts. He is also a well established jazz critic and reviewer. Simon has also contributed to family and adult reference books and has been an editorial consultant on various history and other titles.
Simon was born in Bristol and studied history and politics at the London School of Economics and Bristol University, where he gained an MSc. He entered publishing as a publicity copywriter at Routledge and subsequently joined Dorling Kindersley, eventually becoming managing editor of the children's division. He became a full-time writer 15 years ago. Since then, he has written and contributed to more than 60 books for a wide range of publishers on subjects as varied as archaeology, the sinking of the Titanic and the history of jazz. Simon lives in London and is a keen reader and cyclist.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has pictures of castles I didn't even know existed.

Some of the pictures are huge. Double pages! And there are pictures of castles under attack. I tried to build myself a catapult from LEGOs, but it didn't turn out too well. I like the pages with cut-outs so you can see inside the castles.

This book would be better with more castles and not as many forts. Completely castles would be the best.

Mom's note: this book does a good job presenting fortifications through time. I found it very interesting. Great photographs and illustrations.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, great pictures. Lots of fuel for my imagination.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a full range of castles and forts in time and geographically. Split into three sections with a summary of each section which helps pull the information together. Thought the pictures were too squashed together and a bit unclear.

[Sarah A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. I love castles and I love the pictures they have and the use of different types of illustrations.
However what made me give it 2* was the jumping back and forth. If it had done castle/fort design in some sort of order then I would have given it 4* but instead, it jumped back and forth in time and in place. I liked the first few pages doing things in time order but then suddenly it jumped all over the place. Disappointing as it distracted from the very valuable and important information contained.

[Rose]

322.7 Ada

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

informational book - really enjoyable. I found it to be very interesting. I liked the way the information was presented.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

good history book about castles!