A History of Just About Everything: 180 Events, People and Inventions That Changed the World

by Elizabeth MacLeod, Frieda Wishinsky, Qin Leng (Illustrator)

A History of Just about Everything From Buddha and Muhammad to King and Mandela, from the discovery of fire to the invention of the World Wide Web, and from Romeo and Juliet to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, this is a thorough and thoroughly entertaining compendium of important people and events. Full description

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science

124 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Elizabeth MacLeod was born on October 21 in Toronto. As a child Liz liked to read Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables books, swim, sing, dance, and hang out with her friends. Encouraged by her parents, she began writing stories and poetry for her own enjoyment at the age of 10, her favorite subjects being mad scientists and tyrants who threatened to take over the world.

Today Liz is inspired by almost anything--her friends, reading, and the funny, beautiful world around her. Her first job in publishing was at OWL magazine, and Liz credits editor Sylvia Funston as one of her mentors. Liz also names Valerie Wyatt, a writer and editor, as an important influence on her work, as well as a good friend.

An avid reader, Liz enjoyed digging up amazing facts and researching historic royals and their countries and customs for Royal Murder (2008). She encourages anyone with a desire to write to "just do it." Even if no one ever reads it, the joy that comes from expressing yourself through words is reward enough. Liz adds that writing takes practice, and with each day you are bound to improve.

Liz lives in Toronto with her husband, Paul, and their two cats, Smedley and Cosmo.

She enjoys keeping active, spending time with friends, music, theater, and cheering on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Liz plans to continue writing about a broad spectrum of topics in both fiction and non-fiction, and would like to work on more picture books in the future.

Reviews

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an "adult", I may not be the target audience for A History of Just About Everything, but I picked it up as a refresher on things I should know. And I found out that there are some things the authors should know. Or, maybe just a better editing job is needed. As stands, I cannot recommend this edition. I noticed at least three factual errors. Perhaps there are others I missed.

- Page 52: The Battle of Yorktown occurred in Virginia, not New York.
- Page 102: The Viking landers did not take images like those described. Instead, the Viking orbiters did.
- Page 113: Barack Obama did not become US President in 2008, but 2009.

I realize that 100% perfection is not always possible. But these mistakes should be obvious to any US reader with a high school education (and perhaps a slight interest in Astronomy).

[David Poltorak · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.9/5
Easy-to-read, brief summary of selective historical events, people, and inventions that changed the world

[Aria · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very educational in an easy to follow description of major world events starting when humans came into existence.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A summary of many history changing moments starting back 6 million years ago to 2013.

[Emeli Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great educational books for kids to get a brief summary of such significant inventions and dates.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Alexander Tressler]

It has a good explanation of what happened in the past to where we are now.

[Katana Guttman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boys enjoyed reading this with me when they were around age 9 to 11.

[MartyAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

TITLE: A HISTORY OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING
SUBTITLE: 180 Events, People and Inventions That Changed the World
AUTHORS: Elizabeth MacLeod, Frieda Wishinsky
ILLUSTRATOR: Qin Leng
GENRE/AUDIENCE: KIDS (...and Curious Adults)
PUBLISHER: KIDS CAN PRESS
PUB DATE: AUGUST 1 2013

REVIEW:
This is an awesome book. Teach your kids what history really means, before they decide history is boring at school. (Forget for a moment how history was the class where you struggled to memorize dates.)

This book is crisp, well planned, well illustrated and engaging!Each page is laid out meticulously and at least one whole story on one page -- you could use a photocopy of a page as a history lesson each day if you wanted to! By keeping each thing to about a page, it makes it a manageable amount to learn and easy to stop when needed.

Each page also has a small box of "RIPPLES" which puts the information on the page into perspective. For example, when discussing the robot revolution, the ripple section talks about science fiction author Isaac Asimov's three rules for robots! That is the kind of sidebar that leads kids to want to learn more, and perhaps READ More by Asimov as well. Awesome.

TAGS: History, Timeline, World-changing Events,
PERMALINK: http://martysreads.blogspot.com/2013/...

-----ABOUT THIS REVIEWER: I am a book lover and aspiring librarian. My passion is in reader's advisory -- finding the right book to be read next! This means I read very widely. My Blog on Blogger had over 700 hits in July, 875 hits in August. http://martysreads.blogspot.com/ Share the word!

[Amy Alvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book starts in 6,000,000 BCE when the first humans appear and goes through 2011 with the earthquake in Japan.

The stories are not your normal boring history lesson. The reading is kid friendly and full of fascinating facts that kids will be intrigued by therefore making learning their history lesson "fun".

Included in the book are "Ripples" which include facts on how humans have changed the world. These facts are very interesting to me as a lover of history, but I think they will also appeal to my students.

This is definitely a must have for my classroom!

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book that gives a nice simple outline of a selection of major historical events/advancements that have helped shape the world we live in. Topics are definitely simplified which can be either a help or hindrance, this mainly provides an introduction and little more. Although it does nicely tell how the events affect us today. In general it's a decent book but not great.


Copy from NetGalley

[Julie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a lot of great information about 180 things that changed the world. I think they missed a few things like the Challenger explosion and maybe left some things out - the hostage crisis part of the Iranian Revolution but overall I think they did a good job of compiling important things in history. Each entry was concise. This book would be great for background knowledge, a stepping stone to further research, a debate over what was and was not included. I liked it.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a perfect gift for a young reader that is a history buff. This book takes 180 important events in the world and gives a very brief summary that will give your child an insight and perhaps a bigger curiosity to do some research and get more in depth information. These small articles are perfect size, won't bore your reader and gives an understanding of the event. Includes modern, events such as Harry Potter and the Gulf oil spell. Has good Table of Contents and a comprehensive index.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title says it all. This volume contains brief entries about 180 major events, people and inventions that changed the world. Covering fire to the internet and riding horses to searching for life on Mars a wide variety of topics are at your fingertips. Cartoon style illustrations and easy to read text make this a perfect introduction to history for 4th graders on up.

[Dolores · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to present history to young children. The descriptions of important historical events are just the right length, the illustrations are perfect, and the "ripples" are interesting while giving perspective to the events.

I see this becoming a popular choice during our classroom reading time and I may just have to go through it one more time before I put it out there.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book and it was a great addition to the silver birch non fiction club. This book had some pretty cool info about some pretty cool subjects including the great wall of China, how paper was invented and the tallest human made structure. Though it wasn't my favourite silver birch book, it was still a great read.

[Nick Turner]

Technocratic Western and Eurocentric just-so stories with colourful illustrations.
I can't tell if the writers set out to write propaganda or just have a frightful knack for always choosing the wrong word. I received a review copy from the publisher.

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! My students love almanacs and world record books and I believe this book would become a new favorite and fly off the library shelf. Great mixture of pictures, illustrations and text in an eye-catching format.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book of the important things that happened in history.

[Poiboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little focus on religion "facts" and more on science discoveries would have been good.

[Komal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though a children's book, it never ceases to amaze grown ups too. A quick read to know all major events of the past, in a nutshell.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides quick "snapshots" of historical events, ordered chronologically. A good starting point for kids researching history.

[Karen Upper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Canadian nonfiction book of a variety of interesting facts!
Loved it!