100 Things to Know About Music

Usborne 100 Things to Know About...

by Alex Frith, Alice James, Jerome Martin

A colourful information book filled with 100 fascinating and surprising facts. Which tunes could save a life, and which should come with a health warning? How do talking drums tell the history of Africa? What happens in your brain when you listen to music? Find the answers to these questions and more in this exciting book exploring all corners of the diverse world of music.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music

128 pages, Hardcover

Published April 22, 2022

About the author

Alex Frith has been a children's non-fiction author since 2005. Working exclusively for Usborne Publishing, he has written over 50 books covering almost any subject you can think of, from the origins of the Universe to the meaning behind world religions, from extinct animals to prototype AIs, and from Japanese legends to Norse mythology. Two of his books have been shortlisted for the Royal Society Young's People's Book Prize: See Inside Inventions (2012), and 100 Things to Know About Space (2017).

Alex grew up in a house surrounded by comics and graphic novels, and has a lifelong passion for the medium. Beyond the comics he photocopied and passed around the playground of his primary school, he wrote the 4-part series 'Digital Graffiti' with artist Gez Fry in 2003, and has had short story comics published in FutureQuake and the Asteroid Belter.

Reviews

[Lolz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool!

[Aapo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tämän tyylilajin tietokirjoissa on omat huonot puolensa: lyhyet tietopläjäykset jäävät helposti irrallisiksi ja mutkansa suoristaneiksi pikkufaktoiksi. Formaatti on levoton eikä juurikaan kannusta pidempään lukuhetkeen, sillä yhtä lailla kun sitä on helppo lukea mistä kohdasta vain, on sen lukeminen myös helppo lopettaa milloin vain.

Hyviä puolia on kuitenkin tällä kertaa enemmän kuin huonoja. Kirjaan valitut aiheet ovat kiitettävän monipuolisia musiikin ja soitinten fysiikasta erilaisiin musiikkikulttuureihin, ja on kirjassa useampi esimerkki jopa muiden eläinten musikaalisuudesta. Uusi aihe on aina jotain ihan muuta kuin edellinen.

Musiikkiin perehtyneelle aikuislukijalle tässä ei välttämättä ole kovin paljon uutta tietoa, mutta voisin hyvin kuvitella lapsen saavat tästä paljon irti. Innostavasti kerrotut esimerkit varmasti houkuttelevat hakemaan aiheesta lisää tietoa. Useimmista asioista kerrotaan juuri sopivasti: vähän enemmän kuin pelkkä pintaraapaisu, mutta ei liian pitkästi, ettei lukijan jaksaminen lopu kesken.

Kuvituksesta pidin myös, on mukavan värikästä, informatiivistä ja viihdyttävää.

[John Naylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free via a Toppsta giveaway.


This is a very informative and varied book that goes into the history of music in many forms from around the world (and a little beyond). The illustrations explain the story just as well as the words.

I feel that anyone could learn something from this book no matter what age they are or how much musical involvement they currently have in their life. Easy to read and accessible. Easy to recommend to anyone from the very very young to the very very old. .

[Enor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting facts to know about Music

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read to my 7-year old. Bright, colourful and full of interesting facts about different musical instruments, musical cultures and musical history.

[Saima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ihan ok

[Anna Zozulya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is my favorite book in the series.
I was skeptical about having 100 interesting music facts. But this book made me find different videos to help my children reading.
Some facts were sweet, some facts were fun or sad. Authors mastered balance between fun and informative book for everyone.