Nonfiction Book Reviews

Today is the opening ceremonies for the Olympics in China, so of course, I had to review a book about China. China: People, Place, Culture, History was the book I chose, and I’ll admit: I chose it because it had a beautiful cover. I know there’s that old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but in this case, that would have meant me missing out on a gorgeous book.

China: People, Place, Culture, History was definitely meant to be a coffee table book. Large, with a woven red cover and gold lettering, it’s an eye-catching book. But coffee table destiny or no, this book was crammed full of beautiful photos, great history, and interesting information. It’s thick (355 pages) and so chock-full of information, it could take a dedicated reader several weeks to get through the whole book.

It starts out focusing on geography by publishing a single photo spread out over two pages.  The first whole chapter is set up this way.  Some of the vistas were breathtaking, and some of them reminded me of Idaho, which is strange, because I never associated that kind of geography with China.

I guess with a country as large as China (it is roughly the same size as America) you’re going to have a lot of variation in geography. I had just honestly never thought about it, and imagined the whole country to be one large bamboo forest interspersed with lots of rice paddies and huge cities. Boy, was I wrong!

To accompany the photos, there was a small paragraph that explained the photo, and a Chinese poem that somehow related to the picture. It was a fun way to start off the book, and I felt like I had had a great visual tour of China.

China: People, Place, Culture, History then switches to history, and gives a timeline for important Chinese dates, a section lasting 45 pages. Although dry historical dates and facts tend to be boring, they did a great job of spicing it up with photos and sidebars with more in-depth information.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how well done the book was - I looked and realized that the book was written by DK Publishing, the same company that does the Eyewitness Series for kids (I reviewed the Titanic: Discover the Luxury of this Famous Ship by them.) I had thought DK Publishing only did kids’ books, so that was fun to see.  After realizing that, I started to pay attention while at work, and realized that quite a few “coffee table books” have been done by DK.  I somehow missed that along the way…

China also covers people, culture, and architecture in their own sections, with enough information on each that you’ll feel like a grad student in Chinese culture by time you’re done. For any homeschooling families who reading this and are interested in studying China, I highly recommend that you check this book out of the library (or buy it) and make it a large part of your studies. I think all of the photos will help keep even the younger kids interested.

Overall, I give China: People, Place, Culture, History 4.5 out of 5 stars. Great job, DK Publishing!

Hava

PS My coworker said that the Chinese chose to start the Olympics today because 08-08-08 is considered to be a “lucky day” for the Chinese.  I have no idea if that’s true or not, but it is a pretty cool date, regardless.

I’m excited to kick off Fun Fridays with Titanic: Discover the Luxury of This Famous Ship by Simon Adams (it’s a part of the Eyewitness Books series).

I’ll admit it: I watched the 1997 movie, Titanic, in the theaters, and cried the whole second half of the movie.  I loved the story line, but it was just too depressing to ever watch again.  11 years later, I own the movie (won it in a contest) but have never watched it.  I just can’t stand the thought of bawling like that for another 3 hours.

But since an Eyewitness Book is not likely to reduce me to tears, I decided to take the chance and check out Titanic.  I haven’t read an Eyewitness Book since I was a kid, so it was fun to browse through the book like I used to as a child.

I was surprised at how in-depth the information was that was included - it had a lot of text amongst all the pictures, and it wasn’t easy text that a young child would easily be able to read by himself or herself either.  The targeted age group for the Eyewitness Books is 9 - 12 years of age, and they mean it.

But for whatever reason, I was expecting huge pictures and very little text, so I was pleasantly surprised by all that the book had to offer.

My only critique was the fact that the pictures had a lot of boats in them, which have a lot of rigging and other thin, long lines crisscrossing everywhere.  Eyewitness Books use long, thin lines to point to various parts of a picture, which meant it got interesting trying to figure out which line went where.  One set of lines was a little darker than the other, but that was the only difference.

They really should have picked a whole different color, like dark red for one and black for the other, or something to help differentiate between the two sets.

But honestly, that’s a small critique of an otherwise well-done book.  Of course, I have to include an interesting tidbit that I hadn’t heard before, so here’s a quotation from the book:

On the night of April 24, 1912, a young Scottish girl, Jessie, was being comforted as she lay dying.  In her delirious state, Jessie had a vision of a ship sinking in the Atlantic.  She saw many people drowning and “someone called Wally playing a fiddle.”  Within hours of her death, the Titanic slowly sank as Wally Hartley and the rest of the band continued to play. ~Page 23 of Titanic

That sent shivers up my spine when I read it.  Uncanny…

Overall, I give Titanic 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Well done, and a great way to kick off Fun Fridays!  Make sure to check out next week’s post on A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money.

Hava