Customer Reviews

Ancient Machines: From Wedges to Waterwheels (Ancient Technology)

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This book covers the stunning engineering feats of the ancient world in true detail. This is written for kids ages 8-12. This is a beautiful book 7.5 x 9 inches. Hardbound, & sturdy, with some 88 lavish glossy pages & enough maps, photographs, & reproductions of period art. The clear diagrams help for illustrating the machines that are so well described. The book starts with 6 machines: the wheel & axle, inclined plane, lever, pulley, wedge, & screw.

The first chapter treats the Stone Age & shows ways in which early humans may have used the benefits behind the levers & wedges. Many readers may be surprised to learn that bows were associated with fire & drilling before arrows? Various ancient cultures are surveyed regarding the developments they made in machine technology. Example: the wheel & axle revolutionized transportation & then gave birth to spinning thread, lathes, & pulleys in Mesopatamia.

The reader will learn about the Chinese combining the wheel, lever, & axle to create the first wheel barrel. How the Roman engineer Quintus Candidius Benignus built the factory at Barbegal that could grind over 9,000 pounds of flour per day, more than enough to feed the 12,000 citizens of Arles. The text is followed by a brief glossary, bibliography, & index.

The authors style is clear & consise,. he does not patronize the lay reader which is clearly great for kids so they don't get turned off with technical terms. Many concepts in anthropology & history are also included. An example, the mystery of why the ancients did not take full advantage of their mechanical aptitudes is examined in the context of social factors like slavery & war.

This is a perfect and fascinating book for children and their parents too. My grandchildren will be getting this for Christmas.

THIS BOOK IS AWSOME

I loved it. Mary and Michal Woods did a bomb job. I loved learning about ancient machines. How the pully,wedge,lever came from as late as the stone age. Ancient people are not as primitave as I thoght.