Customer Reviews

Inventions (Insiders (Simon and Schuster))

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't make up my mind about this title. My 10-year-old son has looked at it more than once, and for more than five minutes, so that is a big plus. He seems to like it somewhat. The shiny, sort of complex cover design is also probably appealing to the elementary school-early middle school set.

Here are the chapter divisions:

INtroducing: A World of Invention

What Is an Invention?
Timeline of Invention
The First Inventors

IN focus: Great Inventions

It's Revolutionary: Wheel
With the Wind: Sail
Keeping Time: Clock
Putting Wind to Work: Windmill
Spreading the Word: Printing Press
The Universe Revealed: Telescope
Powering the Modern Age: Engine
Capturing the Moment: Camera
Transport on Track: Train
Sound Ideas: Music Player
Making Electricity: Power Station
Keeping Connected: Telephone
Deep Diver: Submarine
Freedom Machine: Automobile
Lighter Than Air: Airship
Taking to the Skies: Airplane
Across the Airwaves: Radio and TV
Quick Thinking: Computer
Out of This World: Rocket
Kindest Cuts: Sgery
Access Control: Lock and Key
Better Bodies: Bionics
Wired World: Internet

Glossary

Index

I don't really like it though, personally. I think mostly it is because of the computer graphics. The images are very detailed and mostly realistic, but they look too much like computer game graphics, or some other kind of animation. I don't like that kind of art although I realize it is very popular and probably makes for a simple way to have one style for the entire book. Getting one artist that could do all the different types of views might have been hard, or at the least more expensive.

I liked the timelines across the bottoms of the sections, and the big stacked one at the front. I liked the way the information was broken up into little pieces. That made it easier to read, like a lot of magazine photo captions.

Each regular section is a two-page spread. (It looks nice but doesn't fit well on my scanner unfortunately.)

I'm not so sure about some of the details though, like the "jewelry" on the prehistoric person in "The First Inventors." I agree that they had adornment, but the bracelet looks too much like fancy metal links. I'm also not sure about the introduction of woven materials, in other words, how anachronistic that image is. But that is less of a concern to me than the high-tech bracelet. I can't judge most of the other pages so I don't know about errors or anachronisms in the imagery there -- and perhaps the goal here is more the forest than the trees.

I loved the page on Wheels. So simple that they are often overlooked, they get a nice little spread (remember, this is not an in-depth study here, but something we want the kids actually to read) and I was so happy to see the caption about the Americas (not so much with the wheels in the ancient Americas).

Engine is another fun spread in my opinion. Everyone will have their personal favorites. Camera is nice too, especially because so many kids will not be familiar with anything but digital. Likewise for the Telephone pages.

Train of course is good to see. Who doesn't love trains? And it stars the Maglev.

I was interested to see the Computer page, and only wish that there was more about the "difference engine" of 1849. I have heard of Difference Engines but still don't know what they are. Again, this is a child's book and it would be out of place to have a whole history of the difference engine. Given the info in the blurb, anyone can go look up as much as they want.

Surgery is cool, and Lock and Key, and of course Bionics.

The Glossary and Index are appropriate for the level of sophistication of this book. The lack of a bibliography or "Further Reading" section is a serious flaw though!

Taken as a light piece for the casual young reader, it's fine -- colorful and exciting. I would not necessarily recommend it for the more precocious child (they might find it fun -- or frustrating). It may also be suitable for the older child who is a slower reader but very tech-oriented.

This book could be described as a "coffee table" book for kids that deals with inventions. As with most coffee table books, this one is heavy on illustrations, but light on words. The illustrations are good, but not exactly the "state of the art 3-D illustrations that practically leap off every page" that the back cover of the book describes them as.

While the illustrations are very appealing, there isn't enough text to make this book a necessity, or even very useful, for a child. For each subject, the main article averages only about 150 words to describe the invention and its history. Added to that are a couple of sidebars concerning matters related to the invention which consist of about 50-75 words each. And along the bottom of the pages are several examples (usually about 5) of the progression of the invention with about two sentences each describing them. These are all interesting to read, but a child wouldn't even be able to fabricate a decent report from the supplied information. And if a person was interested in any of the subjects, say the automobile for instance, one would be done reading in only a couple of minutes--if that.

To sum up, this is a nice book to look at. It is interesting to read. There just isn't enough information in it on any one of the subjects covered to make to make it extremely useful. This is not a bad book; I just think there are better ones available dealing with the same subject. As I mentioned before, this is a coffee table book for kids. The illustrations are enjoyable to look at. What is lacks is text. There just isn't enough of it. This is a picture book, not a reference book. I give the book a rating of 3 stars because it is just an average book, and 3 is about average.

This book introduces children to a variety of different inventions that are relevant to the present time. The best feature of the book are its illustrations. These highlight an invention (such as the automobile or the telephone)and show the development of the invention over time. The relatively terse descriptions highlight the history, important features, and interesting facts about the invention.

The pictures are the best feature of this series. They are dramatic, highly detailed, and quite engaging for the book's core audience, children between the ages of 9 and 12.

Unfortunately, the writing and length of the book seem to fall a little short. There are other series such as the Reader's Digest series (for example, Reader's Digest ~ How Science Works) or the DK Eyewitness series (for example, Invention (DK Eyewitness Books)) that cover more ground and have more detailed descriptions of the topics covered.

If this were a contest for the best pictures, Inventions might eke out a win with its incredible illustrations. However, Reader's Digest(RD) and DK cover more topics, have more in depth writing, still have great illustrations, and have more potential educational value.

Inventions is more the kind of book that you might take out of the library. These kinds of books help children understand their surroundings, but they seem to be more of a passing fancy than something they absolutely need on their book shelf.

If you want to own these kinds of books there are other series such as David MacCauley's books (for example, The New Way Things Work) that contain even more incredible illustrations and a lot more prose. MacCauley's books work equally well on a child's bookshelf or your living room coffee table. Even though these are slated for 'young adults,' MacCauley can keep kids from ages 5 to adult engaged and always coming back for more.

I thought this book would explain how things work, in particular, recent inventions. It's more of an overview of inventions through history. They spent a lot of money on the fancy embossed cover with iridescent colors, but you can't judge a book by its cover, as they say. I wish they would have spent more on what's on the inside, not the outside.

I couldn't give it 5 stars because it wasn't as well done as the "DK" books on similar subjects. It was sort of a cross between a DK book and the books that show illustrated cut-aways of large machines.

Inside the book, the majority of the pictures are illustrations, which for me was disappointing. They are very good illustrations, large and with lots of color, but using photographs when possible always comes across as more professional. I found myself wanting to know more about how the inventions worked, rather than just what was presented. Trying to squeeze information on how a computer works into two pages was simply not enough space for such a complex subject.

If you are looking for a general overview of the major inventions through time, this is a good book for you. If you are looking for a "how it works" book, you might want to look for something a bit more detailed.

INVENTIONS was the complete package. It is a beautifully illustrated book with just enough information about various life changing inventions to let the reader understand the basic principles and how the inventions are utilized by humanity. Each invention featured was not overly discussed and analyzed with minutia that could have lost some readers (especially younger readers) but therein lay the true beauty of this book: it inspired me to want to learn more about each invention.

This is the perfect book for anyone of any age with an interest in science or a curiosity of how things work. It is the perfect gift for young children because it speaks on a level of which anyone can relate.

Reading this book reminded me of one of my favorite books in grade school: The Way Things Work simply because of the graphical concept, ease of reading, the feeling of empowerment to know something special, and the desire to learn more. Is that not something that should be on every child's bookshelf? If you are looking to stimulate the mind of your child or are looking for a way to spend quality time in an educational setting with your child, this is a perfect tool for initiating those moments and those conversations.

My only reservation about this book is that I felt adding to the introduction a brief overview of simple machines (i.e. lever, pulley, wheel, etc.) was necessary and would have been a great way to explain how machinery works on the fundamental level. Throughout INVENTIONS the author makes note of simple machines, but not in a way that transpires the individual invention on that page.

Inventions covered in this book include: the wheel, sail, clock, windmill, printing press, telescope, engine, camera, train, music player, power station, telephone, submarine, automobile, airship, airplane, radio and TV, computer, rockets, surgery, locks and keys, bionics, and the internet.

This book should be on every child's bookshelf for the pure educational and entertainment functions it serves. The only book I have read that is better in these areas is The Way Things Work, by David Macaulay.

Good reading,

J.Stoner

As a scientist, I found this very well written and edited indeed. It is evident there is a level of competent scholarship and research. The graphics are good and clear and pages are not overly cluttered with information, with none of those text bubbles with silly arrows you see in many illustrated books.

Having said that, the various topics are not treated in depth, so this book is not meant to be comprehensive. Rather, this book will stimulate the imagination and curiosity of middle to high school students who have an interest in science (yes, there are still kids like that out there!). At various points, I found myself wanting more from the topics. For example, in the telescope page, the Hale scope with the Cassegrain optics might have benefited from a little side bar graphic on various optical configurations for telescopes (e.g. refractors, cassegrains, Newtonians, Maks, SCTs, etc), but no biggie there.

I found myself disappointed when I reached the end of this short book. I really wanted more!

All in all, a very good effort and a great book.

Graphically, each page is laid out wonderfully - full color, short article of the invention, and small captions around parts of the picture. The main article of the inventions is clearly written and contains enough information for a young, inquisitive mind to want to follow up learning about the inventions.

Equally important is that major contributors are used - so the book is not only about a bunch of inanimate objects, but also give a human aspect...since without the humans, the inventions would be pointless (and not invented in the first place.)

The bottom of each 2-page fold contains a very interesting bit as well - the history of similar and/or related inventions. One example: the music player. 1877 - Edison's phonograph; 1888 Gramophone; 1979 Walkman (cassette tapes); 1982, CD Player; and 1997, the digital audio player. It's interesting to see how quickly technology is built upon and improved upon.

It would have been nice for there to have been some kind of correlation between the inventions, however. For example...yes, the digital audio player debuted in 1997. Without the microprocessor (1971), it would not have been possible. Just having a little note like "this invention depended on X,Y,Z" would have been interesting as well.

Lastly, this book is very inviting to read - it will certainly draw in young readers. It likely won't, however, be part of any kind of research projects. It may certainly stimulate to want to research, but I couldn't see this being used in a school project on any of the topics covered. Fortunately, that's not what this book claims to be.

Overall, recommended...most likely for ages of around 7-13.

This seemed like a cool book when I got it, but my kids weren't really interested in it. There are a lot of interesting facts with a lot of computer graphics/animation. Unfortunately, it just is not all that interesting.

Inseider Books are just great... my 9 year old son has most of them. This one is full of excellant graphics and easy to read stories which keep is interests captured! The only issue was that we had to return the first book since there was a razor cut down the front of the book. Most likely when it was unboxed from the bulk packaging. Amazon sent us a replacement book in a few days! Great book and great services!

This is an attractive and informational book for children. It explains what an invention is and goes on to share the history of various inventions. For example, clocks are covered beginning with sundials, then water clocks followed by the hourglass. The mechanical clock and watches are also covered. Children get to explore the progress in keeping time over thousands of years. The inner workings of clocks are clearly outlined and illustrated. The illustrations are the highlight of this book as it is filled with informative photos and diagrams in full color. Other subjects that are covered in a similar fashion include trains, airships, printing press, camera, telescope, engine, music player, automobile, airplane, radio, TV, computer, rocket, locks, bionics, Internet, surgery, wheel, etc. This book was such a big hit in my classroom that I had to create a schedule so everyone would have a turn reading it. Even adults who visited my classroom could not resist picking up the book to page through it. My eight-year-old students loved the book but it is an excellent choice for any child from 7-13.