Customer Reviews

One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia

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

 

 

This is a great book that is great for browsing and learning. It is not a comprehensive encyclopedia, but I highly recommend it even if you have other encyclopedia books. The cover has a mirror-like surface that compels children to want to read it and learn. Great illustrations and good content. I like almost everything that I've seen from DK publishing. We use it for homeschooling but adults will also enjoy browsing it too.

I picked this book up the other day at the bookstore and knew within a few minutes it was a keeper. It covers an amazing amount of subjects and information given that its one single book chock full of pictures.

The premise of the book is that it touches lightly on a wide variety of facts. Its not an authoritative source by any means. It tells you what something is and gives the highlights in a paragraph or less. Supplementing these brief descriptions are its amazing collection of pictures to illustrate the topic.
The pictures are not stock illustrations or photographs of the subject, they tend to be on the unique side and are referential to the written material. For example when talking about machines they have a picture of some needlessly complex strange multi-stage apple slicing machine like you might find on a cartoon (where one part moves another, then another and another..). Seems odd but the different parts are used to illustrate different mechanical concepts (cogs, pulleys, cables, levers etc). A lot of the photos take that route, kind of non-standard, requiring a little thinking and analysis (and humor) but getting the job done more than a standard picture.

The other thing that the photos do is they keep the attention of the audience. You find yourself not just glancing at the photo but studying the complexity and texture they put into it. With kids this is wonderful. The photo keeps their attention and focus on the subject long enough to get through the description and then move onto the next thing.

The layout and level of content of the book is good for a wide variety of ages. For younger children the photos keep their attention while you read about the item. Their sponge like memory absorbing some of the facts.
For reading age children there is a lot of information in digest sized bits. Kind of along the lines of memorizing trivia. The photos make them wonder "what is that".

For older kids it's a good starting point. You get enough info to have an idea about the subject to start looking elsewhere.

For adults looking to stuff their brain with interesting trivia it works too. Though you may need to dig a bit deeper. Reading this book to my kids has stimulated a lot of related questions from them. Some of which I didn't have answers for.

The book is fairly well organized and presented. It has around a dozen or so major topics (Science, History, The body, Arts etc). Each of these major topics had around a dozen or so entries. Each entry spans two pages with a dozen plus photos and topics.

For example the major top of the Body is broken down into the skeleton, the digestive system, muscles etc. For the skeletal system they have a collage of skeletal X-rays/MRI type shots that make up a full skeleton. They cover each of the major bone types (hip, femur, knee) with a few sentences about how it's constructed and is function. Then they have random facts attached to a few bones.
There is an index in the back for finding things more quickly. The quality of the printing and binding is great.

It has been one of the best "bedtime" books I've gotten. Depending on the questions you can go through one or two topics in a setting and they have high revisit value. I paid list price at the store and the book was well worth it. For the price Amazon charges I might get a few for gifts.

So to summarize

Pros
Great layout, pictures, information, everything..
Maintains interest and focus across several age levels.

Cons
None

Conclusion
Add this to your library and you will not be disappointed.

I gave this book to my 10 year old nephew for Christmas. After he opened it, he kept looking and looking at it saying "this is really cool." The illustrations are beautiful, and the book has a little of every topic from science to music to art and history. This book will be a reference for him through at least middle school. I highly recommend it to anyone buying for children 8 years and up.

I really love this book. As with everything DK does, the information is delivered in friendly kid sized nuggets, and the pictures are simply incredible. It's a great resource and kids will want to go to it again and again just to browse. Be warned if you are purchasing for a library or school collection. The binding on this book is of poor quality. It gives out pretty quickly and you are stuck with a great book that looks terrible. This is a great choice for a home purchase, but if you need something that's going to pass through quite a few hands, pass this one by. It will be a waste of money.

If you need to purchase for a school or library, buy the smaller individual ones: Animal Life, Plant Life, Human Body, Space. You get the same great style and visual impact, but they aren't as big and they will hold up much better in your collection.

This is a FABULOUS book! I bought a copy for every student in my class. I think every child and adult should own a copy of this book. It is beautiful and interesting. Even children who hate reading won't be able to pull themselves away.

I received this book as a donation to my middle school library. As soon as I looked at it, I knew I had to buy ALL of my grand children this book- it is a must have. All of the kids- ages 1-10 years and even their parents all pour over the beautiful color photos and information. A great find!!

When you're a kid, the bigger the better. Machines, buildings, ice cream cones, it's all better with an increase in dimensions. The same holds true for numbers. A fact: kids love stepping things up to seven digits and will do so at the drop of a hat. They will pull out "one million" as soon as possible. DK knows this well and put together a visual encyclopedia - "part museum, part search engine" - that runs with the concept of cramming a million bits of info into one volume. It's an astonishing deluge of knowledge that readers will be clamoring to pick up.

"One Million Things" is not 300 pages of arbitrary fact placement. There is an organization to the madness. Arranged in sections from nature to nutrition, the human body to technology, the breadth of subject matter is impressive.

Vital to the operation are the photographs. This may be the singe largest collection of pictures I've seen in one place. Each page shows as much as it tells.

DK books are famous for their visuals, and "One Million Things" continues that tradition.

In short: open it up, discover something new, enjoy. A quality selection for libraries, classrooms, and home collections alike.

This is such an amazing book. We originally found it at the local library, but we fell in love with the outstanding photographs illustrating a great variety of subjects, from science, history, art and culture, nature, space, human body, etc. The Editorial Reviews and Product Description say Grade 5 and up, but because it is so visual, it really is accessible to younger kids. Our 5 year old carries this around the house and will just plop down just to study the pictures and read.

I love the way it explains the world. my boy (2.5yr) loves it pretty much and let me read for him before sleep almost every day!

i bought this for my 8 yr old niece for Christmas. She loved it. Each time I have been at her house she has had her nose in this book. And she's not just browsing, she's learning. She has told me all kinds of interesting facts, some of which I didn't know.