Customer Reviews

Rome

5 star:		(5)
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Lots of parents will be familiar with Stephen Biesty's "Cross-Sections" series, in which he provides wonderfully detailed cutaway drawings of famous old buildings and the like (e.g., ocean liners, spaceships, cathedrals, etc.). I really think this is one of the best of the series, too.

Previously our favorite was "Stephen Biesty's Man-of-War," which detailed life on a Napoleonic-era battleship. That one provided such good information that even an adult reading an old Horatio Hornblower novel could use it as a reference book.

Likewise, "Rome" depicts the main buildings and neighborhoods of Rome, maintaining a narrative about a young boy of noble family, Titus, as he investigates his native city.

An absolute must for any child or adult interested in ancient history or trying to become interested!

This is a really great book for the right kind of reader... the kind of kid who likes diagrams with captions, or comic books, or pages with lots of detail. A kid who likes MacCaulay's books on City or Castle. "How Things Work" or DK, or Usborne spreads with lots of text boxes to read. This one ranks right up there with tons of detail on different Roman structures--house, temple, Colosseum, etc. And not just engineering detail, but social-economic tidbits too.

So if you have one of those kids who won't read a chapter book but can spend hours looking at tidbits in a manual or picture, this will be right up their alley.

Our kids love to look through these books to see if they can find the toilet in each picture! We talk about the pictures and they (we) learn things without realizing it!

In "Rome" we follow a day in the life of a young Roman noble. We follow him as he leaves his home and visits such landmarks as the Forum, Colliseum, Circus Maximus and the Baths. The story is rather basic but what makes this book stand out are Stephen Biesty's intricately detailed illustrations. We learn more about daily Roman life from the illustration than we do from the basic plot line.

The panoramic architectural illustration is one of the most difficult images for an artist to create. This type of illustration requires not only a fine command of perspective but also an ability to reproduce detail on a very small scale. Stephen Biesty is such a virtuoso that expands the image by breaking it into further cross sections. There are very few illustrators with this level of technical skill. Ultimately, this is a book that will fascinate all those who open its pages and enter its story. Highly recommended.

This excellent book is a visual delight.
It makes a powerful teaching tool-the pictograph-continue its contribution
to education.The book's detailed illustrations draw the viewer in and
engage him in a world that was as complex interesting and varied as ours
(if not more so).