Customer Reviews

Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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I must say that this is one of the most interesting books to look at. Not only does it give interesting facts it gives you great pirctures. This book takes structures and cross-sects them so you can see everything inside. A midevil castle shown to you from all angles, the rooms and infromation on it. Everything you can think of from a castle, cathedral, and opera house to a observatory, car factory, and space shuttle. This is definatly a must have.

Who of us can't remember the excitement of looking at some wonderful building or structure and wondering *what was going on in there*? Stephen Biesty deserves an entry in Who's Who for thinking of this wonderful format for readers who wonder. This is a wonderful and exciting book for older kids and adults who are curious about how things work behind-the-scenes. While it can be tricky for younger children to envision how the objects go back together, there will ample material for others to enjoy. Eighteen human-made objects are cross-sectioned: a castle, an observatory, a galleon, ocean liner and submarine, a coal mine, military tank, oil rig, cathedral, jumbo jet and car factory, a helicopter, an opera house, a steam train and a subway station, a fishing trawler, the Empire State Building and the space shuttle. The sections are filled with defining activity, and Richard Platt's accompanying text is informative and amusing.

First published in 1992, this book is also a fascinating testament to the breathtaking pace of change we experience. Many of the objects have changed a great deal in the past decade, so this is more a snapshot of one era's mechanisms than a blueprint of state-of-the-art technology. For that reason the book succeeds spectacularly with historic objects such as the castle and galleon, and only slightly less so with outdated items like the tank and helicopter.

If you are interested in how things work, these unique views of engineering marvels in operation will thrill you.

I found a copy of this book in a hospital x-ray waiting area. I could have spent hours poring over it. The cross-sections include a castle, a space shuttle, an observatory, a subway, a cathedral, and more. We see so little of what is around us and this book offers a hugely expanded view. It's like being used to seeing the tip of the iceberg and suddenly seeing the whole iceberg. Like the previous reviewer, I wondered also why only males were shown using the toilet facilities. However, this is a small complaint and the authors could easily correct it in any future editions. I hope they do.

I didn't have enough time to see all I wanted to see of this book, but I was impressed enough to google the illustrator's name. I'm disappointed that Amazon only offers it used, but I do intend to buy a copy. It is represented as a children's book, but I believe most adults would enjoy it also.

I bought this book as a gift for my nephew. He is 6 and loves to know how things work. This is a fun and engaging view of lots of interesting things: a galleon, a space station, a ship, to name a few - the illustrations are great, and there are people doing things in the drawings which makes it more interesting than a simple cross section or blue print would be. The intricately detailed drawings encourage a child to study the pages instead of leafing through it absently.

This is a great book. Its full good info, great drawings and over all fun for all ages. Younger kids might have trouble seeing how the draws go back together on a few.

The detail of all the different cross sections of places used or inhabited by people is very informative. Especially seeing details of areas not normally seen. I learned a lot about ocean liners, subway stations, opera houses, the empire state building and other places. It is very educational and informative.

The only complaint I have is that it only shows men going to the bathroom in the cross section of the bathrooms. Subways, airplanes, and ocean liners have many female passengers but are not represented in the toilet. I am curious regarding the double standard. Why cannot a female passenger be represented using the toilet facilities? It does happen in real life.

I really enjoy looking at this book, and I have since I was a kid. I was always interested in architecture so it was a no-brainer.

I have to say though, it is a little weird that this guy seems to have an obsession with people going to the bathroom, especially since it's a book for children. It's not just toilets, either. When the drawing doesn't include a bathroom, as in the case of the tank and the cathedral, Biesty simply draws a picture of a figure peeing on the corner of it. I'm not offended, just confused. Actually I find it amusing.

I also find it odd that anyone else who has mentioned this phenomenon in these reviews complains not that there are always pictures of people going to the bathroom, but rather that it's only men depicted. I'm a little surprised that instead of complaining of lude material in a kids' book, they're complaining that the lude material is misogynistic.

In the vein of David Macaulay, Stephen Biesty's book is a whole lot of fun and educational, too. It covers a wide variety of man's coolest and complex inventions and is a great book to get your future engineer started!

I don't know how or why books like this are allowed to go out of print. At one time, cutaway drawings were a staple of magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics and could be found in many textbooks. For some reason, their use seems to have declined over the years. Personally, I have always found them enthralling.

Stephen Biesty is an artist who specializes in cutaway drawings and he is marvelously talented.

In this book, he dissects 18 things common to us as their enclosed wholes, such as a galleon, space shuttle, passenger ships, trains, even a castle. We know what these things look like from personal experiences or photos. But Bietsy takes us inside them!

My grandson was fascinated as we explored the innards of a Spanish galleon (which were certainly ghastly places to spend months) and of 1930s era passenger ship (an astounding feat of engineering). Of course, my fascination was no less than my grandson's, abetted by the memory of having shared this same book with my son so many years ago.

All of the books in this fascinating series appear to be out of print. If you can obtain them used or from your library, do so: they are an excursion into a disappearing art form.

Jerry

Wow! This book is really great! From opera houses to medieval cathedrals and castles, this incredible book of cross sections pinpoints every last detail! It shows all the different parts, what they are used for, and tons more! Buy this book today. You won't be disappointed.