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Story of Civilization in 50 Disasters
Civilization rearranges nature for human convenience. Clothes and houses keep us warm; agriculture feeds us; medicine fights our diseases. It all works—most of the time. But key resources lie in the most hazardous places, so we choose to live on river flood plains, on the slopes of volcanoes, at the edge of the sea, above seismic faults. We pack ourselves into cities, Petri dishes for germs. Civilization thrives on the edge of disaster. And what happens when natural forces meet molasses holding tanks, insecticides, deepwater oil rigs, nuclear power plants? We learn the hard way how to avoid the last disaster—and maybe how to create the next one. What we don't know can, indeed, hurt us. This book's white-knuckled journey from antiquity to the present leads us to wonder at times how humankind has survived. And yet, as Author Gale Eaton makes clear, civilization has advanced not just in spite of disasters but in part because of them. Hats off to human resilience, ingenuity, and perseverance! They've carried us this far; may they continue to do so into our ever-hazardous future.
The History in 50 series explores history by telling thematically linked stories. Each book includes 50 illustrated narrative accounts of people and events—some well-known, others often overlooked—that, together, build a rich connect the-dots mosaic and challenge conventional assumptions about how history unfolds. Dedicated to the premise that history is the greatest story ever told.
In reading thematically linked stories, as well as narrative accounts of people and events, you learn to connect the dots while exploring history. Some stories are well-known while others have slipped under the radar. This is history presented in a unique way that readers will find intriguing and easy to remember. Each story is brief, yet detailed. Even a reluctant reader will enjoy history presented in short episodes. The narrative style is easily digested, and bits are explained here and there as needed. The series feels like something you would have around the home or library for a child to pick up on their own, as a good reader, a supplement perhaps, but not as your primary history text. I especially liked learning about how inventions came about, often a mix of science and serendipity! Speaking of science, you get quite a bit of it with your history as well as geography, world cultures, and more. Loads of color photos and illustrations, a timeline, and resources at the back make this series perfect for spurring further research or for use in your unit study. It is my opinion that students as young as Grade 5 would enjoy this series, as well as middle/high schoolers. I had a chance to look through all 4 topics: hoaxes, disasters, medical discoveries, and travel. They are just fascinating, well beyond trivia. Non-fiction, with a secular or non-religious focus. ~Sara
Product Format: | Paperback |
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Brand: | Tilbury House Publishers |
Grades: | 7-AD |
ISBN: | 9780884484899 |
Length in Inches: | 9 |
Width in Inches: | 6 |
Height in Inches: | 0.625 |
Weight in Pounds: | 1.25 |