Reviews for The World Made New: Why the Age of Exploration Happened and How It Changed the World

The average rating for The World Made New: Why the Age of Exploration Happened and How It Changed the World based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-09-10 00:00:00 Ross Lam In general, I love the books National Geographic puts out these days. This book, however, was not quite up to the standards I expect from National Geographic, based on the other books I have read that they have published. The basic content was mostly good - informative, generally clear, etc., and there was a good balance of text and illustration. But I did have some problems. I felt like the authors did not do a very good job of explaining who some of the historical characters were and giving the reader background information to put the people in context. All of a sudden this person would be going off exploring, and I would have no idea who this person was or why I should care what he did. There was a glossary or people in the back, but I didn't discover that until I had finished the book. And, frankly, I didn't feel like the glossary told me much that the text of the book hadn't already told me. My other big problem was with the timelines in the book. I found them very hard to read. I was constantly reading things out of order because I couldn't figure out what came first. I would think that National Geographic would be able to figure out how to create effective timelines. There were also a lot of typos in this book, which was not a really big deal, just something I noticed. Anyway, over all, it really was a pretty good book. It does give the reader a sense of all the exploring that was going on and how much this changed the world.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-11-11 00:00:00 Jesse Carpenter National Geographic has always given readers the bigger picture of our world. Now The World Made New shows children the bigger context of American history. Written by award-winning children's author Marc Aronson and John W. Glenn, this innovative title will lead children through the causes and consequences of the defining age of exploration. Its unique approach will provide children with new ways of thinking about and learning from history, and instill a lasting sense of our country's past. The World Made New provides a detailed account of the charting of the New World and the long-term effects of America's march into history. The text uses primary sources to bring history to life and features evocative profiles of the major explorers of the age. The book is beautifully illustrated with full-color artwork, multiple-time lines, and six custom National Geographic maps. The text and layout combine to provide an enlightening overview of New World exploration, and outline the historical context for the discoveries that literally changed the world. The narrative carries young readers through this age of glorious, and sometimes inglorious, adventure. Follow the timeline of history unfolding; how the early colonies were established; how dissemination of products like the potato, tomato, tobacco, and corn made the Americas a major part of the new world economy; and how the Caribbean became a major trading hub.