The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History Paperback – January 1, 2010

We are Christian parents homeschooling our two girls using a trivium-based curriculum of our own design. If we had to limit ourselves to one history book it would be the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History (Hardcover).We also use Parragon and Kingfisher World History books, Usborne Atlas of World History, Usborne History Dates, and the Mystery of History. I also use Cracking the AP World History Exam (by Princeton Review) as an aid in linking key history concepts when putting our history lessons together.Because we are using the Well-Trained Mind to guide our homeschooling I have looked at Story of the World several times but can't bring myself to like it. I feel it (and Mystery of History) are inadequate for use as a history spine, although we occasionally use Mystery of History as a supplement. One reason Mystery of History is inadequate is that it's 50/50 religious/secular history, crowding out to much world history in the process. We do our Bible study in addition to history rather than trying to kill two birds with one stone.The Parragon book is similar to the Usborne book and, though not as complete, it provides a very good complement. The Kingfisher was intended to be our primary history book for grades 5-8. It is more detailed and requires a higher reading level but overall doesn't flow nearly as well as the Usborne World History. I expect to lean primarily on the Usborne EWH again in grades 5-8 while still using the Kingfisher as a supplement. We'll just use it more often than in grades 1-4.The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History has great maps, great graphics, and well-written text. The sections are complete and it does a decent job of connecting the dots from one civilization to the next. It's also been very helpful in building a history timeline. Our Amy Pac timeline figures are really not that great and have numerous errors, so being able to download graphics from the Usborne Encylopedia has been very useful in generating our own timeline figures. The Usborne internet links provided are generally pretty good and are maintained current. Sure you can Google for similar content but it doesn't take long to realize how much time gets eaten up sorting through sites looking for something worthwhile. Using the Usborne-quicklinks is a no-brainer and time-saver.As noted by other reviewers the first 100 pages covers creation to the dawn of man, including changes to the earth and life on it. It's well done and what we used for our daughter's Kindergarten "history" lessons. The girls always looked forward to the readings and, other than a few skipped pages, we had no trouble reconciling Usborne's pre-history with our Christian faith.I spend a fair amout of time each week putting together history lessons using multiple resources, so I agree with the reviewer that wished for something better but wrote that it's the best history currently available. I'm also confident that if our girl's history lessons consisted of nothing more than reading from the Usborne Encyclopedia Of World History they would still love history and easily learn more about it than 98% of our country's children.

To touch on other comments: there is some religion. There are a few links that don't work anymore. Yes, you can find some of the links yourself. The type is NOT too small.We used this book AND the kingfisher book for 6 months within our studies of ancient history at a 3rd grade level. Our family of 5 unanimously agreed that this usborn book is far superior to the kingfisher book.There is a timeline on the bottom of every page for the spatial learner to see where they are within the context of time. The pages are illustrated nicely and appropriately. Items are labeled for the compulsive reader. The index is comprehensive. The breadth of information is appropriate for kids, under the heading of "put it before them and let them feast." If there is something your child wants to know more about it, for all means, look it up online or in other resource books. Many of the links provided will yield endless hours of additional information (and while you can look them up yourself with a search engine, I have three kids and am not interested in searching through pages of links, and I found it very helpful to have a ready-to-go link handy).The comments about religion vs evolution are interesting... I personally don't think it is possible to provide a comprehensive overview of history without some sort of slant. We are a Christian family who also believes in science and evolution, and I am competent and smart enough to use the information in these books as a tool with my kids to teach them about what OUR beliefs are. People who are blaming the information in this book are perhaps expecting this book to parent their kids for them.After six months of side-by-side weekly usage between this usborn book and the kingfisher book, this is - in the opinion of our household - a better book, with more interesting illustrations, better written text for kids, and providing in general a better single resource. If you are comparing the two books, this review was for you.