Overview
We rely on technology to make our lives easier, faster, and better. Our buildings, machinery, vehicles, clothes, metals, food, medicines, and weapons depend upon it. But many of the technologies we currently use have their origins in the distant past.Synopsis
We rely on technology to make our lives easier, faster, and better. Our buildings, machinery, vehicles, clothes, metals, food, medicines, and weapons depend upon it. But many of the technologies we currently use have their origins in the distant past.
Children's Literature
After the dark ages came the middle ages, or medieval period. During this time, technology, which had been stalled since the fall of the Roman Empire, began to revive. Marvelous cathedrals were built using techniques not seen since the Romans. Farming practices included crop rotation and using horses to pull heavy plows. Windmills and waterwheels aided the grinding of grain into flour. Most textiles were made from wool spun into yarn, first with a distaff, later with the spinning wheel. Iron was the most popular metal for weapons and tools. Scribes wrote and illuminated manuscripts on parchment and vellum until the printing press was invented. People traveled by horses on roads or boats on canals and, eventually, ships that crossed the oceans. The clock was invented, marking the way that we keep time to this day. Castles and cannons were the most important parts of military technology, aided by cavalry and infantry. Color photographs, a glossary, and a timeline all contribute to making this an excellent sourcebook. Any child looking for resource materials about the Medieval World should examine this book from the "Technology in Times Past" series. Reviewer: Amie Rose Rotruck
Editorials
Children's Literature -
After the dark ages came the middle ages, or medieval period. During this time, technology, which had been stalled since the fall of the Roman Empire, began to revive. Marvelous cathedrals were built using techniques not seen since the Romans. Farming practices included crop rotation and using horses to pull heavy plows. Windmills and waterwheels aided the grinding of grain into flour. Most textiles were made from wool spun into yarn, first with a distaff, later with the spinning wheel. Iron was the most popular metal for weapons and tools. Scribes wrote and illuminated manuscripts on parchment and vellum until the printing press was invented. People traveled by horses on roads or boats on canals and, eventually, ships that crossed the oceans. The clock was invented, marking the way that we keep time to this day. Castles and cannons were the most important parts of military technology, aided by cavalry and infantry. Color photographs, a glossary, and a timeline all contribute to making this an excellent sourcebook. Any child looking for resource materials about the Medieval World should examine this book from the "Technology in Times Past" series. Reviewer: Amie Rose RotruckSchool Library Journal
Gr 4-5
Snedden uses such a broad definition of "technology" that his overviews lack focus. In China, for instance, along with mentioning the development of central heating, block printing, porcelain manufacture, and the compass, he ranges off into silkworm culture, farming techniques, traditional medicine, and general history. As a result, the books provide only tantalizing wisps of information. Each of the five sets of disconnected topical spreads gives way without any wrap-up to a time line and a few wide-angle information sources. Dropped lines of text in Ancient Rome and a backward schematic of an Archimedes Screw in Ancient Greece are signs of careless production to boot. The illustrations sometimes pair ancient and modern images in order to make connections, but that's not enough to make this more than an also-ran next to Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods's "Ancient Technology" series (Lerner).