Aesthetically Pleasing + Educational
340485
perfect for my workspace. There's also lots of little fun facts on days like benjamin franklin's birthday, etc. Educational snippets and beautiful imagery.
140328
Two major attractions illuminate The Wayfinding Bible which make it uniquely distinctive from other versions. First, the most obvious allure is that it is visually remarkable. Every one to three pages are equipped with graphs, charts, timelines, photographs, and much more - all in full color. The pages have a very slick, thin tissue or onion-type texture.

The other asset is the New Living Translation which is an original work from Tyndale since 1996. Stories, people, dialogues, descriptions, regulations, and chronology are all manifested in a very lucid manner. It is quite intriguing to read something you may have heard and read for years either with different or no understanding only to finally have it all coherent. This is collectively gratifying on an extreme level.

Each Book is headlined with brief insight into the associated content and its author. Followed by The Wayfinding options of the Fly Over, Direct and Scenic Routes, a section magnifies Jesus in every single Old and New Testament chapter. A timeline in the footer highlights specific events taking place in the said Book.

While maintaining traditional Scripture format with chapters, the censuses and genealogies are organized into columns for clarification. Gratefully, there are verse elaborations and cross-citations to other verses: a feature that appears to be lacking more and more in newer Bibles. Even the smallest Books (e.g., Philemon, 2 and 3 John, Jude) are enveloped with information and graphics.

To get a sense of this masterpiece there is a website dedicated to showcasing The Wayfiding Bible. It offers a downloadable eBook, discussion guides, and four pages of posters that comprise spectacular scenic route illustrations such as a blueprint of Noah's Ark, the Plagues and Egypt's deities, and a biblical calendar with a color wheel chart of the Hebrew months and festivals. Also included amongst the massive collage of graphics is a parallelism between the Book of Revelation and Old Testament Imagery. These printable posters are just a few replicas of the vibrant depictions in The Wayfinding Bible. They are incredibly brilliant for your study groups, church or home.

Despite the mediocre cover, it is simplistic enough to enjoy, plus it is delightful to see there are other selections now available.

Amidst the beautifully educational pictorials, there is one that would serve the most magnificent purpose were it not for its layout. In attempting to show the Prophecies of the Messiah the lines crisscrossing references from the Old Testament to the New Testament are absolutely unreadable and are unable to follow.

Moreover, utilizing the new Bible Mapping System is nothing extraordinary, but presumably it is not a bad idea and could take some acclimation if one is looking for  a fresh take on repetitious journeys through the Scriptures. Even though the traveling routes are this edition's trademark, they are in no way imposing let alone hinder this particular Bible. This little issue is so minute, however, especially in comparison to all of the other treasures within its content, that it rides into oblivion. It is no longer noticeable and gets lost except for the title on the cover.

I was going to (and still may) give this to a special someone. If this occurs, I will immediately be purchasing a duplicate for myself since it is my second favorite Bible to use after my personal New King James Version. For those who are keen to the New Living Translation, or perhaps unfamiliar, but curious: this is the best one out there in the market. If you know of someone who has strayed, is lost or merely interested in Judeo-Christianity, this is an excellent source for introduction. It is also an amazing guidebook to correct any confusion or intimidation resulting from misunderstood content.

This book was provided free for review by the publisher.
3716124
Boldly colorful and intricate two-page habitat spreads of different birds offer appealing contrasting or complementing enhancements. Simple text makes it a good share for classroom or library science storytime. Further information is included in informative, but not overwhelming sidebars; a small cutaway includes a pictorial description of each bird's nest.  Did you know that city lights can confuse migrating birds that actually use the stars to navigate? The endpapers are fascinating as well: for each of the birds highlighted, there is a visual representation of their range of locale across North America (and Hawaii), along with the picture of the bird. Excellent for use in a classroom library, Audubon Center, public library or personal collection. Based on this book, I will purchase  every book in this series by this team.
1720995
I bought this book for my 6 year old budding artist.  Personally, I don't know much about art (never was interested), but I am feeling more knowledgeable and interested after browsing this book.  My daughter and I are enjoying looking and talking about art in this book.  This book is alphabetical, which is great.  I like that on one page there is a very modern abstract painting, and on the next a religious painting from the 1500s, and the next an abstract sculpture, and so on.  As an art absolute novice, it is interesting to see how these works of art are side by side from different eras, and different countries, and different aesthetics, but sometimes referencing each other and complimenting each other while being so different.  Learning a lot, and I never thought is art would be so interesting!  My 6 year old is also really inspired by this.  Would recommend for children, too.
2333460
This is a beautiful book, much better that I was expecting. The represented installations cover the genre, with a nice mix of recent and older installations, and US and Europe. There isn't a lot of wordy detail (you can track down that info yourself) but the photography is gorgeous. Highly recommended and a pleasure to thumb through.
768499
My girls and I loved this book.  It's not only a great story, but there are many other educational features.  The artwork is amazing, and after reading, the girls love to go back and find different things on each page.  We would definitely recommend this.  It's a great gift idea as well!
4808189
I'm a professional designer and enjoy seeing cutting edge books being offered for the juvenile market. The Little Concepts: ABC Color book combines colors and their common applications in a vivid display of stunning graphics. The full page spreads couple text and illustrations in a playful manner that will help children learn about the beauty and subtly of color, and how they apply to our everyday lives. The timelessness of the quirky characters and the consistency of the design will keep kids (and adults) attention as the pore over these more uncommonly named hues. The color choices are fun, with each page featuring two different hues as the primary color scheme. The minimalistic, retro, clean-edge design lends a graphic approach that is easy to read and understand. The pages are a heavy coated card stock that will withstand repeated viewings.

I love ABC Color as an art book and appreciate the time and thought that this lovingly conceived book delivers.

~ Kort
1703188
This very attractive book is a reminder of all the wonderful plant and bird life in England.
Well-written book with lovely drawings and paintings.  A good teaching tool if you like natural science and have children-or if you want to recognize what you are looking at when out for a walk.
The author takes you for walks throughout the four seasons along with the book's characters (children and their guide) where you share their observations.
An example is one common experience of children in the past-exploring pond life and finding tadpoles to put in an old jam jar.  Here you learn about lifecycles.  Can't over-emphasize the lovely color illustrations that go along with the story.
Book came in excellent condition (beautiful cover) and on time.
1743290
The pictures are beautiful and well chosen for children.  I love the fact that it guides your discussion through questions for each picture.  Art appreciation--teaching children how to think about what they see-- is so important.
28043
I bought this for my friend's daughter (she LOVES elephants) and I was so impressed by not only the artwork (it's gorgeous) but by how informative the book is. I learned a lot! It's really great how much information is here in the text and the diagrams. It's sort of like hiding veggies in tasty food for your kids -- get them a great looking book and they'll actually learn something!

This is going to be my go-to gift for quite a while.
4895070
The most striking thing about this book is the collection of images. HUNDREDS of images, incredible, eye-catching, fascinating examples of effective ways to communicate information visually. Most pages have at least 2-3 large images, with detailed captions, to illustrate the principles in the text.  It looks and feels like a beautiful coffee table book (and more fun to flip through!), big and glossy, even though it has way more informative content than a coffee table book. Kudos to the author for finding so many excellent examples of the things she writes about, from both the U.S. and around the world -- if a picture is worth a thousand words, then this book is a treasure trove!

As an educational tool for students and professionals, the information in this book is a wonderful, clear summary of the smartest information in the field. Even for someone who is not a designer, the book is fascinating to browse through, and there's so much to be learned.
2132468
This book is a wonderful asset to any illustrator, character designer, animator, etc. The collection of images is very entertaining to look at and enjoy, and also to study learn from. As an illustration student I found the written content of the book to be just as helpful as the pictoral, and have already seen improvement in my work from following the advice he gives. The book includes a good variety of mediums as well as sketches, process, and more finished work.

The book itself, as a book, did not seem to be extremely well designed. I don't think there's anything blatantly wrong about it, but you can tell that the design of the pages was not what was important when creating this book. It's a very very minor detail that is barely noticeable next to the lovely artwork in the book.

This was worth every penny I spent on it.
2180334
Like almost every single DK book I've ever seen (and I've seen hundreds and own dozens), this book deserves an award for beautiful design and graceful, easy layout. In fact, this may be one of the best-designed DK books I've ever seen and that is saying something because they are all so nice. I just love the look of this book. There are hundreds of great photos and illustrations and all of them are fun and interesting and beautifully reproduced. I am just continually surprised and pleased by what a great job of choosing and reproducing illustrations DK does. Visually this book is a joy to look at.

In terms of content I think DK has also produced a very valuable and useful book. I'm a writer and editor and professionally I try to avoid turning to a thesaurus too often, though there are three generations of Roget's Thesaurus sitting within arm's reach of my computer because sometimes I get bored with the words I'm using. But I've been writing for 40 years so my vocabulary has been growing all of that time. But for kids, knowing there are alternative words is a very important thing. Kids tend to stick with the same words over and over and, especially in their writing, they tend to dig a verbal rut for themselves. But kids' minds are like sponges and if you exposed them to more language, they will assimilate it quickly and keep it for live, which is a good thing.

Each of the entries in this books starts out with a quick definition (example: "Verdict: noun, a decision or opinion on something...") and then is followed by a short list of synonyms. At first I thought the number of synonyms was kind of short, but then began to realize that the book has over 4,000 entries and a whopping 36,000 synonyms and around 250 pages long. If there were many more they'd either have to cut back on the number of entries or make the book longer and this is already a big heavy book (which I loved when I was a kid--I LOVED big books).

One of the things that I like most about this book is that there are a lot of really nice two-page an half-page illustrations that relate to the word. For the word "view," for example, there is a really pretty desert illustration. Also, there are alphabet tabs on each page with the letter of the alphabet that each entry begins with highlighted. And, and this is so cool, each letter of the alphabet has its only color of pages which is a great asset for little eyes and hands. Also, as I said above, the photos (and illustrations) that were selected are very interesting, these are not boring choices. For "peek," for instance, there is a photo of a squirrel peeking out of a hollow tree. For "coating" there is a pretty winter pond scene with a coating of ice.

If I had kids or grand kids in this age range, I'd surely get them this book and I hope that teachers are able to add it to their in-class libraries. If you don't get kids using books as tools at an early age they'll all turn to their phones or computers and it's just not the same.
1699750
This book has become the ultimate coffee table decoration in our home. Out of several we display, this one gets the most admiring attention. The women are drawn to it at once. The book is rich, well concieved and crafted. The verbiage is plain and easy to read and the pictures are warm and beautifully detailed. Many are almost 3D. For the neophyte (like me) this is a virtual "course" in cultral taste from around the world. There are high quality pictures of jewelry, the likes of which, I have never seen. Very worthwhile and well done. Congratulations to Penelope Diamanti and to Bill Allen for such a successful collabration.
3528885
I can't write a review regarding the enjoyment/durability/fun factor, as it was purchased as a gift.  I can, however, comment on its educational and environmental values:  Purchased two(2) xylophones as gifts for the children of musician friends. What I liked about this particular toy instrument is that it is set up tonally. This means that the parent, or child, can actually learn to play written music and learn scales, rather than just "play" sounds.  The tones are color coded: both low C and high C are red, connecting the two visually and tonally. I imagine that the child could learn to play "songs" by "reading" a color score, and thereby the toy could be used to learn colors, far earlier than the child could learn to read letters and/or musical notes.

The description states that the instrument is a green toy and uses recycled rubber tree wood and water based dyes, which is the main reason I bought this toy.  This particular toy appears to be the only toy on the market which is both "green" and allows the user to play a true musical scale and/or songs.

The design is modern and minimal, which to me is also timeless.  Hope my friends' children enjoy the xylophones as much as I think they will.  Even though the recommended age is 3-6, I believe that a younger child could possibly use the toy WITH parental supervision (AND the parents' discretion). The 10mo old already sits in his father's lap to play the (adult) drums and cymbals and seems to be a natural musician; I hope to encourage his interest in music.
2458803
I love K'NEX! They offer kids and adults the opportunity to explore, discover and enjoy in ways that other building toys do not. This package takes things up a notch by offering the 'Education' line K'NEX kit (designed for students and teachers) 'Investigating Solar Energy' which includes (2) solar panels which when charged can power replicas of 'real world' machines. While designed for the classroom, this is a building set that could also be enjoyed by home schooled students or anyone with a curious mind!

An excellent kit for combining concepts of eco-friendly, renewable energy sources, mechanics and technology, this building set emphasizes learning principles for Math, Science, and Reading (directions for building replicas). Working with the set encourages critical thinking and illustrates the basic principles of engineering.

Included in this package of 128 pieces are the (2) solar panels, directions for making (6) replica solar powered machines, and a teacher's guide on CD.  (*Students can build up to 2 replicas from one set at a time with the included parts.) While this building set could be enjoyed by anyone, it's designed for students and teachers, to be used in a classroom setting so that small groups of students who are in grades 5-9 (recommended for kids ages 10-15) can learn about solar energy and how it can power simple machines.

The cost of this kit is substantial if you're looking only at the piece count, but considering the inclusion of the (2) solar panels and classroom guidance for teachers, it's well priced and a valuable asset to any home or classroom learning environment.

A few of the (75) K'NEX Education kits you can combine with this one:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/K-NEX-Education-Intro-to-Simple-Machines-Wheels-Axels-and-Inclined-Planes/dp/B000O94QU2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">K'NEX Education - Intro to Simple Machines: Wheels, Axels and Inclined Planes</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/K-NEX-Education-Amusement-Park-Experience/dp/B000O8Z7UG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">K'NEX Education - Amusement Park Experience</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/K-NEX-Education-K-8-General-Construction-Set/dp/B001OZUD7K/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">K'NEX Education - K-8 General Construction Set</a>, and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/K-NEX-Education-Intro-To-Simple-Machines-Gears/dp/B000O910E2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">K'NEX Education - Intro To Simple Machines: Gears</a>.

Other educational solar toys:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Super-Deluxe-Solar-Educational-Kit/dp/B002MQJC5E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Super Deluxe Solar Educational Kit</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Elenco-Solar-Deluxe-Educational-Kit/dp/B00008S2V6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Elenco Solar Deluxe Educational Kit</a>&nbsp;might also be of interest.

TIP:  If you have other K'NEX kits you can use them to expand the possibilities of this one! Have your kids design and create their own solar powered inventions, and discuss the possibilities for real world applications.

NOTE:  The K'NEX company packages this item in the US, but not all of the parts are made in the United States. 43% of the parts are made in the US and 57% are made in China.
1220498
I received this beautiful book as a gift. Visually appealing, it's beautifully designed and photographed. And most importantly, do-able for novices like me.  I'm not one for recipes -- anything with more than 6 steps and my eyes glaze over (no pun intended!). But this cookbook appeals to me on several levels:
- it's educational (don't miss the Introduction, e.g. "Returning to Real Food" and "How To Tell If A Dish Needs More Salt")
- the Poet's Notes and poems are a joy to read ("Eating The Bones" was a surprise find!)
- the recipes I have tried turned out really good (so if I can cook from them, so can anyone!)
- there's something for everyone, whether you're vegetarian or a meat-lover

So far, I've tried the Zucchini Pancakes with Parsley, Dill and Mint, the Shaved Mystic Zuchinni, Green Apple and Dill Salad (simple and so tasty) and the wonderfully comforting Oatmeal Deluxe Breakfast Bars. Looking forward to trying a meat dish next.