Tag Archives: Nick's Reviews

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Warfare – DK Publishing

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We Make War That We May Live In Peace – Aristotle

The most wide-ranging and visually arresting history of wars and warfare ever published, War: Definitive Visual Guide documents every major war or significant period of conflict in over 5,000 years of human history.

A must-have reference gift for military enthusiasts and general readers alike, no other book about warfare contains such a diverse selection of imagery including contemporary paintings and photographs, objects and artifacts, and specially commissioned artworks, maps, and diagrams.

War: Definitive Visual Guide includes a comprehensive directory of every major war, thematic spreads examining broader topics within the history of warfare, from the role of mercenaries, communications, and the treatment of wounded soldiers, and personal accounts and objects from soldiers and civilians that bring to life the human experience of battle.

From the earliest known Wars in Sumeria and Ancient Egypt War to the occupation of Iraq, War: Definitive Visual Guide combines a coherent and compelling spread-by-spread historical narrative with a wealth of supporting features to recount the epic 5,000-year story of warfare and combat through the ages.

This is the ultimate war book.  From the Bronze Age to  present day, which includes every major war, the aspects of war, witnesses to war, as well as the hardware used through the centuries.  There are full colour photographs and artwork that portrayed major battles that changed the world.

Talks about how wars were fought in the ancient world before to Christ to present-day.  Weapons from each period – ancient, medieval, modern – how they have changed as well as the tactics have, as well as categories of weapons had me turning the pages oohing and aweing.

it also talks about the mercenaries, what they fight for, and how long they have been around…Did you know they have been around for thousands of years?  It talks about the french religious wars, the chinese civil war where the communists and the nationalists lost to the communists, and the remaining nationalists retreated to Taiwan to take China’s seat on the United Nations.

As the parent of a boy, I have to say this is one of Nick’s favorite.  He had taken it to school and had it there for a week to read during reading time.  All of his friends were intrigued to see what he was reading.

** This was previously published as War: The Definitive Visual Guide**

DK Canada

Halo Encyclopedia – The Definitive Visual Guide – DK Books

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Are you a die-hard HALO fan? Do you go to the game store on Halo day to be the first in line to get the latest game?!?

If you are one of these people, you will definitely want to have this book for your collection.

This book has everything you either knew or wanted to know about HALO up to the latest HALO release ODST, and the whole universe.

  • Full colour photographs
  • Intricate step by step detailing of characters – why the wars were started, vehicles, weapons, etc.

Nick loves the weapons and the descriptions and wishes he had a few of them in his collection.  He loves the different groups as well as the differences of races not only described in full detail but in the games as well.  The images of war scenes on every single page, the informational boxes, the timelines of each and every district.  The close up of the people of these regions aren’t so bad either, as well as the protocols for each region.

DK Books

Here is a glance inside HALO Encyclopedia: The Definitive Visual Guide -

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Double Post – Gun – A Visual History & Knives and Swords A Visual History – Chris McNab

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Both books feature material from the larger book entitled Weapon which is just as stunning as these two condensed books.  Just as a sidebar, these would be great for that dad that is interested in this type of books since Fathers Day is just over a month away !

From the time that guns made their appearance on the 14th century battlefields of Europe, guns have shaped the course of human history.

Gun has over 300 images of some of the important firearms of all time.  It gives you a glimpse not only into the past, but a glimpse of what could come in the future.

There are famous firearms such as the – Brown Bess, Glock 17, Colt 45 and AK 47 just to name a few.

Among all of these weapons interesting vignettes of famous gunslinger / sharpshooters such as Dirty Harry, James Bond, Annie Oakley, and Dick Turpin.

Paired along with manufactures such as Colt, Winchester, Beretta to name a few.

Nick liked the amount of information that really blew his mind.  His book is quickly becoming threadbare even though he has had it for a short time.  He loved the attention to detail to the point that you can see the smallest detail possible without actually handling the weapons themselves, as well as the exact specifications that accompanied the illustrations.

Guns: A Visual History

Knives and Swords: A Visual History

From pre-historic axeheads, Ninja swords, to commando swords, just any sword you can think of or imagine is inside this book – the most ornate to the very basic.

There are over 300 of the important blade weapons of all time included in this edition, which is not only one of the most comprehensive, but also an informative encyclopedia for that person who expects anything then the best.

Along with the stunning images of the weapons close up, full detailing as well as annotated by experts.

Warriors of the sword – gladiators, gurkas just to name a few.

The art of swordmanship which includes – tactics, technology (blade version vs. bow) to the medieval and battlefields, to the charges in bayonet’s from WWI.

Nick really enjoyed the excerpts of the gladiators, the intricate detailing and annotations that came along with each and every sword, as well as the history of how blades came about not just for fighting but, for ornamental occasions, to using them as tools in everyday life.

Nick has to admit though, his favorite between the two was the GUN book.  His reasons, because guns can shoot farther, faster and sometimes better than a knife or sword can do.  Do you agree with him?

Knives and Swords

Here is a sampling of what is inside both books -

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Nick had the opportunity to ask a few questions to the author Chris McNab, the Q and A will be posted tomorrow, just in time for you to be able to look inside the books, learn some new things, then go out and buy your dad a copy of each for Father’s Day !

World War I and World War II H. P. Wilmott, Robin Cross, Charles Messenger

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This is the story of World War I and World War II from the beginning and how it started.From the first page to the last, the lush and sometimes catastrophic pictures both in colour and black and white of real events as they happened and artefacts of the wars which include weapons and other things that were seen or used.

It made me understand the entire picture of how and why these wars happened, the people, the countries that were involved.

The charts, diagrams, timelines, and maps gave me a better picture literally of before and after; how the countries affected changed and reformed on their own.How weapons improved and improvised making them work better and different.  Each book has guides to the both wars as well as the battlefields and memorials for those who may go and visit.

Among the many maps, there were also ones of the real routes that the soldiers took to fight, or getting to an area.

The paragraphs of actual soldiers talking about their recollections, experiences, and impressions was very interesting; I really enjoyed those parts of the book.  I really liked the chapter on how the world recovered afterwards, how they rebuilt cities and how new laws were made.

World War I

World War II

Eyewitness Forensic Science – Chris Cooper

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If you seen or heard talk about CSI’s or Forensic Sciences on tv have you ever wondered about what they do and how they do it?  I wondered so much that I got this book.

This is the updated edition which includes a clip art cd for your own personal projects, as well as a full size poster that you can hang on your wall.

It showed me how the creative ways they first used to solve crimes in the beginning.

How they can find how and what time that people have died using bugs by seeing how old the bugs actually are using a timeline.  How they gather evidence from a crash scene and how delicately they do it.  Man, they have a lot of things they have to do when attending a crime scene.  This is just the beginning.

I liked how they can gather pieces of explosives and then decide what kind of explosive it is, then it is on to gathering other fragile information such as fingerprints, or stuff like soft drink cans or bottles.

I really liked how they can find different guns, and the different ballistics they use to pinpoint different types of guns and ammunition.

It is amazing how cautious they are, what they touch, and how they touch it, to be able to get  information from the piece of evidence they are taking into evidence; and of course the measures they take to secure the crime scene.

DK Books

How to Be A Genius – Your Brain And How To Train It – John Woodward

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Full of puzzles and activities to not only train your brain, but to also boost your brain power !

I like the fact that it is very organized, full of colour posts.  It is interesting to see how the brain as well as the different parts of the brain work with one another, and separately.

The simple experiments that you can do by yourself or with a friend are cool too.  I plugged my nose and ate a banana.  Guess what, I couldn’t taste it like it said in the book.  I also tried the one where you get a piece of paper towel and I got all the saliva off my tongue as I could, I tried tasting the banana again; guess what I still couldn’t taste it.

The brain puzzles are really fun too woah

From meeting your brain, senses, to how your memory works, to helping to solve problems, learning how to be more creative, learning how your brain makes you the way you are is great.  This book is for kids that are inquisitive on how their brains work, and how amazing our bodies are, especially our brains.

Here is a sampling of what is inside -

DK Books

Browse Inside

Eyewitness Vietnam War – Stuart Murray

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This copy of EyeWitness Vietnam War DOES NOT have the clip art cd and full size wall poster.  Hopefully it will be reissued soon with the new improvements!

Nick’s Likes

  • How it describes the situation of why the war started and their beliefs towards why the war started.
  • The weapon descriptions and armed vehicles they used are shown
  • Talks about the countries involved and how the US president at the time was assassinated (JFK)
  • Talks about how the new warfare that was being implemented and used
  • Vietnamese money and what they spent money on
  • Pictures are bright and Detailed

DK Books

Eyewitness Russia – Kathleen Berton Murrell

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I am sorry to say, this Eyewitness book is NOT one of the new re issued books, which includes a clip art cd and a full size wall poster, but, I hope that they re issue this one and the rest soon these are GREAT books for kids!

Nick’s Likes

  • The history of Russia – early history, 9 different names
  • Russian Civil War – weapons, vehicles they had
  • Talks about modern Russia and being an independent democracy
  • Communist faction and how it was destroyed
  • Wealth of the nation and how they make money
  • Famous writers – Tolstoy – how they interpreted life in Russia
  • Religions – Past and Present how it is and how it was
  • How growing up in Russia is like
  • The Bear being the National Symbol of Russia
  • Cyrillic writing and translations

DK Books

Eyewitness Spy – Richard Platt

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I have to admit, these have to be the BEST books ever the Eyewitness Series – full of colour photographs, and information that makes them a one stop book for many topics imaginable.  Here are Nicks thought’s on this particular book, yes, he is back and will be form any books to come.

Nick’s Likes

  • description of the different types of spies
  • the first spies and the history of how they started
  • the modernization of spies – how they work now compared to how they started and what has advanced since they started
  • the technology has sure changed from simple (pigeons) to the complex (iPods, computers)
  • most famous rogue spies  such as George Blake for the way he betrayed the beliefs of their old countries because of being upset and wanting something different.

This is also one of the newer revamped books which includes a clip art cd and a full size wall poster.

DK Books

Eyewitness Soldier – Simon Adams

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soldierPlease welcome my favorite guest blogger my son Nick, as he gives his review of this book that he really likes and it is quite evident here at home, where he looks at it a lot.

Eyewitness Soldier is one of those books that is great for one that is wanting to learn about soldiers.  Actually, all of the eyewitness books are awesome for this.  They have loads of information, plenty of pictures, and this one has a clip image cd-rom that can be used on your computer, for making different things that you may like.

Here are some other things he liked about the book:

  • Shows different types of soldiers – uniforms, equipment.
  • Shows the different types of soldiers – platoon, battalion, companies and more.
  • Talks about specialized soldiers such as mercenaries and how they participate on conflicts.
  • Also shows the ranking system from Private and up, selections and differences.
  • Again, it comes with a clip art cd-rom, to use with your own personalized projects.
  • The different types of operations – attacks, formations.
  • Has many informative on – Special Forces, SAS, Marines, Green Beret, German Units that were used in the Olympics.
  • There is also a HUGE wall poster that is also included (full size) with a little bit of everything from the book.

Suffice to say, this is one book he will be referring to again and again for a long time.

DK Books

The Soccer Book – The Sport, The Teams, The Tactics, The Cups – David Goldblatt

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the soccer bookWhen this book came to my door, I was excited for my son who received it, but I had absolutely no idea how great and fact filled this books was.  It is absolutely filled with illustrations about every facet of the game of soccer, the rules, the history, the tactics, the skills,  EVERYTHING.

The covers of the book itself is even patterned as a real soccer ball as well to give it even more authenticity.  At a whooping 399 pages, this book will not soon leave your home if you have multiple children that are crazy about the sport of soccer.

My son Nick who has graciously lent his thoughts about the book as well.

  • Even better than any other soccer book I have read
  • Has every single little detail about soccer you would ever want to know and then some

His Favorite features are:

  • The maps of countries, locations, the illustrations of accessories, equipment
  • History of how soccer became such a phenomenon
  • Statistics
  • Championship Cups
  • Rules, different types of soccer
  • REALLY GREAT BOOK ! If you love soccer

Last and final thought from Nick – This book TOTALLY blew my mind !

DK Books Canada

Soccer: The Ultimate Guide – Martin Cloake, Glenn Dakin, Adam Powley, Aiden Radnedge, and Catherine Saunders

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Soccer The Ultimate GuideOne day when DK Canada was on it’s first day on twitter, they had sent me this beautiful book for my son who is an avid soccer fan and player.  When it finally came in the mail, he and I both were amazed at the amount of data, pictures, and information was complied.  I opened it and thought that this book is one of the most comprehensible books out there for sports.

As part of my review of this fabulous book, my son will give his expert opinion of it as well, so would you all please welcome my son to his first blog post, assisted by me of course!

1.  What was it you liked about this particular book?

  • Teaches you the rules and history of the game of soccer from the begining
  • Shows you how the sport has grown over the years
  • Teaches you about all of the teams that play soccer, helps you understand them.
  • Stats, Stats, Stats.
  • You are able to look at your favorite team
  • Teaches you all about the positions, why they are important, and different skills and equipment you need to be able to play soccer.
  • Interesting facts about soccer the game,stats and facts that you may not have already known.

For myself, once I opened the book, I was not surprised and have to agree with all of the points that my son has expressed. At a little over 150 pages, it is literally packed full of information that will have your child fully informed of all of the different teams, rules, positions, and so much more.  It is also great for a child or adult who is new to the game or just starting out.  It is packed FULL of full color photographs and amazing detail.  It will make you go back to it and use it as reference, or just to take a quick look.  Both educational and informative and best of all FUN!

Thank you to my son for expressing his honest and humble opinion, and I am sure that he will keep this book for many years to come.

Thank You DK Canada for sending this book, and allowing us to be able to explore it together.

DK Canada

BUY THE BOOK – chapters.indigo.ca / Books a Million / Amazon