Jumping In Puddles Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Things that make me a little nervous are the complaints about many exclamation points, typos, bad type setting, historical inaccuracies and disjointed. (amazon) :confused: I know there are many more positive reviews on Amazon but I was wondering if anyone here found any truth in what was posted on Amazon. Thanks, :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 I think poor SWB gets it from both sides. Could you check it out in your library and decide for yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumping In Puddles Posted June 14, 2008 Author Share Posted June 14, 2008 I think poor SWB gets it from both sides. Could you check it out in your library and decide for yourself? My library doesn't have it, unfortunately. I have seen it at the bookstore though. I could probably spend a little time with it there. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 We went through all four book and I didn't notice too many exclamation points, bad typesetting or typos. I didn't think the books were disjointed either. The books do go through history chronologically so they jump from country and continent. Maybe the person who thought it was disjointed was uncomfortable with that. I have no idea if there were historical inaccuracies because half of the information was brand new to me, (or maybe I did learn it but forgot). My dh is a history buff and loved the SOTW series. He listened to them in the car with us on road trips and was really impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewday Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 We went through all four book and I didn't notice too many exclamation points, bad typesetting or typos. I didn't think the books were disjointed either. The books do go through history chronologically so they jump from country and continent. Maybe the person who thought it was disjointed was uncomfortable with that. Ditto. I haven't noticed an abundance of any of that. The "disjointed" aspect has some truth in that there is a lot of jumping around. For instance in SOTW1, we're currently studying the Romans, in 2 weeks we jump to India and then on to China. It's a sort of "sampling" of history all over the world, not focused on Western Civ (if that is what you're looking for). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 We went through all four book and I didn't notice too many exclamation points, bad typesetting or typos. I didn't think the books were disjointed either. The books do go through history chronologically so they jump from country and continent. Maybe the person who thought it was disjointed was uncomfortable with that. I have no idea if there were historical inaccuracies because half of the information was brand new to me. :iagree: We used all four books of SOTW. I didn't notice anything. There have been discussions on the boards before about inaccuracies, and I gather that historians disagree about what is accurate anyway. Here is a link to an old thread. My review is in there if you're interested. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14036&highlight=history-ignorant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 No. It's all false. SOTW is perfect in every way. That's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it. So there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnUK Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 We very much enjoy the whole series. My 10 year old son has read the read the first two about ten times. He loves them. That is telling in itself. I disagree with the few negative amazon reviews. I think that it's bizarre to criticize a book intended for a FIRST GRADER for not treating the history subjects with more depth. I'm pretty sure that most first grade science curricula are still dealing with the five senses. The TM has all of the appropriate texts listed for expanding each topic as much as is desired. I would suggest that you take a look for yourself. Can you "search inside" the book on amazon? Hope that helped, --Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 And just as an additional thought, we're talking about something intended to be READ ALOUD to a 1st grader. Even if there were errors or things that bugged you, a 1st grader isn't gonna notice. Buy SOTW if you like it and enjoy! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 I did not notice any bad typesetting. While I am not an expert by any stretch, I did work in publishing for eight years and my mom had a typesetting business when I was a kid. FWIW I have not found any book, ever, published with absolutely no errors. One of the publishing companies for which I worked had each book vetted by an editor, three copyeditors, two typesetters, and two proofreaders. You would think that such a thorough system would produce only flawless books, but the reality is that errors are inadvertently published. Having said that, I don't recall any glaring problems with SOTW. I really love SOTW. I like the way it covers world history. I did not think it jumped around--there are good transitions and map discussions when SWB switches to a different geographical area. I like the ancillary reading lists and the activity suggestions, and I love the level of detail. (So do my kids.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abreakfromlife Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 as far as the disjointedness goes, you can fix that. You don't have to read the book in order. The jumping around really bothered me too, so I just group the topics together, no matter what chapter it is. Like right now, we're in ancient Rome. Ch 27, 28, 29 are about Rome. Then it jumps to india and china for 4 chapters, and then back to Rome for the rest of the book. So, I'm just ignoring those 4 other chapters for now, and when we're done with Rome, we'll do India and China, and I'm actually including the chapters on them from SOTW 2. So far we have really liked SOTW. The activity guide, not so much. But my kids love it, and it is very informative and not boring or dry to read at all. I'm buying the rest of them on CD as well, so we can listen to them in the evenings as a family so dh can learn, too. And as far as accuracies go, I haven't noticed anything major. But public schools teach inaccuracies, too. What was that book called - Lies my kdg teacher told me, or something like that.....we all grew up thinking Columbus discovered America. I was floored to learn in high school that the Vikings were there first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2legomaniacs Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Personally, I think it is very well done. SWB has made history very interesting to *me*! I have so enjoyed going through these books with my kids. (I am not a liker of history studies in general) My younger has been opened up to history so that he now reads the Usborne World History Encyclopedia for fun. Not everyone is going to like it. People that usually respond to things like that have strong feelings often in the opposite direction. Or they rave. I would just go to a store or the library and look at one for yourself. If the style fits you, then great. It truly is a nice addition to our studies. I would never have been doing history like that if it weren't these books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Well, in reading a library book about Mary Queen of Scots, it became apparent to my older ds and I that she *probably* was having an affair when her husband mysteriously died. Somehow, that failed to make it into SOTW ~ a historical "inaccuracy" for which I was extremely grateful! (Who complains about type-setting????? oh, please!!!! It's nice and big - easily readable - what do these people want?!?!?!?!) =) Rhonda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Someone posted about this a while back and I went to look at the reviews. They seem ridiculous to me. I've used all four books and have had no problem with them. I don't use them alone. I don't use any single author to the exclusion of other points of view. But I'm getting ready to use them for the second time around for my logic stage cycle, so I obviously didn't think they were that bad.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbookbuzz Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Personally, I am a Grammar and Punctuation Princess. My mother is a Grammar Queen and her sister is the Grammar Duchess. I mention the geneology so that you understand some of my background. That being said, I am a stickler for precise grammar and punctuation. We've only read through SOTW Vol. I but I saw no glaring faults, either. Both my dd and I enjoyed the way it read and dd really liked the Activity Book. We both learned quite a bit from it! So, ignore the naysayers and believe all of us who have really read the book! :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I know there are many more positive reviews on Amazon but I was wondering if anyone here found any truth in what was posted on Amazon.There is a bit of truth in some of the posts, but it's both blown out of proportion and missing the larger context: these are accessible history books written for young children. Some facts are glossed over, some missed altogether, and that's OK as this isn't the only history children will be exposed to. There are some factual errors -- but relatively few, and for the most part they are of little consequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyt Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I have used all 4 SOTW books, and I use it with the reference books: The Encyclopedia of World History and The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, as SWB suggests to do. The reference pages are given in the SOTW Activity books. Though there are slight differences in detail between SOTW and the reference books, we have not found any significant discrepancies, so I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the books at all. All historians have different slants so there will always be slight variations in accounts. I think SWB's style of writing is so entertaining for children and adults alike, that people who are put off by the negative comments are missing out on a wonderful resource. Jenny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumping In Puddles Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 Excellent advice everyone, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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