Lots of Fun geography facts, told in an engaging way.

This informational book has an engaging format and provides the basics students need to know about maps and geography, as well as many fun facts.

I think, for an adult, the appeal of these is largely dependent on how interested one is in the subject. ?áI did pick up my library's copy of the Greek gods one, and did not like it, did not even finish it. ?áI'm not going to bother picking up the presidents one. ?áOtoh, I have a deep fascination with geography, and so was able to put up with the design (akin to Captain Underpants or Wimpy Kid) enough to read this. ?áI even learned a few things. ?áAnd it does mention geocaching - yay!

I'd like to give it a higher rating, but there were problems:
Google Earth has been downloaded one billion times. ?áOne seventh of humanity could be looking at Google Earth right now." ?áUm, not necessarily. ?áThe ppl most interested have downloaded to all their devices, and to all their replacement devices, I judge. ?áAnd even if we suggest that he's more right than I am, the book does have several of those casually tossed about interpretations and evaluations.

I did learn that:
No sea-chart has ever been found that says "Here be Dragons." ?áThe only place that phrase has been found is on the Hunt-Lenox Globe, an antique copper globe today housed in the NYC public library.?á
The?álist of the famed?áseven seas differed depending on what culture was speaking of them. ?áThe lists Jennings charted, Phoenician, Arabian, and Medieval, had none in common across all three, and only two overlapped at all.
The image of the little boy peeing is a real statue in Brussels, called Manneken-Pis, representing a two yo prince who peed on enemy Flemish soldiers in the twelfth century.

I will research more the Geo-Cosmos globe at Tokyo's Miraikan Museum. ?áIf they make a similar version for the home, I'm guessing I'll be first in line to own one.

And I need to check out the historical panoramic photos of American cities at memory.loc.gov/ammem/pmhtml." ( )

Got this book for my daughter's third-grade class. Couldn't resist a peek at it, and it was so fun and engaging that I read the whole thing. It might be a little too advanced for 3rd-graders, but then again, my kids were pretty darn sharp when they were 8 years old. ( )

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