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Title: On This Day in History by Leonard Spinrad, Thelma Spinrad, Anistatia R. Miller, Anistatia Miller; Jared Brown, Jared Brown ISBN: 0-7352-0064-5 Publisher: Prentice Hall Press Pub. Date: January, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: layout aggrevated me, and that's just the beginning
Comment: I'm not entirely sure who the intended audience of this book is. I'm interesting in things specific to NJ or people born in NJ so I skimmed this book, noting with interest certain events, but I primarily wanted to focus on anything dealing with NJ.
The layout of the text was for me, maddening. Let's say there are 5 items listed for a certain date. Sometimes the authors discuss the events in chronilogical order. Other times they address the most signifigant events first. Sometimes the different events have their own paragraphs, sometimes they don't. In short, to find the discussion of one item you practically need to read them all because there is no pattern or separations. Even more infuriating is that if there are two related events (for exmaple the break-in at watergate, and the resignation of president Nixon) there usually is a reference to the other event. However, sometimes they discuss the event there, and sometimes not. Combine that with the above layout issues, and I could be searching for something that simply isn't there!
Not that this is a problem, per se, but in reading this book I couldn't help but wonder about the editorial process in terms of selection of material to be included. David Lee Roth's birthday is listed, but there are numerous important musicians who aren't. Who decides? and why? and what's the criteria? (I realize its the authors who decided, but you get my point)
I just felt as though the book was inadequate for the task. I felt the same way about Chases Calendar of Events, a book which tries to list annual events, holidays, celebrations, birthdays, etc worldwide. There must be literally dozens of events that took place on March 12th or June 19th. To list only 4 somehow feels incomplete. I realize this was probably done to keep the book from being 500 pages. But if you're gonna do something, do it full and right or not at all...
It almost inspires me to want to write my own book of "things that happened today" because I felt this one was so incomplete. Then I read some of the other reviews. Didn't realize there were errors in this book. Now I realize I SHOULD write my own version.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book!
Comment: I've never posted a review before, but when I noticed the errors in the previous review, I felt compelled to come to the defense of one of my favorite books. I found this book to be remarkably insightful, engaging, and accurate. Its day-by-day is a fresh way to look at history. Now, as for those errors:
According to Gregory Titelman's, "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned' refers to "...heedless and irresponsible behavior in the midst of a crisis." Legend has it that in A.D. 64 the emperor Nero (A.D. 37 - A.D. 68), last of the Caesars, set fire to Rome to see 'how Troy would look when it was in flames' and to serve as suitable background for a recitation of his poetry while accompanying himself on the lyre..." For the sake of acuracy, should all disctionaries of popular sayings be amended to: Nero lyred while Rome burned?
Norkay is not incorrect. If the writer were familiar with the differences between Wade-Giles and pinyin translations into English, he'd know that Norkay is Wade-Giles, Norgay is pinyin, and both are simply alternative translations from Nepalese which does not use the western alphabet.
As for the nuclear testing not occuring at Los Alamos, virtually every text on the subject correctly cites the tests as having occurred at Los Alamos. Of course they didn't do them in the lab. Of course they took them out into their back yard (way out into their back yard). However, the point is, the tests were conducted from the Los Alamos lab. They were analyzed in the Los Alamos lab. They we conducted by the Los Alamos Lab. Is it such a crucial piece of history that the actual explosion took place far enough away that it didn't obliterate the lab? Or is it simply a point of pride to the critic that he's aware of this inconsequential and obvious historical footnote. If every detail of every event were included in this book, you'd need a forklift to open it.
As for the US Air Force being the US Army Air Force prior to 1947, he's right. However, at that time, it was commonly referred to as the US Air Force.
According to the back cover, there are over 10,000 entries in this book. If those are the most glaring points this armchair critic could cite, it seems like he should have given the book five stars, as I did. I love this book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Unsuitable for intended use
Comment: I was disappointed in this book. As an earlier review notes, it _appears_ to be "thoroughly researched," but it's full of errors. Just leafing through the book, with no further research, a number of mistakes jump out.
Among the mistakes - the authors say "the US Air Force" dropped the bomb on Hiroshima; the US Air Force wasn't in existence yet - it was the Army Air Forces that dropped the bomb. The authors twice say the atomic bomb was "tested at Los Alamos"; no - the atomic bomb was developed at Los Alamos, but tested 175 miles away near Carrizozo NM. The authors twice, again, report that Nero was "the emperor who fiddled while Rome burned (in 37 AD)" - a neat trick, considering the violin wasn't invented for another 1500 years or so. The authors twice tell us that Tenzing Norkay accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on Everest; the name is Norgay. The authors tell us that Edmund Hillary said he climbed "because it's there"; it wasn't Hillary, but George Mallory, some 35 years earlier, who gave that response.
Many of the entries gloss over, or over-simplify, the facts. For instance, the authors truthfully attribute "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" to Admiral Farragut; however, they don't tell us that the "torpedoes" of that day were not self-propelled, but what we would call mines. Whitely's _The Teacher's Calendar_ fills in the missing relevant information.
On historical events such as Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, Whitely gives more background than these authors.
On other events, such as the seizing of the Amistad, _This Day in History_ is silent, while Whitely's book gives a detailed discussion.
Another example of gloss is the authors' report that Galileo "created a telescope so he could observe the heavens." Galileo certainly improved the telescope, but he didn't invent it.
The unwarranted, even "cutesy," conclusions the authors frequently draw hamper the usefulness of this book. The authors tell us that at Hiroshima "we learned that man had no control over the terrible might of the microscopic atom." In fact, man showed his ability to control atomic forces at Hiroshima, and you can't see atoms through a microscope anyway.
The authors say that the USSR/Nazi Germany non-aggression pact was "the fuse that ignited the Second World War." Elsewhere the authors tell us that WWII "was ignited when Germany invaded Poland." The statements are contradictory and simplistic.
Of course, the book does have its moments - there are a number of stories which appear to be detailed, correct, and interesting. Yet these have limited use, since the reader has to verify every part of the story, in view of the authors' frequent errors on other entries. Am I being too picky? I don't think so - not with a book which certainly intends to be used as an accurate source of history.
You might consider this book for the limited use of knowing a few events that happened on each day, accepting that the book's facts may be wrong and its conclusions unmerited. This book could certainly use some good editing and fact-checking.
A _much_ better book for the classroom, or parent, is Sandy Whiteley's _The Teacher's Calendar: School Year 2001-2002_. Not only is Whitely much more accurate, but she includes many more events per day, and frequently more information on each event than these authors do.
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