As a Middle School Humanities teacher, I assigned this to my students as part of their summer reading. DK Eyewitness Books are uniformly engaging, and when students returned in September, many told me how much they loved this book. The images are excellent, the text highly descriptive, and the end result is that the students, their curiosity piqued, were ready to learn more. The book sat on my bedside table for about a week, and each night I read a few pages, and from my reading, developed ideas for classes, and research projects. Even for kids outside of a school setting, this is a great volume to have.