CHILDREN'S AND TEEN
Released: March 11, 2014
"Broad of historical (if not international) scope and with illustrations that richly reward poring over—but unfocused. (index, timeline) (Nonfiction. 12-14)"
Biesty's precisely drawn, finely detailed architectural views supply the highlights for this unfocused survey of homes and prominent buildings through the ages.
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ADVENTURE
Released: April 1, 2011
"An altogether agreeable package for armchair explorers. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-13)"
Biesty's trademark amusing, informatively detailed illustrations are a highlight of this entertaining examination of several voyages of exploration.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 1, 2005
"There's plenty of food for thought here about permanence and change; young historians will enjoy the metal's long trip, and will come away understanding that it's never over. (Nonfiction. 9-11)"
Viewing human history from an unusual angle, Hooper and Biesty follow a scrap of gold as it passes through many forms and hands over thousands of years.
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HISTORY
Released: Sept. 1, 2005
"Not the most systematic way to learn about ancient Egypt at its height, but a compelling journey for visual learners and armchair travelers. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)"
Populating his huge scenes with enough tiny figures to fill several ancient cities, Biesty takes a lad and his merchant father down the Nile during the reign of Ramses II, pausing for tours of Amun-Ra's temple at Karnak, the Valley of Kings and other prominent spots, culminating in a royal audience at the great palace at Piramesse in the Nile delta.
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HISTORY
Released: Nov. 8, 2004
"Fine fare for young armchair travelers, who would otherwise never get a gander at Osaka Castle, Neuschwanstein, and Castel Sant' Angelo in their prime. (Nonfiction. 9-11)"
Ten castles, including two that are not European, get the Biesty treatment, with full-spread, minutely detailed aerial views featuring cutaway sections and antlike swarms of residents.
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MUSIC AND THE ARTS
Released: Aug. 1, 1996
"A fun-filled ride and fact-packed frolic for the whole family. (index) (Picture book. 6+)"
Once again, this team (Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections: Castle, 1994, etc.) invite readers on a fabulous tour that leads from an ``exploded'' view of the human body (all anatomy, skin, clothes, and accessories clearly visible in systematic drawings in which the mustache hovers in front of skin, the skin hovers in front of muscle and bone, etc.), through the geology of the Grand Canyon, and up into the proposed US-Soviet space station.
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HISTORY
Released: Sept. 30, 1994
"Technically a gem, but not nearly as satisfying as Macaulay's Castle. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 8+)"
Another Biesty marvel, the pages thronging with detail and color, bursting at the seams from all the information per square inch, and filled with wonderful oddities secreted in the illustrations (don't miss the prisoner left to rot in the fittingly named ``forget-me-not'').
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HISTORY
Released: Aug. 1, 1993
"Index. (Nonfiction. 10+)"
In the wake of Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections (1992) comes this big, magnificently designed browsers' delight, first (or second?) of a series.
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MUSIC AND THE ARTS
Released: Aug. 1, 1992
"Index. (Nonfiction. 8-80+)"
Biesty, who specializes in historical and architectural cutaway drawings, dissects 18 buildings, vehicles, etc. (castle to space shuttle), to show their veins, sinews, and bones.
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