Encyclopedia of the Ordinary Things by Stepanka Sekaninova

Encyclopedia of the Ordinary Things
by Stepanka Sekaninova

ISBN-13: 9788000061283
Hardcover: 96 pages
Publisher: Albatros Media
Released: October 5th 2021

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
We use them daily, pass them by, and it never occurs to us to stop and think about where they came from. Shoes, umbrellas, toothbrushes, toothpicks, socks, dolls, and so on and so forth. How did they come to be? Who invented them? How did they develop and change over time?


My Review:
Encyclopedia of the Ordinary Things is about the history of ten common items and is targeted at ages 6-12 years old. The author covered skates, umbrellas, glasses, dolls, perfume, horse toys, toilets, toothbrushes, beds, and tights. Each item had several pages describing how the item changed throughout history and appeared in different cultures. It's not a lot of information, though, since illustrations took up half of the page space. These illustrations were stylistic rather than highly accurate. Each section concluded with two pages of related items, usually focusing on the inventor of the item (Velcro, zippers, skies, etc.). These were very brief so that several items would fit on each page.

I was disappointed that the author put in speculation when I would have preferred facts. For example, when explaining: "The soles of some prehistoric shoes were made from bear skin....Our ancestors believed that bear skin would give them the strength of the feared animal and protect them." How do we know what they believed? We don't. Prehistory means they didn't leave writing saying this. It's just a guess. I felt like it was misleading to call this book an encyclopedia due to how few items were covered, the speculation included, and the stylistic illustrations. The items weren't even listed in alphabetical order. If you just want a brief overview on these objects, though, it did have some interesting trivia.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.