WHEN on EARTH?: History As You've Never Seen It Before! Edited by Rob Houston. DK Canada, 2015. $21.99 all ages

"On January 18, 1788, the first of 11 ships carrying 1,500 people arrived at Botany Bay, Australia. Most passengers were British convicts sentenced to "transportation" or exile, for crimes ranging from minor theft to murder. From 1793, free settlers, who chose to emigrate, also began to arrive in Australia."

Bravo, DK!

Here is another of those books that is sure to hold endless fascination for those interested in history, and how we got to where we are today. It will be on my coffee table for as long as it takes for me to discover every single facet of information that fills its pages. It is a worthy companion to Where On Earth (2013).

There are four sections - The ancient world, The medieval world, The modern world and finally, The 20th and 21st centuries. Each is designed to have an impact on the reader and to show us our world history in the most interesting and informative ways possible. There is a full color photograph to open each section. The first one shows three armed guards:

"These figures are from the palace of the emperor of Persia. They are thought to show the emperor's bodyguards, known as "the Immortals". The guards seemed immortal because if one died, he was replaced before anyone noticed."

Each turn of the page offers a small lesson in history. Captions, labels, maps, boxed keys to the mapping, fact boxes, timelines, photographs, clearly drawn illustrations, a short paragraph concerning the page's subject and a ticker tape that runs across the bottom had me paying full attention to the text on the page.

Visually attractive, broad in perspective, and enlightening, this is a book that will find fans at every turn. It is well worth the time and attention that it is sure to garner. Impressive!

Please don't forget to check DK's wonderful website: www.dkfindout.com!