Booklist Review

Fagan organizes into six categories the 70 things his three dozen scholarly contributors present. The first category describes the basic natural materials--stone, clay, and wood--with which humanity began to alter the environment. Ensuing categories catalog their uses, such as in hunting, farming, or artwork. With the rise of civilizations, anonymous inventors devised instruments of communication, and the authors informatively cover ships, roads, irrigation and plumbing, literacy, and so forth. Stuffed with hundreds of color photographs, Fagan's work is an estimable spruce-up option for any library. --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2004 Booklist