Choose your own tour:

This is a big tour with hundreds of pictures.
Take a minute here to learn how to get the most out of your tour.

by Civilization The complete tour, from start to finish.	by Topic Skip to topics that interest you.	by Traveler See the sites from different points of view.
o Mesopotamia o Egypt o Greece o Rome o London	o Science o Technology o Philosophy o Civilization o Society o Language o Literature o Art o Entertainment o Links o Resources	Amanda (age 7) Harrison (age 9) Susan (mom) Rob (dad)

Look for these special features as you tour our site.

Choose a Tour: There are many ways to tour this site. Choose a tour from above, then follow the "| Next >" links in each section. The most in-depth tour is by Civilization. If you are only interested in certain subjects, choose a Topic tour. You can also choose a tour to see it from the point of view of a particular traveler. You can change your tour at any page.

Tour Guide: Each page contains a Tour Guide at the top, to help you find your way around that page, and the next pages. If you get lost, just click on the "[ Guide ]" text at the top of each section to go the Tour Guide menu. Clicking on ACT in the Tour Guide will take you back to this page.

Photos: There are hundreds of photos, most with thumbnails, to keep page loading fast (full-size photos are 20-40kb each). Click on the thumbnail to bring up a picture viewer with a full size (typically 320x240) photo in a special viewer. Leave the viewer up by just clicking back in the page for fastest browsing. You'll have a list of all the pictures you've seen in the "Back" button history for a slide show later! (Remember, all these photos are copyrighted by Robert A. Reiser, so don't use them without permission.)

Color Me: Many pages have a special picture that is designed just for junior travelers. Click on the Color Me image for a full-page picture that can be printed on your printer and let them color. (Most of the Color Me pictures are from Dover Coloring Books.)

Links: We've visited hundreds of websites preparing our own tour, and building the website. We've included some of the best links right on each page. Most links are purely educational, while some take you to sites offering products or services related to that area. Each link has only the highest quality information and is suitable for all audiences.

Resources: Each page has our recommendations for books, videos or projects you can do to learn more, from the more than 200 resources we used for our tour. We've organized them for Younger Readers and for Older Readers, so every member of the family can learn more. Check out these books at your local library, or buy from Amazon.com by clicking on the links. When you buy books from our links, you help us keep this site going, while still getting same great Amazon.com discounts.

Sounds: Some pages have background songs that help you feel like you're really there. Controls to the sound can always be found at the bottom of the page. The sounds are midi files, best when played with the QuickTime plugin. (Some linked sites even have QuickTime VR to let you explore on your own!)

Glossary: Words that appear with a green underline are linked to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. We want everyone to enjoy learning with us. Because our audience may come from any age group, we've hilited some of the more complicated words, so you can easily look up the definitions.

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia - Kingfisher Books If you could have only one history book in your home library, this should be it. Packed with facts, easy to find by page-edge timelines or an excellent index. Plenty of pictures on every page.

Connections by James Burke The history of the world makes so much more sense when you can see the connections between events. This companion book to James Burke's award winning BBC series follows connections in the history of technology. Harrison and Amanda loved watching the series while we were on the road.

Age of Empires Collector's Edition by Microsoft Harrison and Amanda have had a great time with this CD after returning from our tour. Learn how to take your civilization out of the hunter-gatherer age into the bronze age, then the iron age, by building your resources and studying technologies. Feel the frustrations that early civilizations must have felt as an invader ruins your best plans, or feel the satisfaction of building a magnificent wonder like the Colosseum or the Pyramids. Helps bring history alive.