Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Mineola, N.Y. : Dover Publications, 2004.
Description
Part the diary of Noah Blake, who was 15 in 1805, and part a re-creation of the life that a boy in his circumstances would have lived, this book is a loving tribute to a vanished way of life. Profusely illustrated, it will give its readers a sense of participation in the past that is all too rare in conventional histories.
User reviews
LibraryThing member MereYom
This is a boy's book. Noah Blake helps his father transform their farm from a rustic niche carved out of the woods (1790) into a complex of buildings, machines, and tools which change the face of the countryside (1805). The author provides detailed drawings of the handcrafts and methods used in
Show More
their work. Show Less
LibraryThing member nakmeister
This is a real gem of a book. It's only a slim volume - just a shade over 100 pages - but this is history speaking. The book is exactly what it says on the cover - a diary of an early American boy. Sloane stumbled upon an old diary, written by a boy called Noah Blake in 1805. He then wrote the book
Show More
around the diary, many extracts of which are included as part of the book. It's the story of a teenage boy working on his father's New England farm while falling in love with a girl from a neighbouring farm. The author is also a talented artist and lover of Americana - the book has lots of illustrations which help explain a lot of the tools, buildings and other things in the story that you would find on an early nineteenth century farm. A joy to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
Excellent, very informative, we wish it continued!
LibraryThing member klburnside
This book based on an old diary of a young boy from the early 1800s. The author includes actual excerpts from the boy's diary, along with his own ideas and explanations of the boy's daily life. At the beginning of the book, the boy and his family had just moved to a new homestead, and throughout
I really enjoyed the book, especially the illustrations. It made everything seem so simple and doable, especially when one understands the concepts of simple machines. There were so many nice illustrations of how to make use of levers and fulcrums and pulleys to build houses and bridges and to move really heavy things. I learned a lot from the book, although I will have no practical use for any of it.
I never want to have a dirt floor, but one thing I thought sounded really fun was that after you swept and compacted the dirt floor for company, people would etch designs in it. Holly and ivy for christmas, a little happy birthday note, etc. How fun would that be!
Show More
the course of the book, we learn how they build their house, make furniture, construct a mill, and farm their land. It is accompanited by really nice illustations that help explain how it is all done and the tools that are used for each job. I really enjoyed the book, especially the illustrations. It made everything seem so simple and doable, especially when one understands the concepts of simple machines. There were so many nice illustrations of how to make use of levers and fulcrums and pulleys to build houses and bridges and to move really heavy things. I learned a lot from the book, although I will have no practical use for any of it.
I never want to have a dirt floor, but one thing I thought sounded really fun was that after you swept and compacted the dirt floor for company, people would etch designs in it. Holly and ivy for christmas, a little happy birthday note, etc. How fun would that be!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
My dad turned me onto Sloane. I love satisfying my craving to learn something that I'll never use, and would never learn in school, but which is still interesting. It's especially interesting because Sloane's own passion shines in his writing.
LibraryThing member dorie.craig
I came across Eric Sloane's books when I was a teenage wanna-be author researching a book set in early America. Well, reading through Sloane's books I enjoyed the research so much I never actually got around to writing the story. His books are wonderful descriptions of everyday life in this young
Show More
country, and his penciled illustrations are absolutely wonderful and informative. I collect all his books now, and pick them up when I find them. Show Less
LibraryThing member willszal
Sloane wrote this book in 1962 as an annotated, illustrated, and expanded upon version of the journal of Noah Blake from 1805, whom was fifteen at the time. Noah lived in a small New England town, although the book does not specify exactly where (a striking oversight).
The book inspires a sense of
There’s an innocent romanticism to this sort of book.
One passage stands out to me:
"In modern times when everything a person needs may be bought in a store, there are very few hand-made things left. So we are robbed of that rare and wonderful satisfaction that comes with personal accomplishments. In Noah’s time, nearly every single thing that a person touched was the result of his own efforts. The cloth of his clothing, the meal on the table, the chair he sat in, and the floor he walked upon, all were made by the user. This is why those people had an extraordinary awareness of life. They know wood intimately; the knew the ingredients of food and medicines and inks and paints because they grew it and ground it and mixed it themselves. It was this awareness of everything about them that made the early American people so full of inner satisfaction, so grateful for life and all that went with it. Nowadays modern conveniences allow us to be forgetful, and we easily become less aware of the wonders of life."
What would it be like to revive such attention to the things that surround us and their provenance?
The book inspires a sense of
Show More
wonder and fascination with an era now two centuries past. Much of the book explores and explains novelties from a very different way of life: dirt floors, ten panes of glass per household, the invention of covered bridges, the lack of screws and bolts in construction. There are hundreds of such insights, including an exploration into the language of the era (holidays were “holydays”).There’s an innocent romanticism to this sort of book.
One passage stands out to me:
"In modern times when everything a person needs may be bought in a store, there are very few hand-made things left. So we are robbed of that rare and wonderful satisfaction that comes with personal accomplishments. In Noah’s time, nearly every single thing that a person touched was the result of his own efforts. The cloth of his clothing, the meal on the table, the chair he sat in, and the floor he walked upon, all were made by the user. This is why those people had an extraordinary awareness of life. They know wood intimately; the knew the ingredients of food and medicines and inks and paints because they grew it and ground it and mixed it themselves. It was this awareness of everything about them that made the early American people so full of inner satisfaction, so grateful for life and all that went with it. Nowadays modern conveniences allow us to be forgetful, and we easily become less aware of the wonders of life."
What would it be like to revive such attention to the things that surround us and their provenance?
Show Less
LibraryThing member VhartPowers
The author found a young man's journal from 1805. It's about daily life and quite a lot to learn. The author gives information regarding some of the more obscure items that perhaps only serious antique collectors would know what they are or perhaps farmers.
We learned about the plumbing of a door
We learned that it was easier for the settlers to travel during the snowy months than the summer months due to the roads.
Why some bridges had tolls even as early as 1805 and when they became covered. That the women put designs in their dirt flooring. That the rocking chair is truly an American invention, how some farms became separated by roads on purpose by the owners...etc. the list goes on. This book is a wealth of information.
This book was a fun book for history and science.
We learned about the plumbing of a door
Show More
based on the lead plumb, which my ds connected to the element of lead being pb. We learned that it was easier for the settlers to travel during the snowy months than the summer months due to the roads.
Why some bridges had tolls even as early as 1805 and when they became covered. That the women put designs in their dirt flooring. That the rocking chair is truly an American invention, how some farms became separated by roads on purpose by the owners...etc. the list goes on. This book is a wealth of information.
This book was a fun book for history and science.
Show Less
LibraryThing member markknapp
I had read this as a kid, probably again as an adult, and recently got this large-format edition. The pictures are great, the text is interesting and informative, and the diary is full of day to day tidbits of old-time life. The author creates a story from the diary, and fills in details. A lot of
Show More
fun, a quick, light read, and great for kids and adults. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1962
Physical description
ix, 108 p.; 28 cm
ISBN
0486436667 / 9780486436661