A History Of Horse And Human

Last night I attended a virtual launch for the middle grade book Horse Power: How Horses Changed the World by Jennifer Thermes, which was sponsored by R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut. This was very much a history talk, perhaps the first author presentation I've attended, virtual or in person, that dealt with that subject. I loved it. The engineer playing a game on a computer next to the one I was watching Jennifer on liked what he heard. I must find more of these types of author talks to attend.

Jennifer Thermes is an illustrator as well as a writer, and she has a very unique style that might be described as both retro and contemporary. (That's my artistically ignorant opinion.) She is a map illustrator who works maps into some of her historical work, which is visually riveting. You may have heard of her earlier book Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island.

Jennifer didn't do a reading last night. Instead, she went through Horse Power and gave a quick rundown on the  history she covers in it. Early on she said  the book was about human history as well as horse history, because horses became that much a part of human life. 

At her website, Jennifer says that she is "fascinated by the big picture of history and how it connects to our lives today." The past's impact on the present is a big factor in my own interest in history. Everything has a past that somehow made it possible for humans to get where we are today. Horse Power describes a case in point.