Hey all! A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I was starting a series of posts about the journals that I keep for school, and personal use. My first post was on
my Commonplace Book. In this post, I will explain my Century Book.
My century book is simply a journal that I keep to remember important events and people in history. When I read about people or events in history that really stick out to me, I put them in my Century Book so that I will remember them years later. By the time most people are adults, they cannot remember some of the most amazing parts of history, and why they are important to the shaping of the world. That is why I keep a century book. As you can see from the picture on the right, I have a page in my century
book for each century. When I want to put something or someone into my century book (George Washington, for example) I simply look up the year of his birth and death, write his name on the line that has the year he was born in, and put in the dates. On the right page, I will sometimes draw a picture of the person that I put into my century book, or something that relates to them (in the above picture, I have a drawing of a stamp with George Washington's face on it, and the Washington family coat of arms). I also have a spot on my page that is designated to facts about all the people and events from that century. I can put whatever people, events, and drawings into my century book that I want. I cannot express how helpful this part of my century book is. Just by flipping through this book, I can remember some of my favorite people from history, and any facts or drawings that I have about them in by book. Pretty awesome!
There's more, though. Also in this book, I have a section in the back for maps. Every week, I have one day when I draw a map (copied from Winston Churchill's series,
History of the English Speaking Peoples) in this section. First, I copy the map in pencil, tracing the path of the rivers, country boundaries, roads, lakes, and cities. Once I am happy with how the map looks, I go over the whole thing in pen. Pop in a guide to the different markings, label the map, and you're ready to go! I love this part of my century book
almost more than the first part. Let me say that drawing maps is not easy. It's actually really complicated. Getting all of the lines and places to match up with the other lines and places on the map is difficult. It took me several months to really figure out how to draw maps, and I am still learning, but every map gets better, and it is really rewarding to see the map go from an confused jumble of words and lines to a useful and functioning tool! It is definitely worth the try, no matter how poor of an artist you are.
So, in sum, the century book is a fantastic journal that allows us to keep track of history and it's most amazing events and people. As Martin Luther King Junior said: "
We are not makers of
history; we are made by history." This is so true! History really does impact the future and everyone in it. We are impacted by the actions of our ancestors. In history, we find patterns that repeat themselves. We can predict the outcomes of wars, treaties, and current events by using patterns from history. Everything is impacted by history. In my last post of this series I remarked that a commonplace book helps us remember. Well, it turns out that that is what a century book is all about- remembering. When we remember, we learn, and when we learn, we become better people- and isn't that the whole purpose of this thing we call life?
My century book is simply a journal that I keep to remember important events and people in history. When I read about people or events in history that really stick out to me, I put them in my Century Book so that I will remember them years later. By the time most people are adults, they cannot remember some of the most amazing parts of history, and why they are important to the shaping of the world. That is why I keep a century book. As you can see from the picture on the right, I have a page in my century
book for each century. When I want to put something or someone into my century book (George Washington, for example) I simply look up the year of his birth and death, write his name on the line that has the year he was born in, and put in the dates. On the right page, I will sometimes draw a picture of the person that I put into my century book, or something that relates to them (in the above picture, I have a drawing of a stamp with George Washington's face on it, and the Washington family coat of arms). I also have a spot on my page that is designated to facts about all the people and events from that century. I can put whatever people, events, and drawings into my century book that I want. I cannot express how helpful this part of my century book is. Just by flipping through this book, I can remember some of my favorite people from history, and any facts or drawings that I have about them in by book. Pretty awesome! 
There's more, though. Also in this book, I have a section in the back for maps. Every week, I have one day when I draw a map (copied from Winston Churchill's series, History of the English Speaking Peoples) in this section. First, I copy the map in pencil, tracing the path of the rivers, country boundaries, roads, lakes, and cities. Once I am happy with how the map looks, I go over the whole thing in pen. Pop in a guide to the different markings, label the map, and you're ready to go! I love this part of my century book almost more than the first part. Let me say that drawing maps is not easy. It's actually really complicated. Getting all of the lines and places to match up with the other lines and places on the map is difficult. It took me several months to really figure out how to draw maps, and I am still learning, but every map gets better, and it is really rewarding to see the map go from an confused jumble of words and lines to a useful and functioning tool! It is definitely worth the try, no matter how poor of an artist you are.
So, in sum, the century book is a fantastic journal that allows us to keep track of history and it's most amazing events and people. As Martin Luther King Junior said: "We are not makers of
history; we are made by history." This is so true! History really does impact the future and everyone in it. We are impacted by the actions of our ancestors. In history, we find patterns that repeat themselves. We can predict the outcomes of wars, treaties, and current events by using patterns from history. Everything is impacted by history. In my last post of this series I remarked that a commonplace book helps us remember. Well, it turns out that that is what a century book is all about- remembering. When we remember, we learn, and when we learn, we become better people- and isn't that the whole purpose of this thing we call life?
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