A book by Andrii Tuzhykov from Chernivtsi called A Brief History of Technology: How to Understand One’s Own Gadget was presented at the 25th Book Forum in Lviv. A book was published by Chorni Vivtsi publisher within the project LuckyBooks. 

During the presentation, the author performed a small excursus into the history of technology for children. He told them how the modern electronic world was born, what achievements existed nowadays, and what could we expect in the nearest future. The topic of cryptocurrencies and their perspectives interested children the most. Ten-year-old Solomiia and Lukiia also participated as lectures and told Andrii about Dash and Ethereum - the cryptocurrencies that are newer than Bitcoin which was the main example given by the author.

At the presentation, I was asked a question an answer to which I am still searching for - why are Bitcoins better than the modern bank system? Developers of block-chain systems and economists are concerned with these questions and it is quite normal. But when ten-year girls ask such questions it is amusing. The Ukrainian children are advanced and strive for knowledge. There was another question that I liked - who is cleverer - robot Sofia or voice assistant Siri by Apple. It is very deep and simple at the same time: what are the metrics of the intellect? And since the intellect is not fully studied these questions set the direction in which the IT sphere develops, - says the author of the book Andrii Tuzhykov.

After discussing the technical aspect the participants addressed the topic of art. Natalka Soiko, the illustrator of A Brief History of Technology, talked about her work on the book, secrets of illustrator’s job and gave some advice to artists who only begin to pave their artistic path:

At publishers’ forum in Lviv I was surprised by how mature and reasonable are the questions asked by children - one can easily notice that they clearly understand who they want to become in the future and are working in that direction. When children ask what they are to do to become professionals in the job of illustrator I give only a couple of advice: draw as much as possible, analyze the works of others and read as well as learn English, - says the illustrator Natalka Soiko.  

Afterward, Margarita Kaliuzhna, a representative of Children-Friendly School joined the presentation and got the participants acquainted with MaKey MaKey technology. It allows children to control a computer with the help of a banana and a keyboard which they drew themselves. It was also explained how this process runs on an ordinary computer.

The book by Andrii Tuzhykov A Brief History of Technology: How to Understand One’s Own Gadget was sent to more than 100 village libraries in all part of Ukraine this summer.