If you love to stay engaged while you read, you will love to have a few interesting interactive books for your iPad. These books allow you to do much more than read script, so they can hold your interest for a long time. Here are a few of the favorites:

The Virtual History ROMA interactive eBook for your iPad costs $8.99 to download and is the first of a series of interactive eBooks from Mondadori Virtual History. Virtual History Roma allows you to experience ancient Roman architecture as a fully three dimensional environment. To do this, you just rotate your iPad as you rotate your head. You will be able to explore all parts of ancient Rome including mythology, art and history, gladiators and architecture.

The Kings and Queens by David Starkey interactive eBook can be downloaded to your iPad for the cost of $2.99. This eBook was created by David Starkey, BBC documentarian. There is a complete collection of interactive features including videos from David Starkey, timelines, detailed family trees of the royal families and an abridged version of the text book. There is also live in-app coverage of Sky-news of the Royal Wedding along with all sorts of information and videos of Will and Kate.

The Shakespeare In Bits: Macbeth iPad Edition interactive eBook is one of the more expensive purchases because it costs $14.99 to download to your iPad, however many Shakespeare fans feel it’s well worth it. This is a fully animated eBook that includes a voiced study edition of the timeless play. There are dynamic text features and easy to access modern voice translations. A complete study guide to Macbeth is included.

The The History of Jazz – an interactive timeline interactive eBook can be downloaded to your iPad for $9.99 and is one of the most popular jazz history resources currently on the market. It has an interactive timeline where you can scroll through the history and listen to jazz greats from the 1890’s through to the current time. There are all sorts of YouTube hosted videos that show live performances from everyone such as Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton, to Joshua Redmond, the African-American, and Jewish Berkley saxophonist. There is also Ragtime, New Orleans Classic, Dixieland, Chicago, “Jazz Age” Big Band, swing, bebop, cool jazz, slow fusion, acid jazz, even vocal jazz to stay entertained with and to learn from.

The On the way to Woodstock interactive eBook costs $4.99 to download to your iPad and is created by the same publisher who designed the History of Jazz interactive book. It has the same type of timeline theme except it explores the American experience as it played out in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  There are videos and text that take you through all the social, cultural and political upheaval during those generations.

The War in the Pacific interactive eBook for your iPad can be downloaded for a cost of $4.99. Richard Overy, WWII scholar is the author of this eBook and features were added by Gameoft to create a masterpiece in interactive eBooks. The forward is by Dale Day, Senior Military Advisor to HBO’s “The Pacific” and “Band of Brothers”.  There is documented footage from 1945 that illustrates the planning and battles that lead to the defeat of the Japanese Empire. There are also animated maps, facsimile documents and robust photo gallery.

The Man In Space interactive eBook can be downloaded to your iPad for the cost of $5.99. This is a digital rendition of the 50th anniversary of Sky at Night Magazine and traces the history of space travel from the first spaceflight in 1961 by Yuri Gararin to the the International Space Station and into the future. This ebook isn’t like the others because the videos are all embedded within the  app so you can enjoy them even when you are offline, although it requires more memory because of this.

The Ansel Adams interactive eBook can be yours for your iPad for the cost of $6.99. There are 40 high resolution photos that highlight the best work of Ansel Adams. The app allows you to pinch to zoom into the photos to see them upclose and the captions can be read aloud if you prefer. There are also letters and images of Ansel Adam’s postcards and collection of short videos that feature Ansel Adams.

The Master Your DSLR Camera: A Better Way to Learn Digital Photography interactive eBook costs $9.99 to be able to download to your iPad and is all about learning more about how to master the art of digital photography. There are plenty of videos to help you learn a variety of photography tips that you need to learn for the best digital photographer skills.

The The Elements: A Visual Exploration interactive eBook is one of the more expensive ones because it costs $13.99 to download to your iPad, yet if you must learn the elements, you will be very happy with what this app offers. It is an engaging way to learn all the elements, including the Gilbert and Sullivan’s “A Modern Major General” tune. It also includes 3 dimensional specs that you can purchase for a small fee in order to see each of the distinct building blocks that make up the world

The Al Gore – Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis interactive eBook costs $4.99 to download to your iPad. This app is all about global warming with plenty of text to read and unfolding photos to swipe through.

The Here On Earth interactive eBook for your iPad costs $11.99 to download. It’s based on Tim Flannery’s book about Darwin, Dawkins, evolution and how gain a new perspective on our future evolution. It traces the history of the planet including humanity and the impact we’ve had on the planet. There are 25 interviews with the author and videos from award winning filmmakers. There is Air Play support and social network sharing options to share the information with your friends.