Most Popular Books by John Farndon

Featuring a foreword by James Naughtie. Turn the pages of the most famous books of all time and marvel at the stories behind them. Over 75 of the world's most celebrated, controversial, rare, and seminal books are examined and explained in this stunning treasury. Books That Changed History is a unique encyclopedia spanning the history of the written word, from 3000 BCE to the modern day. Chronological chapters show the evolution of human knowledge and the changing ways in which books are made. Discover incredible coverage of history's most influential books including the Mahabharata, Shakespeare's First Folio, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Penguin's first ever paperbacks. From Darwin's groundbreaking On the Origin of Species to Louis Braille's conception of the Braille system that we still use today, these are world famous books that have had the biggest impact on history, whether for good or bad. Every book is presented with breathtaking photography and fascinating biographies of those who created them. Books That Changed History gathers dictionaries, diaries, plays, poems, treaties, and religious texts into one stunning celebration of the undisputed power of books.

Provides information about eight different habitats around the world and the various animals that live in each.

Presents an introduction to the solar system and provides information on the Sun, its planets, and their moons.

"Explore human history as nations emerge and fall, from the empires of Spain, Russia, and China to revolutions in Europe and the USA. Engaging illustrations, maps, and a continuous timeline detail important events, achievements, and cultures from 1500 to 1900"--

How did the Universe begin? Who first measured the distance to a star? What is the mysterious force called dark energy? This title tells the amazing story of astronomy, from the ancient belief that all the planets revolve around Earth to the latest discoveries about how fast the universe is expanding.

What is light and where does it come from? Can light be slowed to a stop? How do scientists plan to make an invisibility cloak? This book explains how scientists realized that all light comes from atoms and how one day they might use light to teleport obje

Text and illustrations examine galaxies, stars, planets, telescopes, rockets, and more.

Explore the structures you encounter in your everyday life and around the world that exist because of engineering. Discover how the world's tallest building stays standing and more with full-color illustrations designed to keep young readers engaged and entertained while they learn.

"Original edition copyright 2015 by Hungry Tomato Ltd."--Title page verso.

Just think, every single thing you do is handled by an amazing computer inside your head—your brilliant brain! And it's helped by your body's internet—your nervous system. Join the Stickmen to discover how spidery nerve cells send messages to the brain in seconds, how quick reflexes keep you safe, and how different parts of your brain are in charge of different thoughts and actions. Learn how all the parts of your body work together with the brain to help you to see, hear, smell, and make memories. Fun illustrations and fact-filled text reveal the mysteries of your brain and what it is that makes you so smart!

"Discover 1000 Facts on Animals, an amazing guide to the animal kingdom. Short, sharp facts combine with hundreds of pictures and illustrations to deliver information with punch. You'll find all the things you ever wanted to know, plus so much more, in one fascinating book. Key subject areas are clearly highlighted; finding information is effortlessly simple with the use of buttonlike icons. Compact and easy to use, this really is the complete references resource for the fact hungry. --Ten bulleted facts on every spread --Fascinating fact panels --Highlighted subject areas --Hundreds of color illustrations and pictures."--Back cover

"Illustrated spreads designed to engage young readers and keep them captivated as they learn accessible, fun facts."--

What happens if I drop an ant? What books are bad for you? What percentage of the world's water is contained in a cow? The Oxbridge undergraduate interviews are infamous for their unique ways of assessing candidates, and from these peculiar enquiries, professors can tell just how smart you really are. John Farndon has collected together 75 of the most intriguing questions taken from actual admission interviews and gives full answers to each, taking the reader through the fascinating histories, philosophies, sciences and arts that underlie each problem. This is a book for everyone who likes to think they're clever, or who thinks they'd like to be clever. And cleverness is not just knowing stuff, it's how laterally, deeply and interestingly you can bend your brain. Guesstimating the population of Croydon, for example, opens a chain of thought from which you can predict the strength of a nuclear bomb ...and that's just the start of it.

Discusses the physical properties of various rocks and minerals and gives instructions for experiments that identify their unique characteristics.

Everything in the universe is made of elements. This series looks at the most important chemical elements and explains where they can be found, how they were discovered, their special characteristics and reactions, and their importance in the body and in everyday life. Understanding how the elements behave is the key to understanding chemistry. The Elements provides a fascinating and fact-filled introduction to this important subject. Book jacket.

Earthquakes can destroy entire cities in mere minutes and send shock waves rippling around the world. These devastating quakes become even more deadly when followed by monster waves. Tsunamis may travel faster than a jet across thousands of miles of ocean. Once they reach the coast, these huge walls of water can wash away everything in their path in one fatal whoosh. No place on Earth is entirely safe from earthquakes. But the technology to detect these hidden terrors is constantly improving. Discover the most fearsome earthquakes and tsunamis throughout history, as well as the science behind how and where these disasters strike.

Describes the training involved in becoming an Aztec priest, including schooling in literacy, discipline, combat, and ritual, and provides information on Aztec city life, religion, food, and games. --Publisher.

Jump back in time to discover what was happening during the mysterious Middle Ages. Some people occupied themselves with putting crowns on their heads, others kept busy discovering and spreading new religions, and some focused on invasion and conquest. Follow along as warlords carve out kingdoms in Europe, China's only empress comes to power, Vikings set foot in America, and Mongol hordes create the greatest land empire. Fun, illustrated maps sweep you across the world from the Incas' Machu Picchu to medieval Mali and shogun Japan and on to the court of Kublai Khan. What a ride!

Discusses the origin, discovery, special characteristics, and use of nitrogen in such products as explosives and fertilizers.

Modern medicine's understanding of bacteria, germs, and viruses evolved over time. What were some early beliefs about what caused illnesses? And what ground-breaking discoveries advanced medical knowledge? Learn the history behind the science of what makes us sick.

"Explore the devastation left behind by fires and floods though these dramatic stories. Clear text emphasizes scientific efforts to better understand how to prepare for and prevent fires and floods, while appropriately high-impact visuals keep readers engaged"--Provided by publsher.

Looks at rockets, lunar modules, shuttles, satellites, and probes, in terms of basic space travel theory, gravity, drag, sources of power, design, and steering.

This series explains the development of some major 21st century scientific advances. This book tells the amazing story of transplant surgery form Ancient India to modern facial reconstruction.

"Using ... examples, vivid imagery, and ... diagrams, this ... guidebook to muscles and bones will keep readers engaged while teaching them all about how their bodies hold together, move, and grow stronger"--

In Touch with Nature provides exciting introductions to the amazing world of nature, built around hands-on experiments, observations, and projects. The series helps children to find out about the natural world in a way that no amount of reading alone could match.Each book in the series provides a fascinating way into a particular aspect of nature, from mammals to flowering plants. Lively, concise explanatory pages are interwoven with a series of safe, practical activities for children carry out in the home or close by. Specially commissioned photographic sequences and step-by-step instructions how clearly how to perform each activity.

It's 1718 and the world goes dark for Jamie Flynn, who's been snatched from the docks to join Blackbeard's crew of the fearsome pirates. Join him on board as he learns to fight with a cutlass and pistol, and follow him as he storms a treasure ship and shares in the spoils. You'll need your sea legs and strong nerves to live like a Caribbean pirate!

"Discover the wave of invention and the destruction from recent wars that shaped the world of today. Engaging illustrations, maps, and a continuous timeline detail important events and inventions and the changes they created from 1900 to the millennium"--

From skyscrapers to jet aircraft, from mobile phones to computers, the products of modern science surround us on all sides. Perhaps the most significant product of science, however, is not the microwave, or the space station or the widescreen TV; it is the scientific method itself. Those societies that have actively embraced this method have flourished. The men and women who appear in The Great Scientists haver all excelled in their chosen field of science; some have excelled across a range of scientific areas, while still others can, with some justification, claim to be the founders of their own disciplines. The road into the light of reason has not always been an easy one: skepticism, mockery, threats and worse have often been the lot of the experimental scientist who has dared to challenge the accepted 'truths'. Yet they have persevered, and in doing so have provided a shining example for the rest of humanity. The great scientists have burned, in Bertrand Russell's telling phrase, 'with all the noonday brightness of human genius'. The Great Scientists tells their story."

Learn how number systems and measurements allow us to make sense of the world. Discover how important addition and subtraction are and look at cell division with illustrated spreads designed to give readers fast, digestible facts that keep them engaged.

A visual encyclopedia with 1000 facts thematically organised into nine sections: space, the Earth, the living world, human body, science and technology, transport, the world, people, society and history. There are time-lines and cross-referenced connected topics to support school study.

Using jargon-free language, this dictionary uses illustrations to help children discover the definition of a word or concept, how to use it in its correct context, and to see how scientific laws and principles work. There is also a who's who of key figures and their discoveries, with cross-referencing used throughout.