Explore the laws and theories of physics in this accessible introduction to the forces that shape our universe, our planet, and our everyday lives.

Using a bold, graphics-led approach, The Physics Book sets out more than 80 of the key concepts and discoveries that have defined the subject and influenced our technology since the beginning of time. With the focus firmly on unpacking the thought behind each theory-as well as exploring when and how each idea and breakthrough came about-five themed chapters examine the history and developments in specific areas such as Light, Sound, and Electricity.

Eureka moments abound: from Archimedes' bathtub discoveries about displacement and density, and Galileo's experiments with spheres falling from the Tower of Pisa, to Isaac Newton's apple and his conclusions about gravity and the laws of motion. You'll also learn about Albert Einstein's revelations about relativity; how the accidental discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation confirmed the Big Bang theory; the search for the Higgs boson particle; and why most of the universe is missing. If you've ever wondered exactly how physicists formulated-and proved-their abstract concepts, The Physics Book is the book for you.

Series Overview: Big Ideas Simply Explained series uses creative design and innovative graphics along with straightforward and engaging writing to make complex subjects easier to understand. With over 7 million copies worldwide sold to date, these award-winning books provide just the information needed for students, families, or anyone interested in concise, thought-provoking refreshers on a single subject.

You don't have to be a scientist to find this beginner's biology book fascinating!

What is life? Why do bees dance? How do animals know their mothers? Who discovered germs? Discover the living world, how it interacts with the environment, and stand in awe of the most interesting biology facts, theories, and discoveries.

The Biology Book is written in simple English making complex biological ideas accessible to everyone! Whether you're a student or lay-scientist, you'll find these pages exciting and educational because it:

- Combines creative typography, graphics, and accessible text to explore the most famous and important ideas in biology and the people behind them
- Includes a directory section for easy localization
- Profiles more than 95 ideas and events key to the development of biology and the life sciences, with thought-provoking graphics throughout that demystify the central concepts behind each idea
- Features insightful and inspiring quotes from leading biologists and scientists, such as 2020 Nobel Laureates, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, as well as thinkers in other fields

Learn everything you wanted to know about Biology

Over the last few centuries, humans have been enamored by the world around us. Trace the history of scientific thought and meet the scientists who shaped the natural sciences, such as Carl Linnaeus, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Darwin, and Gregor Mendel. From the mechanics of plants, animals, and the human body; to DNA and genetic inheritance; and the development of vaccines, explore the crucial discoveries to understand how our world works.

The Biology Book uncovers over 95 key ideas in the field of biology. Step by step flowcharts, diagrams, and accessible text will help demystify complex biological processes and help you enhance your understanding. This biology book also discusses current trends such as cloning, neuroscience, human evolution, and gene editing. Whether you're new to the subject, a budding scientist, or keen to keep up with and understand current ethical and scientific debates, The Biology Book is for you.

Other educational knowledge titles

Love what you see here? Look out for other titles in the series such as The History Book, The Astronomy Book, and The Science Book. Specially written to help make tricky concepts simple, they're perfect for helping to mould and educate young minds.

An accessible guide to more than 90 of the most important and groundbreaking milestones in the history of medicine, and the people behind them.

How are illnesses diagnosed? What is cancer? Why are some pandemics so deadly?

This ebook explores big questions like these, explaining the breakthroughs and discoveries that have shaped our modern-day understanding of medicine and helped us protect and promote our health. Written in plain English, The Medicine Book cuts through the jargon and is packed with pithy explanations of the most important milestones in medical history, with step-by-step diagrams and witty illustrations that untangle knotty concepts.

From ancient medical practices, such as herbal medications and balancing the humours, through groundbreaking work including Jenner's experiments with cowpox, which laid the basis for vaccination, The Medicine Book offers an engaging overview of medical history across the world all the way into the 21st century with gene manipulation, immunotherapy, and robotics and telesurgery. Covering the role that therapies and drugs have played in the human quest to treat and prevent disease, the establishment of hospitals and later international medical bodies, like the WHO, and medical science's response to new challenges, such as accelerated antibiotic resistance and COVID-19, The Medicine Book explains the stories behind each milestone development.

Continuing the "Big Ideas" series' trademark combination of authoritative, informative text, and bold graphics, The Medicine Book uses an innovative visual approach to make the subject accessible to everyone, whether you're a student of medicine or science, a medical professional, or an armchair expert.

Discover the key battles, tactics, technologies, and turning points of the Second World War - the epic conflict that shaped the modern world.

Combining authoritative, exciting text and bold explanatory graphics, The World War II Book explores the causes, key events, and lasting consequences of the Second World War.

Using the original, graphic-led approach of the series, entries profile more than 90 of the key ideas and events during and surrounding the conflict - from the rise of Hitler and Fascism in the 1930s to Pearl Harbor, the D-Day landings, and the bombing of Hiroshima to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

Offering a uniquely compelling, accessible, and immediate history of the war, The World War II Book shows how key battles, political and economic forces, individual leaders, and technological advances influenced the course of the conflict.

How does memory work? Who is the "distractor" in your family? What was the "car crash" experiment?

The Psychology Book is your visual guide to the complex and fascinating world of human behavior. Discover how we learn, become emotionally bonded with others, and develop coping mechanisms to deal with adversity, or conform in a group. Get to know key thinkers, from Freud and Jung to Elizabeth Loftus and Melanie Klein, and follow charts and timelines to make sense of it all and see how one theory influenced another.

With concise explanations of different schools of psychology including psychotherapy, cognitive psychology and behaviorism, this is an ideal reference whether you're a student, or a general reader. It's your authoritative guide to over 100 key ideas, theories and conditions, including the collective unconscious, the "selfish" gene, false memory, psychiatric disorders, and autism.

If you're fascinated by the human mind, The Psychology Book is both an invaluable reference and illuminating read.

Why do we need laws? What rights are protected by law? When was forensic evidence first used in court?

This book explores big questions like these, explaining the laws and legal precedents, and religious, political, and moral codes that have shaped the world we live in. Written in plain English, The Law Book cuts through the legal jargon and is packed with pithy explanations of the most important milestones in legal history, with step-by-step diagrams and witty illustrations that untangle knotty concepts.

From the earliest laws, such as the Code of Hammurabi, through groundbreaking legislation including Magna Carta and the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, The Law Book offers an engaging overview of legal history across the world all the way into the 21st century with copyright in the digital age, same-sex marriage, and the "right to be forgotten". Covering the fight for universal suffrage and workers' rights, and the establishment of international legal bodies like INTERPOL and the European Court of Justice, The Law Book explains the stories behind each milestone development.

Continuing the Big Ideas series' trademark combination of authoritative, informative text, and bold graphics, The Law Book uses an innovative visual approach to make the subject accessible to everyone, whether you're a law student, a legal professional, or an armchair expert.

Since the dawn of humankind, people have looked upward to the heavens and tried to understand them. This encyclopedia takes you on an expedition through time and space to discover our place in the universe.

We invite you to take a journey through the wonders of the universe. Explore the cosmos, from planets to black holes, the Big Bang, and everything in-between!


Get ready to discover the story of the universe one page at a time! This educational book for young adults will launch you on a wild trip through the cosmos and the incredible discoveries throughout history.

Filled to the brim with beautifully illustrated flowcharts, graphics, and jargon-free language, The Astronomy Book breaks down hard-to-grasp concepts to guide you in understanding almost 100 big astronomical ideas.

Big Ideas

How do we measure the universe? Where is the event horizon? What is dark matter? Now you can find out all the answers to these questions and so much more in this inquisitive book about our universe!

Using incredibly clever visual learning devices like step-by-step diagrams, you'll learn more about captivating topics from the Copernican Revolution. Dive into the mind-boggling theories of recent science in a user-friendly format that makes the information easy to follow.

Explore the biographies, theories, and discoveries of key astronomers through the ages such as Ptolemy, Galileo, Newton, Hubble, and Hawking.

To infinity and beyond! Journey through space and time with us:

- From Myth to Science 600 BCE - 1550 CE
- The Telescope Revolution 1550 - 1750
- Uranus to Neptune 1750 - 1850
- The Rise of Astrophysics 1850 - 1915
- Atom, Stars, And Galaxies 1915 - 1950
- New Windows on The Universe 1950 - 1917
- The Triumph of Technology 1975 - Present

The Series Simply Explained

With over 7 million copies sold worldwide to date, The Astronomy Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained series from DK Books. It uses innovative graphics along with engaging writing to make complex subjects easier to understand.

Shortlisted:

A Young Adult Library Services Association Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners list selection

A Mom's Choice Awards® Honoring Excellence Gold Seal of Approval for Young Adult Books

A Parents' Choice Gold Award winner

Enter the world of myths and legends with this unforgettable compendium that spans the centuries and crosses the continents to share the greatest stories of all time.

Sit back and enjoy more than 80 classic myths retold for the modern reader with engaging text and eye-catching graphics.

Part of the Big Ideas series, The Mythology Book introduces the great and the good, from the gods of ancient Greece to the stories of the Cherokee People of North America. Going beyond the ancient worlds, this book brings to life influential tales of Aboriginal Australians and the Aztecs, each packed with compelling characters, plot twists and turns, and incredible insight into human existence.

Discover the lessons behind every story and get to the heart of cultures far and wide through the inspiring narratives that capture the way communities work together to make sense of the world around them.

This is essential reading for everyone who delights in stories of imagination, action, and adventure, taking new generations back in time to love and learn from the stories of the past.

Let the experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens guide you around the beautiful and mysterious world that is the plant kingdom.

From regulating the air we breathe to providing food, clothes, fuels, and medicines - plants are fundamental to our lives. Discover an extraordinary diversity of species, which includes a grass that grows a meter a day, roots that breathe air, and "queen of the night" cactuses whose rare blooms vanish before dawn.

In a combination of art and science, Flora celebrates plants from majestic trees to microscopic algae, explaining how they germinate, grow, and reproduce. It presents species that have evolved to accommodate pollinating insects such as the foxglove, and plants that have adapted to flourish in even the most hostile of habitats.

Pierre-Joseph Redoute in the 18th-century was described as the "Raphael of flowers". Flora showcases his botanical paintings as well as those of Georg Ehret and others in this gorgeous visual celebration of plants through the ages.

Whether you are a keen gardener, naturalist, or botany student, this beautiful book is a treat that will entice, inform, and amaze.

"Books, let's face it, are better than anything else." Nick Hornby

Turn the pages of The Literature Book to discover over 100 of the world's most enthralling reads and the literary geniuses behind them.

Storytelling is as old as humanity itself. Part of the Big Ideas Simply Explained series, The Literature Book introduces you to ancient classics from the Epic of Gilgamesh written 4,000 years ago, as well as the works of Shakespeare, Voltaire, Tolstoy, and more, and 20th-century masterpieces, including Catch-22, Beloved, and On the Road. The perfect reference for your bookshelf, it answers myriad questions such as what is stream of consciousness, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, and what links the poetry of Wordsworth with that of TS Eliot.

Losing yourself in a great book transports you to another time and place, and The Literature Book sets each title in its social and political context. It helps you appreciate, for example, how Dickens' Bleak House paints a picture of deprivation in 19th-century England, or how Stalin's climb to power was the backdrop for George Orwell's 1984.

With succinct plot summaries, graphics, and inspiring quotations, this is a must-have reference for literature students and the perfect gift for book-lovers everywhere.


Series Overview: Big Ideas Simply Explained series uses creative design and innovative graphics along with straightforward and engaging writing to make complex subjects easier to understand. With over 7 million copies worldwide sold to date, these award-winning books provide just the information needed for students, families, or anyone interested in concise, thought-provoking refreshers on a single subject.

Travel thousands of years into our past and discover the significant events that shaped the world as we know it.

This book includes short, descriptive explanations of key ideas, themes, and events of world history that are easy to understand. Explore topics such as the founding of Baghdad, the colonization of the Americas, and the inception of Buddhism without complicated jargon.


This book is part of DK's award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained educational series that uses witty graphics and engaging descriptions to enlighten readers.

Don't stop at American history, explore the world! This book is full of fun facts from the human story, going as far back as the origins of our species to space exploration today. Discover all things revolution, from the French to the digital, including the rise of the internet.

Enjoy short and sweet biographies of some of the most important thinkers and leaders throughout history, like Martin Luther, Charles Darwin, and Nelson Mandela. You'll learn who said famous historical quotes, and what they really meant when they said it.

Big Ideas

This is a modern twist on the good old-fashioned encyclopedia, now easier to follow with diagrams, mind maps, and timelines. Step-by-step diagrams will have you reviewing your ideas about history.

Start from the very beginning:

- Human Origins 200,000 years ago - 3500 BGE
- Ancient Civilizations 6000 BGE - 500 CE
- The Medieval World 500 - 1492
- Early Modern Era 1420 - 1795
- Changing Societies 1776 - 1914
- The Modern World 1914 - Present

The Series Simply Explained

With over 7 million copies sold worldwide to date, The History Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained series from DK Books. It uses innovative graphics along with engaging writing to make complex subjects easier to understand.

Exploring more than 60 of the most important events in world history, this ebook is the perfect introduction to the past, and ideal for summer reads.

From the birth of Athenian democracy to the rise and fall of Rome and from the American Revolution to the landing beaches of World War II, The Little Book of History brings the past to life. Includes infographics and flowcharts that explain complex concepts in a simple but exciting way, this ebook examines the events that shaped our past. Charting the human era from the beginnings of civilization to the modern culture of today this ebook makes the perfect introduction to the human story.

One of a series of new, compact sister titles to DK's "Big Ideas" series, The Little Book of History offers you the same combination of clear text and hard-working infographics perfect for vacation reading.