What do you think?
Rate this book
Explanatorium Of Nature
Jaw-dropping, up-close photography shows the natural world and animals as you've never seen it before.
From fruit to flowers, from shells to sharks, from ants to elephants, this extraordinary new encyclopedia will keep animal and nature enthusiasts from ages 9 to 109 utterly absorbed by amazing, close-up images.
Did you know that baby foxes are born with blue eyes which later turn golden? Or that reptile scales are made from keratin, the same material as your hair and nails?
Explanatorium of Nature is the perfect way to find out how everything in nature works and why fungi, plants, animals, arthropods, fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and ecosystems exist and what they mean for our world. Discover how spiders spin webs, how flying works, how snakes kill, and much, much more.
Children will spend hours poring over the incredible details in nature, from the spines on a stinging nettle and lichen growing on a tree to the suckers on an iguana's feet. Using never-before-seen cross sections, macro, SEM, infrared and ultraviolet close-up pictures, this is your chance to truly get up close with our natural world.
From fruit to flowers, from shells to sharks, from ants to elephants, this extraordinary new encyclopedia will keep animal and nature enthusiasts from ages 9 to 109 utterly absorbed by amazing, close-up images.
Did you know that baby foxes are born with blue eyes which later turn golden? Or that reptile scales are made from keratin, the same material as your hair and nails?
Explanatorium of Nature is the perfect way to find out how everything in nature works and why fungi, plants, animals, arthropods, fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and ecosystems exist and what they mean for our world. Discover how spiders spin webs, how flying works, how snakes kill, and much, much more.
Children will spend hours poring over the incredible details in nature, from the spines on a stinging nettle and lichen growing on a tree to the suckers on an iguana's feet. Using never-before-seen cross sections, macro, SEM, infrared and ultraviolet close-up pictures, this is your chance to truly get up close with our natural world.
Hardcover
Published October 5, 2017
About the author
D.K. Publishing
10.1k books2,164 followersDorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 25, 2017
A Surprisingly Thorough, Accessible, and Educational Project
In my experience DK mostly published idiosyncratic but beautifully illustrated travel guides, (loaded with odd factoids and sidebars). Smithsonian books were hit or miss gift shop items, often of the pretty coffee table book variety. But, within the past few years I've seen more and more DK science books, especially for kids, that are truly remarkable. And, Smithsonian seems to have stepped up for its DK collaborations in order to generate works of more substance, with interesting and varied content.
That's what you get here. Remember those science books that followed the World Book style and had alphabetically arranged, illustrated entries about "science"? Heck, in the 60's they were often supermarket featured weekly giveaways. Well, this struck me as a very high end, informative, and entertaining version of that sort of book. Just a lot better produced and loaded with interesting content.
This book purports to cover all of "nature", which basically means it's a survey of every sort of life in every sort of habitat. The publisher has elected to follow a simple but effective outline. We start with "The Basics of Life", namely reproduction, cells, DNA, evolution and classification. That at least gets us pointed in the right direction. Then we travel through the world of "life", from simple to complex. Chapters proceed from microorganisms and fungi to plants, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. We end with a survey of habitats. Each chapter is broken down into a series of one or two page spreads about each type of plant, fish, reptile, and so on. These two page spreads focus on a single example, (say, jellyfish), with pictures and details. This, though, is surrounded by sidebars, graphs, more photos, multi-paragraph sides and factoids, and so on.
That all sounds busy and confusing, but it isn't. The publisher uses clever layout, frames, and changes in font style and size to keep everything looking sharp and accessible. The final result is that while there is more than enough information to fill a traditional textbook, there is nothing text-booky about this. The heavy use of illustration and graphics actually helps with the presentation of the content, which is crisp and surprisingly thorough and advanced.
So, I was very pleased with this thorough and entertaining book, and especially pleased with how well it lends itself to either careful reading or browsing. A nice option for the curious young life scientist.
(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
In my experience DK mostly published idiosyncratic but beautifully illustrated travel guides, (loaded with odd factoids and sidebars). Smithsonian books were hit or miss gift shop items, often of the pretty coffee table book variety. But, within the past few years I've seen more and more DK science books, especially for kids, that are truly remarkable. And, Smithsonian seems to have stepped up for its DK collaborations in order to generate works of more substance, with interesting and varied content.
That's what you get here. Remember those science books that followed the World Book style and had alphabetically arranged, illustrated entries about "science"? Heck, in the 60's they were often supermarket featured weekly giveaways. Well, this struck me as a very high end, informative, and entertaining version of that sort of book. Just a lot better produced and loaded with interesting content.
This book purports to cover all of "nature", which basically means it's a survey of every sort of life in every sort of habitat. The publisher has elected to follow a simple but effective outline. We start with "The Basics of Life", namely reproduction, cells, DNA, evolution and classification. That at least gets us pointed in the right direction. Then we travel through the world of "life", from simple to complex. Chapters proceed from microorganisms and fungi to plants, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. We end with a survey of habitats. Each chapter is broken down into a series of one or two page spreads about each type of plant, fish, reptile, and so on. These two page spreads focus on a single example, (say, jellyfish), with pictures and details. This, though, is surrounded by sidebars, graphs, more photos, multi-paragraph sides and factoids, and so on.
That all sounds busy and confusing, but it isn't. The publisher uses clever layout, frames, and changes in font style and size to keep everything looking sharp and accessible. The final result is that while there is more than enough information to fill a traditional textbook, there is nothing text-booky about this. The heavy use of illustration and graphics actually helps with the presentation of the content, which is crisp and surprisingly thorough and advanced.
So, I was very pleased with this thorough and entertaining book, and especially pleased with how well it lends itself to either careful reading or browsing. A nice option for the curious young life scientist.
(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
December 10, 2017
I absolutely love this book. This is perfect for your little natural science enthusiast. I had an ebook from Netgalley and this is definitely one I will be buying for my daughter. Last year I purchased that huge Smithsonian Natural History book for her, but, as she is just turning 7 that one is still just too much for her. This one has plenty of details, but, is better suited to her age. This one is recommended for ages 8-12, but I feel like kids outside of those ranges could still enjoy this book. The illustrations are just beautiful and it has plenty of helpful information. There are diagrams of plant and animal cell structures, information on DNA and so on. The layout is really nice, if you take a glance at the table of contents you'll see what I mean.
I went ahead and looked at the physical copy of the book in a local store and it's a pretty cool looking book. The only drawback I see with it is that if it is like other DK books, it will fall apart at the binding. They glue back together just fine, but, if your kid reads them to death like mine does you'll end up using glue on the spine or replacing it. It really isn't an expensive book though, so, if you get a year of heavy use out of it and have to replace it then it's still a bargain. Definitely a recommended supplement for the homeschool crowd. It's the sort of book that gets kids excited about biology.
I went ahead and looked at the physical copy of the book in a local store and it's a pretty cool looking book. The only drawback I see with it is that if it is like other DK books, it will fall apart at the binding. They glue back together just fine, but, if your kid reads them to death like mine does you'll end up using glue on the spine or replacing it. It really isn't an expensive book though, so, if you get a year of heavy use out of it and have to replace it then it's still a bargain. Definitely a recommended supplement for the homeschool crowd. It's the sort of book that gets kids excited about biology.
February 24, 2018
Run to the nearest bookstore to get a copy of Explanatorium of Nature for your young readers! This book is like a little encyclopedia on living things for elementary-age readers! It starts with cells, increasing in size to algae, germs, mushrooms, molds, and more before moving into chapter units on plants, invertebrates, then fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds and finally mammals. Then, the book finishes with a dozen different habitats around the globe. The photographs and illustrations work beautifully together, and there are enough text features that young readers will be able to get an idea of what is important, even if they cannot read many of the words yet. This book is so well put together I could almost use it like a textbook in my preschool classroom during our weekly science lessons. So grateful to #NetGalley and #DK for the opportunity to preview #ExplanatoriumOfNature - this definitely is a book I'd like to purchase for my classroom!
December 15, 2017
I have skimmed, not read this. Cool angle on animal encyclopedia -how things like gills and flower stamens and camouflage work. Looking forward to reading my own book in the hours of peace and quiet it takes A to read this.
January 27, 2018
I was given a copy of this book, free, in exchange for my honest opinion.
Some of you may be wondering why you occasionally see reviews for supplemental materials on this blog. Initially, it was because I worked at an afterschool program and was on the lookout for anything (and everything) that would help my kids. Now, I am not longer with the program, but I am homeschooling my child, so I am on the lookout that would benefit him or any other homeschooling families.
The first thing that caught my eye is the cover. It's a reflective silver with an iguana on it, as it was crawling out. The cover reminds me of a vault. Inside the pictures are bright, detailed and organized to keep the eye flowing and engaged.
The information and writing is easy to follow along with and to understand. It's organized so that there aren't paragraphs and paragraphs of information to absorb. it's a couple of paragraphs (at the most) and then a couple of sentences to go along with pictures.
This is perfect for elementary age children for exposure and to begin the learning process, but I would also say that it would make a good reference material for middle school students, if they need a refresher or a place to start before going deeper.
But, for the preschoolers (my son's current level), I would still use it and keep it on hand. While they may not be able to read, they are able to use the pictures to identify the various animals and plants with the detailed pictures. When my son saw this, he immediately flipped through it identifying the animals that he already knew and learning a few that he didn't.
I am definitely very happy to have been given a copy of this for review, and I will be adding more from this publisher to our collection.
Some of you may be wondering why you occasionally see reviews for supplemental materials on this blog. Initially, it was because I worked at an afterschool program and was on the lookout for anything (and everything) that would help my kids. Now, I am not longer with the program, but I am homeschooling my child, so I am on the lookout that would benefit him or any other homeschooling families.
The first thing that caught my eye is the cover. It's a reflective silver with an iguana on it, as it was crawling out. The cover reminds me of a vault. Inside the pictures are bright, detailed and organized to keep the eye flowing and engaged.
The information and writing is easy to follow along with and to understand. It's organized so that there aren't paragraphs and paragraphs of information to absorb. it's a couple of paragraphs (at the most) and then a couple of sentences to go along with pictures.
This is perfect for elementary age children for exposure and to begin the learning process, but I would also say that it would make a good reference material for middle school students, if they need a refresher or a place to start before going deeper.
But, for the preschoolers (my son's current level), I would still use it and keep it on hand. While they may not be able to read, they are able to use the pictures to identify the various animals and plants with the detailed pictures. When my son saw this, he immediately flipped through it identifying the animals that he already knew and learning a few that he didn't.
I am definitely very happy to have been given a copy of this for review, and I will be adding more from this publisher to our collection.
June 11, 2020
An exceptional, graphically spectacular book full of wonderful information and fascinating facts. I am working my way slowly through this lovely tome, absorbing a few spreads at a sitting and enjoying every detail to the nth degree! Perhaps it may have been aimed at a younger audience but I really think it's a book for all ages.
Outstanding!
Outstanding!
October 18, 2018
Nyt napsahti viisi tähteä: upea kuvitus, sopivasti tekstiä, kiinnostavaa nippelitietoa. Sisältökin jaettu selkeisiin kokonaisuuksiin ja suomennos asiantuntevaa. Kirjastokäytössä vain nämä järkälekirjat ei tahdo kestää.
August 27, 2017
Makes learning interesting and fun. This is exactly the kind of book I devoured as a kid.
December 31, 2017
This will be a good resource for kids who already have an idea of what they are interested in. Lots of awesome pictures and succinct, scientifically sound info. Recommended.
July 31, 2018
373 - 2018
May 6, 2019
My 5 year old found the information and visuals fascinating!
September 17, 2019
A beautiful book. Amazing photos, including some fascinating close-ups. Great info. A book you keep turning to to learn more about the fascinating creatures on this planet.
June 10, 2022
Chi l'ha detto che sono solo per bambini questi libri..? È scritto molto bene, spiegazione semplice e chiara, adatta a tutte le età
May 19, 2025
Loved the detail, the images, everything. Ideal for any age.
April 7, 2018
Both my daughters 12 and 9 loved this book! I babysit and all five of the children loved this book. If you like beautifully captured nature pictures and facts about nature this book is just right for you. Even little little ones like this book because of the beautiful image's.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews