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Explanatorium of Science
The only science encyclopedia for children you'll ever need, with amazing
photography that shows and explains how chemistry, physics, and biology work.
Watch as mixtures merge and matter changes state. Discover how some chemical changes can be reversed, yet others can't, and why some reactions go with a bang! See bacteria at work in the world around us, and even inside the human digestive system. Understand the tricks that light plays and unlock the secrets of electricity to find out how it powers the bulbs in your home. Whether it's elements, evolution, or energy, the world of science is brought to life by stunning photographic explanations that answer the biggest and smallest questions about our Universe. Packed full of astounding close-up images, Explanatorium of Science is the ultimate guide to how the world works, explaining every aspect of science from gigantic galaxies to tiny cells and miniscule atoms.
photography that shows and explains how chemistry, physics, and biology work.
Watch as mixtures merge and matter changes state. Discover how some chemical changes can be reversed, yet others can't, and why some reactions go with a bang! See bacteria at work in the world around us, and even inside the human digestive system. Understand the tricks that light plays and unlock the secrets of electricity to find out how it powers the bulbs in your home. Whether it's elements, evolution, or energy, the world of science is brought to life by stunning photographic explanations that answer the biggest and smallest questions about our Universe. Packed full of astounding close-up images, Explanatorium of Science is the ultimate guide to how the world works, explaining every aspect of science from gigantic galaxies to tiny cells and miniscule atoms.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published September 5, 2019
About the author
D.K. Publishing
9,717 books2,157 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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 15, 2019
[Note: I received this book for free to review.]
I was very impressed with this book. It is a nice reference for adults, though I think it would be quite excellent for middle school students and above. The book has two elements that when put together make it a good science book. It has explanations of phenomena grouped in logical sections of matter, reactions, materials, energy, forces, life, earth, and reference. It may seem like physics is overrepresented, but the life section is the longest, and so it is actually more balanced than it may seem. The earth section also includes stellar (and our sun's solar) explanations, so the categories should not be taken to be too exclusive. This is in tune with how actual science is and so I appreciate the integration that is used among them. It also includes two pages on plasma which I am appreciative of. It didn't say much on nuclear fusion, but it did explain it, but devoted more paper to nuclear fission (I'd say fairly justified in the energy section, though I think it would have been nice to illustrate fusion for the pages on stars).
The part that sets the book apart is that it includes experiments showing the science. This works very well with physics and chemistry, and while the experiments should not be done without training (many include Bunsen burners), they would be excellent ideas for teaching scientific thinking. Some examples are classic, such as salt crystal growth in water to fairly novel (to me, at least) such as combining (colorless liquids) potassium iodide and lead nitrate to form potassium nitrate (yellow). There is a wide variety of experiments that are brilliantly shown on the large colorful pages.
I was also impressed with the detail and lack of typographical errors. I have only a few comments on the science portion. It presents the scientific method at the beginning which is an idealization of what actually happens, and so I wish it emphasized this fact a bit more, as there is a tendency for people to think they must follow the "steps of science" to do science. I am not an expert in all of these sciences, but I found nothing but small quibbles for physics [gravity is always attractive {if by gravity we mean curvature of space-time, then it can be repulsive}, the Rutherford atom though they explain electron clouds, friction and static electricity have some intricacies that are not explained] that I would not worry about for a book at this level. In biology, I thought they missed a chance to explain that the sex chromosomes shown as XX=female and XY=male is not universal in the animal kingdom. In birds the equivalent to X and Y is Z and W. Then ZZ=male and ZW=female, so it is the females with the "different" chromosome. The only really true problem I have is that they describe lactic acid as causing muscle cramps. I think there is a fairly large literature [https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...] now that shows that lactic acid is not very well associated with cramps or muscle soreness, but I am ready to be corrected.
As an aside, if you don't know the history of the peppered moth as an example of evolution, used in this book, it's a fairly interesting story. See the Wikipedia entry for it's history.
Overall, a great book that shows and tells. The book is large with thick, glossy papers and plenty of color. I would love to use some of the experiments with young people interested in science, and it has good explanations of what is going on, as well. It would be great for younger science-inclined people, but is a nice resource for anyone with an interest in science and science experiments.
I was very impressed with this book. It is a nice reference for adults, though I think it would be quite excellent for middle school students and above. The book has two elements that when put together make it a good science book. It has explanations of phenomena grouped in logical sections of matter, reactions, materials, energy, forces, life, earth, and reference. It may seem like physics is overrepresented, but the life section is the longest, and so it is actually more balanced than it may seem. The earth section also includes stellar (and our sun's solar) explanations, so the categories should not be taken to be too exclusive. This is in tune with how actual science is and so I appreciate the integration that is used among them. It also includes two pages on plasma which I am appreciative of. It didn't say much on nuclear fusion, but it did explain it, but devoted more paper to nuclear fission (I'd say fairly justified in the energy section, though I think it would have been nice to illustrate fusion for the pages on stars).
The part that sets the book apart is that it includes experiments showing the science. This works very well with physics and chemistry, and while the experiments should not be done without training (many include Bunsen burners), they would be excellent ideas for teaching scientific thinking. Some examples are classic, such as salt crystal growth in water to fairly novel (to me, at least) such as combining (colorless liquids) potassium iodide and lead nitrate to form potassium nitrate (yellow). There is a wide variety of experiments that are brilliantly shown on the large colorful pages.
I was also impressed with the detail and lack of typographical errors. I have only a few comments on the science portion. It presents the scientific method at the beginning which is an idealization of what actually happens, and so I wish it emphasized this fact a bit more, as there is a tendency for people to think they must follow the "steps of science" to do science. I am not an expert in all of these sciences, but I found nothing but small quibbles for physics [gravity is always attractive {if by gravity we mean curvature of space-time, then it can be repulsive}, the Rutherford atom though they explain electron clouds, friction and static electricity have some intricacies that are not explained] that I would not worry about for a book at this level. In biology, I thought they missed a chance to explain that the sex chromosomes shown as XX=female and XY=male is not universal in the animal kingdom. In birds the equivalent to X and Y is Z and W. Then ZZ=male and ZW=female, so it is the females with the "different" chromosome. The only really true problem I have is that they describe lactic acid as causing muscle cramps. I think there is a fairly large literature [https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...] now that shows that lactic acid is not very well associated with cramps or muscle soreness, but I am ready to be corrected.
As an aside, if you don't know the history of the peppered moth as an example of evolution, used in this book, it's a fairly interesting story. See the Wikipedia entry for it's history.
Overall, a great book that shows and tells. The book is large with thick, glossy papers and plenty of color. I would love to use some of the experiments with young people interested in science, and it has good explanations of what is going on, as well. It would be great for younger science-inclined people, but is a nice resource for anyone with an interest in science and science experiments.
December 10, 2020
Have you ever been interested in science? Specifically Life, Earth, and Physical Science. Then the book Explanatorium of Science would be a good book for you. In this book, they demonstrate cool experiments that are very descriptive. For example, there are experiments about chemical reactions and about what would happen if they reacted. In the book, they also talk about Earth science when they show you how our planet works such as how volcanoes work and they show you an experiment. My favorite part is when they talk about how the sun and other stars work because I am really interested in astronomy. There is also a Life science section, but that section didn’t really interest me. One negative is that you cannot do the experiments in the book at home, because they are too violent and need safety screens. Overall, if you enjoy science, this book is a good one to check out!
November 24, 2019
As only DK can do it, this book is beautiful - lovely photographs, amazing magnification photos and lots of information about science, explained in a easy-as-possible way. This is one of those books you can keep coming back to learn more about material, matter and reaction.
September 3, 2024
This was a little too information heavy for the way in which we used it. However, that's not a bad thing for it's intent as a science encyclopedia. The visuals are helpful!
March 31, 2025
Another brilliant book shared with my boys. This covered a myriad of topics for both of them and we enjoyed the photos of the experiments discussed in the book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews