Biology: Life as We Know It!

Basher Science

by Dan Green, Simon Basher (Illustrator)

Basher Biology, Life As We Know It created and illustrated by Simon Basher, Written by Dan

Nature's building blocks have never been more sociable than in this newest offering from the creators of The Periodic Table and Physics. From cells to DNA, from viruses to mammals, from chlorophyll to flowers and fruit, and including the human body's parts and systems, Biology is a single volume BIO101 course. Distinctive characters, a creative pallette, and straight- forward text make it all clear―and fun!

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Childrens, Reference, Education, Stem

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads' database.

Dan Green spent his first four years in Africa, until his family swapped the African sun for Welsh rain. He grew up an English-American hybrid in the heart of Wales and then went to Cambridge University to study geology. After college, he shipped out to Italy to chase a dream of rock 'n' roll stardom, wound up in Venezuela, where he became editor of the English language newspaper and survived a coup d'etat and most recently rode his motorbike across Europe to Morocco. Dan is the "voice of Basher" - the best-selling children's science series created by the graphic artist Basher (basherbooks.com/usa/home.html). He has also written humor books, comic strips for Horrible Histories and Horrible Science, and is the author of the Footprint Venezuela Handbook.

Visit his website and find out what he is up to:
www.dangreenbooks.com

Reviews

[Pollyor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clever and witty way to teach science. Some children might end up more puzzled than informed.

[page.janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad! wished for more pictures for visual learners, but good references 👍

[Shilo Quetchenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiddo enjoyed this one as well, though I wasn't sure they would as they previously hadn't shown much interest in biology. At this point I think I can definitely conclude that if it's science, they will love it. A few of the more complex topics were glossed over but overall this was a good intro to biology.

Update December 2022

Kiddo picked this one out after we read several novels (and had a few he decided partway through not to continue). He listened with rapt attention to every word and we flew through it in a few days. He definitely loves science, and luckily I find it fascinating as well. I suspect we're about to go on a Basher Science bedtime reading kick.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives clear introductory information about biology and its related terms and concepts in a precise, easy-to-read manner. The illustrations are reminiscent of the anime style, so while they are clever and "hip" now, they will likely be considered outdated and old-fashioned in a few years.

[Matthew 11-12 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it taught me new things and was entertaining at the same time. Also because it taught me facts about how things in the body works and how you can keep yourself healthy. Another reason is because it talked about differant types of animals and how plants and trees grow.

[William Crosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explains the basics of biology. Although a children's book with cutesy drawings and writing, it is surprisingly informative for people like me who don't know anything about mitochondria, ribosomes, protists and keratin.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. It was interesting.

[Lucy ~Graphite Wizard~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun and easy way to learn about the body, basic life forms, and always includes a poster!!!!!!

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it! My only wish is that the section on life showed more clearly how the subgroups fit into the main groupings.

[Tristan Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like these kind of book because they are funny and they give great information.

[Bryony Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is very clearly written and precise with information on each biology part. Also, it makes learning fun by creating and using characters to make it interesting. The key points are listed at the beginning then goes into more detail on how the subject works
List includes: cell types, animals, body parts, and more... - wide range of subjects!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, and I used it to learn more about biology when I was a kid. While I wasn’t as interested in biology as some other topics covered in these Basher books, I still learned a lot of interesting stuff. I learned about things like RNA which would never be covered in elementary school science classes.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for The Kid because she begged for it. Actually, I would buy her any book that she asked for, but don't let her know that! :)

This book is informative and fun. It's drawings are hilarious, while being educational. I like how each example goes in-depth enough that my 7 year old understood what was going on, but I didn't have to have an awkward conversation about anything.

Frankly, I praise all the books in this series. :)

[S.N. Arly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our son received this as a gift on his fourth birthday. It quickly became a favorite. It is essentially an introductory biology text book, broken down for much younger readers. It's divided into sections such as building blocks (covering red blood cells, white blood cells, mitochondria, DNA, RNA, etc), life (bacteria, virus, fungus, protists, etc) and body parts (eye, ear, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc). Each item gets a page's worth of simple yet accurate information on how it works and where you find it. It gave my son a better grasp of how his body works than I had prior to fifth grade.

While recommended for grades 3-8, the explanations and fun comic-style pictures make this accessible to a much younger audience. There may be things my son doesn't quite understand, but this has given him things to ponder and the vocabulary to ask the questions he needs to. It is still a bit beyond the two and a half year old, but she likes some of the simpler bits.

[William V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book expertly transforms the vast and often intricate world of biology into an approachable and exciting visual journey. The clever personification of everything from cells to ecosystems makes abstract biological concepts surprisingly easy to grasp and incredibly memorable for curious minds. While brilliant for sparking initial interest and providing a solid foundational overview, its highly stylized and introductory nature means it glosses over the deeper complexities and experimental details crucial for advanced biological study. Nevertheless, for anyone seeking a vibrant, accessible, and genuinely fun introduction to the fundamental principles of life science, this book is an outstanding choice.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first grader enjoyed this as he does the rest of the Basher Science series. The breezy, cartoonish descriptions and humor suit him very well, and I think he absorbs a good bit of it. I thought it was definitely interesting, but after a first chapter on the basics, very long chapter full of organs and parts of the body, rather than general biology, annoyed me-- and not just because I had to read it all aloud! Non-human biology, including plant biology, is given short shrift though plant parts and kingdoms/phylla are covered.

[Diz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of the illustration style of this series of books, but my son is, so it seems to be a big success with its target audience. The author does a good job of adding a lot of humor to the text of this book. Also, it's kind of fun that all of the entries are written in first-person.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that Biology Life as we Know it was AWESOME!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEESSSSSSSOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE

[Alice Liddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best way to comprehend what BIOLOGY is all about!

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be great for older elementary kids. What grade will I end up with? ...

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is packed with stories about stuff inside your body!

[Esmeralda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biology life as we know it by Ban Green it is about all about life.The book is about of life and what are all the names of life.Also that it is about that want does it make to make that life and how does it grows.I like this book because it telled me about different types of life that I did not know.I will recommended it to people that want to know all the different types of life.