annieb123's Review of How it All Works

by Adam Dant and Brian Clegg

In this beautiful and unique combination of art and science, this stunningly detailed book examines how the rules of science govern the the world around us, from the rooms in our houses to the planet, the solar system and the universe itself!

The Universe is inconceivably complex. Its component parts though follow a set of unbreakable laws that have somehow been coded into their very fabric since the beginning of time. These laws play out in different ways at different scales, giving rise to the familiar phenomena of everyday life – as well as the unfamiliar abstract goings-on outside our experience and awareness. Understanding these laws may seem a daunting task, until now.

How it All Works illustrates simply how the most interesting and complex named scientific laws and phenomena affect everyone’s daily lives. Using hyper-detailed scene illustrations from the incredible award-winning artist Adam Dant, we start small, with the illustrated science inside your kitchen, before expanding outwards to encompass your garden, street, city, continent, planet, solar system, galaxy and eventually the whole universe.

With tiny details pulled out from visually stunning and intricate scene, learn how:

Kirchhoff’s Law affects how you charge your phone,
Newton’s Law of Cooling helps you make your coffee just the right temperature to drink,
How the rules of antimatter are used in hospitals for medical imaging,
How Cassie's law keeps ducks dry,
How glaciation shapes the ladscapes around us,
How thermohaline circulation dictates our weather, and
How quantum tunnelling influences the nuclear fusion in our sun, and Wien’s Law determines its colour.

This book will astound and inform in equal measure, with each principle drawn into the scene and explained with clarity by leading science writer Brian Clegg.

With a reference section at the back as well as profiles of the key figures who have helped shape our understanding of these key principles, from Lynn Margulis and Richard Feynman to Marie Curie, Michael Faraday,Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, this beautiful and unique visual examination of the rules of science is an must-have book for anyone who wants to understand the physics, chemistry and biology of the world around us!

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

How it All Works is a meticulously and extravagantly illustrated guide to scientific laws and principles by Adam Dant & Brian Clegg. Due out 2nd Nov 2021 from Quarto on their Ivy Press imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a genuinely useful and engaging book which does a good job of illuminating physical/scientific concepts and distilling them into understandable intuitively digestible information. Each double page illustration is packed with action - the illustrations are frenetic and *full* of things to look at. The following key panels explain where, when, what, how, and why. The keyhole panels are labeled with a L for laws, and a P for phenomena alongside an accessible short explanation.

Although aimed at middle grade to high school readers, this would be a great addition to the home library. This would also be a good choice for public or school library acquisition and/or gift giving.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

How it All Works

by Adam Dant and Brian Clegg

Reviewed by annieb123 on Oct 30, 2021

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