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Facts Visually Explained
How Science Works: The Facts Visually Explained
Explore answers to questions on 70 topics in the areas of matter, physics, energy, chemistry, life science, earth science, technology, and the universe.
How Science Works uses clear, easy-to-understand graphics to answer common questions and explain difficult concepts--not only the core science topics that eluded us at school, but also the cutting-edge science reported in the news.
Have you ever wondered how airplanes stay in the air, how holograms are made, or how ants lift things many times their size? You'll find answers to these enigmas as well as learn about more complex developments, including the discovery of the Higgs boson, gravitational waves, and the mysteries of dark matter. Topic spreads include Q&A features, short-story sections, and simple graphics to answer all your questions about scientific principles, from familiar conundrums to mysteries that evade even the brightest minds.
How Science Works uses clear, easy-to-understand graphics to answer common questions and explain difficult concepts--not only the core science topics that eluded us at school, but also the cutting-edge science reported in the news.
Have you ever wondered how airplanes stay in the air, how holograms are made, or how ants lift things many times their size? You'll find answers to these enigmas as well as learn about more complex developments, including the discovery of the Higgs boson, gravitational waves, and the mysteries of dark matter. Topic spreads include Q&A features, short-story sections, and simple graphics to answer all your questions about scientific principles, from familiar conundrums to mysteries that evade even the brightest minds.
Unknown Binding
First published March 1, 2018
55 people are currently reading
956 people want to read
About the author
D.K. Publishing
9,140 books2,049 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 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 1, 2018
While I did not read every single detail in this book, I did read enough to highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Science!
This book is divided into sections - Matter, Energy and Forces, Life, Space, and Earth. Each section is further divided into subsections on a wide variety of topics, including "What is Matter?" Solids, Liquids, Gasses, Atoms, Elements, and everything relating to Chemistry, Energy, Forces, How Electronics Work,, Robots and Automation, AI, Color, Lasers, Optics, Sound, Heat, Friction, Flight, and more!
There are also subsections on Types of Living Things, Viruses, Cells, Genes, Reproduction, Plants and how they develop, Stem Cells, Cloning, the Stars, Sun, Solar System, other things tied to space, including traveling and living there, subjects tied to weather, plate tectonics, The Greenhouse Effect, Climate Change, and so much more!
It's published by DK, so every subject (about 2 pages each) is well laid out and has a lot of color, graphs, diagrams, side bars / bubbles, and other colorful illustrations.
Excellent!
This book is divided into sections - Matter, Energy and Forces, Life, Space, and Earth. Each section is further divided into subsections on a wide variety of topics, including "What is Matter?" Solids, Liquids, Gasses, Atoms, Elements, and everything relating to Chemistry, Energy, Forces, How Electronics Work,, Robots and Automation, AI, Color, Lasers, Optics, Sound, Heat, Friction, Flight, and more!
There are also subsections on Types of Living Things, Viruses, Cells, Genes, Reproduction, Plants and how they develop, Stem Cells, Cloning, the Stars, Sun, Solar System, other things tied to space, including traveling and living there, subjects tied to weather, plate tectonics, The Greenhouse Effect, Climate Change, and so much more!
It's published by DK, so every subject (about 2 pages each) is well laid out and has a lot of color, graphs, diagrams, side bars / bubbles, and other colorful illustrations.
Excellent!
March 23, 2024
i went from failing fourth grade science to actually passing it by flipping through the very colourful pages of this wondrous book
xx-dnf-skim-reference
June 16, 2020Not the best title, as it is more about what science has figured out rather than the details of the scientific method.
I picked it up because I'm reading Graphic NonFiction for the Children's Books group here on GR, but though this is indeed more-than-profusely illustrated, it has no narrative, no panels, and is marketed to all ages, not just children. I do think children age 8 up would enjoy taking a look, otoh I think it's cool that it was shelved in adult NF in our local library, to catch the eye of browsers who may have not realized that much has been learned since they were in school.
So, I skimmed it very lightly, and did find references to things I did not know about. For example, 99% of matter is plasma, and another state of matter is Bose-Einstein Condensate.
The thing is, this is a very broad & necessarily simple survey. The best way to appreciate it, probably, is to skim as I did, to find gaps in one's understandings, and to find other books or resources to fill in those gaps. I plan to do that with How Money Works: The Facts Visually Explained and How Business Works: A Graphic Guide to Business Success... I don't expect to get a lot out of them, but maybe I'll get pointers to topics that are of special interest to me because they're about things I currently don't understand.
This book does have a thorough table of contents and multi-page index. It does not have a bibliography or 'for further reading' section, but those aren't actually relevant here because the fields are developing rapidly, as science is a process and old books get obsolete almost as fast as old computers. The pictures and graphics are clear, even better, imo, than the DK books for kids that I've explored.
I do recommend it to anyone who has any suspicion that there are gaps in their understandings of the various sciences, anyone who hasn't read much about scientific discoveries since school, any child or teen who is curious but wants to figure out, for example, if they're more interested in outer space, or dinosaurs, or something else. I have a policy of not rating books I dnf, but this would probably get a 4 from me if I had read it all.
I picked it up because I'm reading Graphic NonFiction for the Children's Books group here on GR, but though this is indeed more-than-profusely illustrated, it has no narrative, no panels, and is marketed to all ages, not just children. I do think children age 8 up would enjoy taking a look, otoh I think it's cool that it was shelved in adult NF in our local library, to catch the eye of browsers who may have not realized that much has been learned since they were in school.
So, I skimmed it very lightly, and did find references to things I did not know about. For example, 99% of matter is plasma, and another state of matter is Bose-Einstein Condensate.
The thing is, this is a very broad & necessarily simple survey. The best way to appreciate it, probably, is to skim as I did, to find gaps in one's understandings, and to find other books or resources to fill in those gaps. I plan to do that with How Money Works: The Facts Visually Explained and How Business Works: A Graphic Guide to Business Success... I don't expect to get a lot out of them, but maybe I'll get pointers to topics that are of special interest to me because they're about things I currently don't understand.
This book does have a thorough table of contents and multi-page index. It does not have a bibliography or 'for further reading' section, but those aren't actually relevant here because the fields are developing rapidly, as science is a process and old books get obsolete almost as fast as old computers. The pictures and graphics are clear, even better, imo, than the DK books for kids that I've explored.
I do recommend it to anyone who has any suspicion that there are gaps in their understandings of the various sciences, anyone who hasn't read much about scientific discoveries since school, any child or teen who is curious but wants to figure out, for example, if they're more interested in outer space, or dinosaurs, or something else. I have a policy of not rating books I dnf, but this would probably get a 4 from me if I had read it all.
December 20, 2019
This book does a great job of explaining science concepts from chemistry, physics, biology, space, and geology. The title is a great representation of the book. Each page explains how science "works". There is an illustration on each page that accompanies the text to visually show you how science works. This book is good for all ages from middle school and up. I thought that this book would be fairly easy to comprehend, given my science background, but even as an adult, some of the concepts in the book were too much for me to truly understand (particularly the physics sections).
Things I liked: Does a great job of explaining the basic concepts of science, the illustrations are EXTREMELY helpful.
Things I disliked: Some topics were still a little too complex for me to truly understand (but that's just me).
This book would be perfect for those who are interested in learning more about science and for students who are taking science classes. I really wish that I would have had this book in college (and high school) because this would have helped me review concepts that I was having trouble with or that the professors did not explain well.
Things I liked: Does a great job of explaining the basic concepts of science, the illustrations are EXTREMELY helpful.
Things I disliked: Some topics were still a little too complex for me to truly understand (but that's just me).
This book would be perfect for those who are interested in learning more about science and for students who are taking science classes. I really wish that I would have had this book in college (and high school) because this would have helped me review concepts that I was having trouble with or that the professors did not explain well.
April 5, 2024
This is an incredible book. It clearly and concisely explains so many scientific topics that are not so easy to explain clearly and concisely. My fourth grader absolutely devoured it. I started reading it to him as a bedtime book, and he quickly outpaced me and read a good deal of it on his own and then explained the concepts to me. He was especially taken with the physics section: dark matter, dark energy, open vs closed universes, the possibilities for the end of the universe. DK Publishing puts out some amazing books and this one is up there as one of our favorites.
January 13, 2021
Science is not perfect, but it is the best thing we have. DK Publishing brings us a book that explains scientific facts clearly and concisely. The central part to focus on is infographics. Science is an interconnected web. It's tricky to disentangle one field of inquiry from another. 'How Science Works' splits science into six main sections.
I enjoyed the book, but it is tough to review.
I enjoyed the book, but it is tough to review.
December 26, 2022
Great content.
August 20, 2021
I like the book because it taught me a lot of new things about science. My favourite chapters were the ones about Earth, space & life.
July 18, 2022
“How Science Works” by the publisher DK is a great book that covers many fields of science in a visual, easy-to-read style. This encyclopedia of sorts is a great resource for people who are curious about a specific topic, or for people who are looking to see what field of science they enjoy. I really enjoyed reading this book, which was mostly due to the unique style it is written in. While this book has tons of useful content, reading it does not feel like a chore, like with most textbooks. That said, the format used limits the book from going into great depth on each topic, but to me, this is not necessary for this type of introductory book.
There are 5 sections in the book, titled Matter, Energy and Forces, Life, Space, and Earth. I think it was a good decision by DK not to title them by their proper names, (e.g., Matter – Chemistry, Energy and Forces – Physics), as this book is aimed more towards people first getting their feet wet with each strand. That said, I was familiar with some topics covered while reading the book, but I still enjoyed all of it, because the book nicely summarizes each topic, which fills any holes in your knowledge or memory.
The layout of each topic is typically a large image with some text covering one page, a few paragraphs of text to give some background on the topic, and a couple small diagrams. Thus, each topic covers two pages, which I think is the right amount to spark interest in the reader, leaving them intrigued and wanting to learn more. Some pages are even landscape (meaning you need to hold the book sideways while reading, which does look interesting) to give room for even larger diagrams. I think that DK did a great job at utilizing these diagrams, as they feel natural to read, and never feel like they are there for their own sake. Also, while I was reading the book, I noticed that the diagrams helped me better remember the content of each page. Overall, I don’t think anyone would dislike the layout of the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science but has not acquired that much specific knowledge yet. Therefore, I think this book is best suited for students in grades 5-8 (aged 10-13). For readers who have enjoyed the book, I would recommend looking at other books in the “How Things Work” series by DK. There are tons of other subjects which DK covers in their easy-to-read, visual style. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did!
There are 5 sections in the book, titled Matter, Energy and Forces, Life, Space, and Earth. I think it was a good decision by DK not to title them by their proper names, (e.g., Matter – Chemistry, Energy and Forces – Physics), as this book is aimed more towards people first getting their feet wet with each strand. That said, I was familiar with some topics covered while reading the book, but I still enjoyed all of it, because the book nicely summarizes each topic, which fills any holes in your knowledge or memory.
The layout of each topic is typically a large image with some text covering one page, a few paragraphs of text to give some background on the topic, and a couple small diagrams. Thus, each topic covers two pages, which I think is the right amount to spark interest in the reader, leaving them intrigued and wanting to learn more. Some pages are even landscape (meaning you need to hold the book sideways while reading, which does look interesting) to give room for even larger diagrams. I think that DK did a great job at utilizing these diagrams, as they feel natural to read, and never feel like they are there for their own sake. Also, while I was reading the book, I noticed that the diagrams helped me better remember the content of each page. Overall, I don’t think anyone would dislike the layout of the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science but has not acquired that much specific knowledge yet. Therefore, I think this book is best suited for students in grades 5-8 (aged 10-13). For readers who have enjoyed the book, I would recommend looking at other books in the “How Things Work” series by DK. There are tons of other subjects which DK covers in their easy-to-read, visual style. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did!
September 24, 2024
I love the graphs and visuals in this book series, very clear and very informative.
I'll be honest though, I might've skimmed the last chapter on Earth and geology a little. I got a master's degrer in geology, so a two pages summary of rock types and plate tectonics isn't going to teach me much. However, the living in space part was super interesting and makes me want to learn more about the lives of astronauts!
I'll be honest though, I might've skimmed the last chapter on Earth and geology a little. I got a master's degrer in geology, so a two pages summary of rock types and plate tectonics isn't going to teach me much. However, the living in space part was super interesting and makes me want to learn more about the lives of astronauts!
May 30, 2020
It's a very good book. I love science and I love this book.
Would recommend this to upper KS2 and beyond. Hours and hours of great reading. Really love the way this book is laid out, so easy to read with the format and the drawings to explain theories.
I also have written my own review on the book on my blog:
https://peachyessay.com/sample-essay/...
Would recommend this to upper KS2 and beyond. Hours and hours of great reading. Really love the way this book is laid out, so easy to read with the format and the drawings to explain theories.
I also have written my own review on the book on my blog:
https://peachyessay.com/sample-essay/...
October 22, 2024
Not exactly how science itself works; it's not just the scientific method. But, due to the quality of the book, I can easily give that a pass. It gives a great overview of so many science topics that it was nearly impossible to put down. It's a great read if you want to get a great understanding of science topics in general!
April 23, 2020
(Very) brief overview of a huge number of topics. Plenty of small mistakes/inaccuracies, and just ignore the pages on quantum physics and relativity, but overall, a good reference for junior-high/early-high-school level science.
December 10, 2022
A very visual guide.
Some concepts the average 9 year old will not grasp- but most middle/high school kids will understand it (depending on the concept).
It is also very engaging and will probably be a good read for any middle school (and above) science classes.
Some concepts the average 9 year old will not grasp- but most middle/high school kids will understand it (depending on the concept).
It is also very engaging and will probably be a good read for any middle school (and above) science classes.
November 20, 2025
I wanted to learn about space since I seemingly forgot everything I learned in grade school, so I took this out of the library. I may or may not have had an existential crisis once I got to the chapter about the Big Bang and deep space
April 14, 2018
A great intro to a lot stuff that was covered in school. It would have been a nice aid then.
April 22, 2018
Simple explanations for complex concepts
June 16, 2018
I'm a sucker for science so I loved this book.
March 9, 2019
Té algunes pàgines molt espesses, però en general és molt interessant.
August 29, 2019
A very good book on how Science works.
January 27, 2020
An awesome book filled with useful info for a student, I know I will definitely come back to read specific parts of it in relation to what I’m currently studying.
January 9, 2021
the best graphic science book you can get.
some chapters are better than others. i would loved the space chapter to have more elaboration
nevertheless it is fun reading for all ages
some chapters are better than others. i would loved the space chapter to have more elaboration
nevertheless it is fun reading for all ages
March 1, 2021
Cannot say enough good things about this book, simply amazng
August 27, 2021
на DK имам всичко на файл, ако ти трябва кажи
May 20, 2022
amazing series
February 26, 2022
I'm pretty sure I've gushed about DK books before.....I'm almost to the point now where I'll buy a used DK book about any subject, just because they are so great.
This one is no exception - if you need a basic layout of almost any core scientific idea - it is probably in here and in such a was as to make it easy to understand, and as always, with stunning visuals.
Not to say that some of this stuff did not go over my head, there is a lot of data here, and some concepts are just complex.
This is also a book you can pick up any time and read, concepts are broken down primarily in two page sections.
Well worth the read.
This one is no exception - if you need a basic layout of almost any core scientific idea - it is probably in here and in such a was as to make it easy to understand, and as always, with stunning visuals.
Not to say that some of this stuff did not go over my head, there is a lot of data here, and some concepts are just complex.
This is also a book you can pick up any time and read, concepts are broken down primarily in two page sections.
Well worth the read.
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November 22, 2018I ordered this book 5 days ago from this account by mistaken please cancel it or tell me an alternative🙇🙇
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews