Science: The Definitive Visual Guide

If you enjoy reading about science, this is wonderful. There are several editions with different covers that are other wise identical. It is a history of science that highlights the important experiments with clear descriptions and many illustrations. It does not have a lot of depth per topic but it covers many topics. It is a great gift for a science inspired child or adult and for reading to 2nd through sixth grade children.

This is for anyone with the 1st edition who is considering the 2nd edition. I've flipped through every page of each edition up to the reference tables. The content seems to be 97% identical. The table of contents is nearly identical and the graphics and layout of each page are nearly so as well. Of course, it wasn't practical to compare all of the text. Towards the back, a few pages have been revamped in the 2nd edition and there is one new spread (replacing a spread from the 1st). So the 2nd edition doesn't give much that is new. However, one criticism of the 1st edition was the small type. The 2nd edition is a larger format. If the small type of the 1st edition is keeping you from enjoying it, then by all means, buy the 2nd. You may even enjoy the larger format of the 2nd even if you have no problems with the type of the 1st. But the larger format of the 2nd means it is less comfortable to hold and read and take with you. And you surely want to read it and not just keep it on a shelf. Enjoy.

The book arrived very quickly (5 days to Morocco in North Africa) and in excellent condition. I intend to use the book as a resource to teach English for science to non-native speakers. The short, well-written and highly informative paragraphs and descriptions seem to me to provide nearly perfect substance for the purpose. The great pictures will certainly also be of great help. I still need to wrestle with the grammatical and stylistics exploitation of the material though.

I purchased two of this particular book. One as a gift and one for my grandchildren. It is a great book to read or to use as a reference book.

Good and interesting book on science, I feel that most people will enjoy it.

The best all-around general science book you can buy. High-quality info presented with an engaging style, presented in a book with quality materials and manufacturing. However, the dust jacket was torn, wrinkled, and stained, and there were indentations in the front of the cover. I am giving a 5-star basis of the book alone, the shipping and handling would get two stars.

I have many, many coffee table books that are great. This one is the best! If you like science and are curious about "how" and "why", you and your family will greatly enjoy this book.

This is a coffee table size book. If you are looking for basic science, try this other smaller book. How Science Works: The Facts Visually Explained (How Things Work) Now, on to the bigger books. I had one book from Smithsonian on the shelf for a year or two, "Timelines of Science." (search for that name in Amazon) If you like the timeline approach, it explains the concepts discovered with earlier ideas outlined, then developed by later scientists, all presented in order by decades.The current even bigger, full size coffee table book: The Science Definitive Guide has much of the same (also in time line order), but 100 pages more, mostly pictures. There is more room to explain broad concepts here. There are figures of human anatomy, basic chemistry and physics etc etc. Mathematical formulas are not there, mostly numbers to explain size, rarity etc.All these books like to draw pictures of say H2O or NH3 rather than the formula. Mechanical things are easily explained in illustrations, but there could be more detail. (Steam engine), The 4 stroke engine is explained, leaving the crankshaft a bit of a mystery.For teaching concepts to say kids at some science camp, the How Science Works gives the most detail. The other two give a lot of detail in biology in the drawings and the teacher can easily talk 10 minutes on a picture.

I have both the books, Science and Universe. Both books are great, must have for everyone.

Livro para quem gosta de história da ciência. Mas você deve poder ler razoavelmente em inglês. Mas mesmo para quem não domina o idioma as ilustrações ajudam e são muito bonitas,

This is an essential guide for a science student or even a layman who wants to know about the universe. It's highly informative and the illustrations are worth mentioning.

Livro lindo. Super recomendável pra quem gosta de ciência.

All definitive visual guides are of highest quality and highly enjoyable. This is no different - would have like to see more eastern or non western discoveries or usage. I believe depends on sources of authors/ editors. Still well done.