The totally satisfying answers to more than 100 questions that drive normal people—not to mention infomaniacs and trivia buffs—crazy.Questions about matters great and small, from ancient times to yesterday.Illustrated with illuminating technical drawings and unusual vintage photographs.How did they spend $40 million making Heaven's Gate?How did they decide the length of a mile?How did Beethoven compose when he was deaf?How did they discover the ...

With this fascinating and eye-opening collection of essays, science writer Caroline Sutton provides an intriguing and unique perspective on our natural world, and reveals secret and intimate connections between plant and animal life that we often overlook or malign, be it the industrious mole tunnelling in our backyards to the ancient horseshoe crab scuttling on our shores. Certain to appeal to readers of science and ecology, as well as those curious to look deeper into the seen and unseen...

HOW DOTHEYDO THAT?How do they make mirrors?How do sword swallowers swallow swords?How does a Polaroid picture develop in broad daylight?How do camels go without water?How do they splice genes?How do they create spectacular fireworks?How indeed?Ever found yourself wide-eyed at the wonders of science? Awestruck by the arts? Mystified by the miracles of nature or the marvels of technology?...

Have you ever wondered:- How do they know how much an aircraft carrier weighs?- How do they get music onto a CD?- How does an electric eel generate electricity?- How do they know how long a second is?- How do penguins stay warm in Antarctica?- How do they teach guide dogs to cross at a green light?The answers to these and many other everyday wonders are explained.Here, in simple and easy-to-understand terms, are solutions to t...

A lifeline for parents navigating the unseen struggles of school related anxiety.This compassionate and practical guide shines a light on Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) - helping parents, educators, therapists, and anyone who supports young people to truly understand why school can feel overwhelming.Drawing on her expertise as a therapist, her lived experience as a parent to a young man with complex needs, and her own late-discovered neurodivergence, Caroline cha...

Open this book anywhere, any time, any place for bite-size morsels of essential (and not-so-essential) knowledge.We have two mottos here at Portable Press: "Get smart" and "Have fun." As the publishers of the wildly popular Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, we have twenty years' experience in translating our mottos into bestselling books, but we also know that not every reader is a bathroom reader.That's why we've created this definitive collect...

In two earlier books, Hubbert's Peak (2001) and Beyond Oil (2005), the geologist Kenneth S. Deffeyes laid out his rationale for concluding that world oil production would continue to follow a bell-shaped curve, with the smoothed-out peak somewhere in the middle of the first decade of this millennium—in keeping with the projections of his former colleague, the pioneering petroleum geologist M. King Hubbert.Deffeyes sees no reason to deviate from that prediction, des...

Kids ask the darndest things . . . and here are the answers—all in one helpful book!Anyone who has ever been a kid, raised a kid, or spent any time with kids knows that asking questions is a critical part of being a kid. Kids have curious minds, and they come up with some very interesting questions. Why do dogs bark? Why is the sky blue? Why do people have to grow old? Questions like these are how kids find out about the world, and these questions deserve ...

Beauty pageants, bad musicals, bizarre diseases, and more: it's all covered in this collection of fascinating trivia and full-color pictures!It's finally here: the book that Uncle John's fans have been asking for: a full-color, illustrated edition featuring the most entertaining articles from the world's bestselling bathroom trivia series! Hundreds of eye-popping photographs add a new dimension to Uncle John's unique blend of trivia, humor, origins, history, scienc...

Science has never been so easy--or so much fun!With The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book, all you need to do is gather a few household items and you can recreate dozens of mind-blowing, kid-tested science experiments. High school science teacher Tom Robinson shows you how to expand your scientific horizons--from biology to chemistry to physics to outer space.You'll discover answers to questions like:Is it possible to blow up ...

Let survival expert, Army veteran, NASA scientist help you and your family prepare for any kind of disaster—flood, civil unrest, hurricane, fire, war, earthquake.Ninety-nine percent of the time, the world spins like a top, the skies are clear, and your refrigerator is full of good food. But the world is a volatile place—storms rage, fires burn, and diseases spread. No one is ever completely safe. Humans live as part of a very complex ecosystem that is unpredictable...

"Climate change is coming. What can we do about it? TV's 'Science Guy' has some answers. . . . An important message delivered in a winning manner." — Kirkus ReviewsJust as World War II called an earlier generation to greatness, so the climate crisis is calling today's rising youth to action: to create a better future.In Unstoppable, Bill Nye expands the message for which he is best known and beloved. That message is that with a combination o...