Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention

If you have a child who loves Non-fiction as much as mine, this book will make the best Birthday or Christmas Present! This book is weighty. Absolutely crammed full of information, but presented in such a way to make is completely accessible. Absolutely everything – a history of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and other things too numerous to mention is a fantastic book to have on your bookshelf. As the title states, it covers absolutely everything.

At 350 A4 pages, this book is not for the younger market, but aimed more so for those older, inquisitive minds. That being said, my 8 year old loves dipping in and out of this book when he wants to learn about something in more depth. And that is the beauty of this book – it is the type that you dip in and out of. The language is accessible yet detailed to stretch and challenge those inquisitive minds.

Completely factual, Christopher Lloyd (author) goes above and beyond to engage the reader with fascinating historical details. With every turn of the page, I learned something new. The book is set out in chronological order from 13.8 billion – 450 million years ago right through to the present day. Each section is colour coordinated to make each period of time easy to find.

The illustrations are also brilliantly crafted to accompany each page, not overwhelming the details, but perfectly highlighting the information you will expect to find. As a family we love picking up this book, turning to a random page, learning something new and sharing it with the rest of the family.

My husband (a year 4 Primary Teacher) uses this book under his visualizer with his students when teaching History in his classroom. The depth of knowledge and information about the science, nature and history of our World is incredible in this book, there are so many things to learn, share and enjoy. A fantastic book which you will return to again and again.

336 Pages / Reviewed by Joanna Hewish 

Suggested Reading Age 9+

Absolutely Everything! A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Robots, Rulers and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention...is a great book for any child or adult who asks themselves lots of questions about all of those subjects and others. Did you know that approximately 1,000 cities and settlements were found in the Indus Valley? Are there 20,000 different types of bees in existence today? Did you know one of he biggest Viking settlements in Europe was near Rouen? There are so many different topics covered in this book that you can find out the answers to these questions and lots more! This book is a wealth of information. I liked the foreword which explained why the author decided to write the book. The information is logically organised in chronological order. The style of writing is conversational and easy to understand. I like the mix of photographs and illustrations which are colourful. Each section has a time line which I found useful. My favourite part described how civilisation began. There are many links to the KS2 history curriculum: Pyramids in Egypt, The Shang Dynasty, Ancient Greece, The Mayans and so much more. I really enjoyed this book and think anyone who is curious, loves history and learning will thoroughly love this book. 336 pages / Ages 9+ / Reviewed by Keranjit Kaur, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 9+