 By: Journalist and bestselling author Christopher Lloyd
About the Book: How was our universe made from a tiny speck of energy? Where did the first trees, plants, animals and humans come from? What happened to the dinosaurs? What was so miserable about medieval times? How were railroads and electricity invented? What are the perils of global warming?
  Why we love this book:
It all started on a sick day back in October. Like dominoes we fell to this cold, one by one. As homeschoolers we are lucky to be able to take time off when needed and so that was our plan for the day. This book though was new our home and was begging to be read, specially by our 12 year old son. In an attempt to make his oldest sister feel a bit better, he was reading to her. While she graduated last spring, the fact remains, we never stop learning and learning together is one of the big joys in our family.
We took turns then reading, those of us who could see straight as least. We found things we didn’t know, things we thought we knew but were wrong about, things to debate and discuss and look up further, and for the older ones of us, things we had forgotten about! My oldest daughter and I realised quickly that we forget a lot…. and maybe we glanced over a few things and this book pulls it all together. Of course it can’t be absolutely everything but it is so much in such a fantastic book and layed out in such an approachable way.
We haven’t gotten to the end of this book yet, we are taking our time, and letting the book inspire us to watch some beloved documentaries and find new ones!
So why should parents, homeschooling or not bother with yet another book? This one is fun, isn’t “work”, can help you have confidence your children are not missing parts of history that are important, and for kids here in America this is specially important. Too many kids in America aren’t taught world history and if they are, it is often with an slant. This is something I hear about all the time and experienced myself. I want better for my own kids, and I think most parents do.
I know I will get many messages about this book so let me state clearly that this is a scientific history book. Yes, it includes the big bang and evolution. You will not find dogma in this book. It is fantastic for us secular homeschoolers and I think still relevant to religious homeschoolers as not every homeschooler rejects science. This book is also not anti-religious, I think it is respectful of religions around the world and the parts they had in history.
This is one of the pages I love considering I have so many daughters. It admits that powerful men are well recorded in history but females are not always seen as equals. Sometimes though they were and powerful wise female deities are found in history telling us a bit about how their women in history might have been seen and might have lived.
Unlike my childhood public school education that only shortly spoke of Indians and plymouth rock and never spoke a word about the genocide white people brought to the America’s, this book does talk about life before the invaders/settlers. It is refreshing. Too much curriculum still doesn’t get this part right. This book is to be celebrated for so many reasons!
Chances are even adults can learn from this book. I think it would be fantastic before bed book. (Especially given the science about how the brain remembers things right before sleep!) This is our world and we don’t have another one. It is important. This is our history and there is so much of us all layered and connected. It is important. Giving our children as a big a world view and a deep interest in history can give them the tools to be well educated and enlightened to be compassionate well rounded thinkers.
I love books like this for the kids and adults. I bet there is an endless amount of info!
Looks like there is a lot of info in that one book. My grandkids are into dinosaurs, robots and everything in between so I’m sure they would learn a lot by reading this book.
I really like this book and think it would be a great collection to my grandchildren library. Couple of them are still to young to read yet but their parents can always read it to them.
Oh cool, this sounds like a great book for kids. I can see my daughter loving it. I might have to add it under the tree!
I love giving books as gifts for my nephews and nieces. This sounds like a great book for kids.
This looks like a neat book. I like hearing book reviews to see if it would work for our family before buying it. I may have to get this one for Christmas.
Thanks for all the recommendations. I am always looking for new books to read and to get for my kids.
I just love this recommendation. I am all about buying books for kids, so going to grab some soon!
My kids always loved fun and informative books like this one. I need to get this one for my granddaughter.
What a fun book for kids! My nephew would really enjoy this. But truth be told, I’d love to read this too. 🙂
I am in love with this book! I bet it will be the next greatest hit, just like Where’s Waldo!
I bet my kiddo would love this book. He loves random information.
I swear it isn’t random though, it is so well laid out. It should near be called “The story of everything” LOL
Absolutely Everything seems to incorporate absolutely everything under the sun and beyond. It also looks ideal with illustrations and simple examples for kids. Definitely, the books seems to have encyclopedic proportions.
This is my first time hearing of this book. This book would be perfect for my nephew. He loves reading.
A book with dinosaurs and robots! This should be so interesting and perfect for any kid!
That book sounds like it will be a great Christmas gift! I have several nieces and nephews who would love this book!
The book looks so good. I think my kids will appreciate this one. Kids love such history and planet topics too.
This book sounds amazing. I bet there are lots of interesting info we can learn from this.
Sounds like a great book. I’m sure my little kiddos would love it, they love dinos and reading so we are trying to get them some new books!
Cool. We love books and I think we’ll need to add this to our list.
I know a few kids who would love this book! I love learning along with my kids!
Books are something I can absolutely get lost in. This is a great recommend for others to get lost in.