Explore the worlds of science and nature in this beautifully illustrated reference guide for curious young readers, featuring lavish artwork by Marc Pattenden. Delve into fascinating subjects such as animals and plants, space and telescopes, electricity and magnetism, the human body and its cells. You will discover living things from microscopic bacteria to the world´s largest animal, the blue whale, which grows to 29.9 m (98 ft) long. You can find out about atoms, which are the building blocks of everything from hissing snakes to super-hot stars more than 2 billion km (1.2 billion miles) wide. You will find out how seeds grow and black holes destroy, why balls bounce and ice melts. Based on the latest understanding of the natural sciences, from physics to chemistry, biology to geology, medicine to ecology, this is a definitive guide to nature, the planet, space, and everything we know to exist. A mind-expanding read for children aged 8+.