The Book of Big Science Ideas: From Atoms to AI and from Gravity to Genes… How Science Shapes our World

* 2021 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in Middle Grade Longlist

A fact packed celebration of science from the clever people who bring you AQUILA magazine. The Book of Big Science Ideas introduces young readers, aged 8 and up, to 15 brilliant science ideas and more than 50 ingenious thinkers who have helped shape our understanding of the world.

What is everything made of? What is our place in space? Can machines think? And why does your hat come hurtling back down after you've chucked it into the air? This book has the answers! 

Readers will learn all about established ideas such as atoms, electricity and the solar system, as well as ideas that are still evolving such as gravity, energy and classification, right up to recent discoveries like AI and genetics.

Each big idea is explored over two double-page spreads: the first explains the idea in rich detail and with plenty of bright and engaging illustrations and diagrams, while the second spread introduces readers to the key scientists and thinkers who helped shape the idea with fun portraits for each one. Thinkers include, Wang Zhenyi, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, James Joule, Rosalind Franklin, Charles Darwin, Aristotle, Edith Clarke, Isaac Newton, Grace Hopper, Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace and many, many more!

Spreads on why ideas matter, the scientific method, future ideas and even more scientists to discover are also included, and a detailed timeline and glossary of scientific terms ensure that readers have the tools to really get to grips with the concepts.

This is the perfect book for science-loving kids everywhere.

Freya Hardy, lives in Eastbourne with her husband and twin daughters. She has edited AQUILA Magazine, a publication for bright and inquiring 8–13 year olds, since 2013.

Sara Mulvanny studied Illustration at Kingston University, London, and now lives in Hampshire, UK. Sara’s charming illustrative style is inspired by the age of Art Deco illustration and muted colour palettes.