Since the bottom fell out of the multi-volume encyclopedia market, Britannica, the grandaddy of them all, has had to reinvent itself. With great success. I’ve reviewed a number of great Britannica books aimed at younger audiences, buy this latest arrival might be my favorite of them all. For, in its infinite (or at least many-tomed) wisdom, Britannica has married knowledge with pictures to create the Encyclopedia Infographica. And what self-respecting geek doesn’t love an infographic?
Reference books are always popular as gifts for the holiday season and this one is a doozy. There’s still just about time to grab a copy!
What Is Britannica’s: Encyclopedia Infographica?
The rather long subtitle for the book is “1,000s of facts and figures about Earth, space, animals, the body technology & more, revealed in pictures.” Not the snappiest of taglines, but it tells you everything you need to know.
In over 300 pages of beautifully bound hardback, we’ll find 6 sections and 200 infographics that do exactly what it says on the cover. The book is stuffed full of that geek manna – data; all beautifully represent in pictures.
The 6 sections are:
- Space. – Star, planets, black holes.
- Land, Sea, Sky. – Volcanoes, lightning, rocks, and rivers.
- Living Planet. – Trees, fossils, energy and ecology.
- Animals. – From the tiniest to the mightiest.
- Human Body. – Muscles, bones, and brains.
- Human World. – Cars, inventions, war, and books.
At the end of each section you’ll find a scavenger hunt quiz, which is a great way to help you remember what you’ve learned or a good way to prompt diving into the book, in order to learn something new – For example: How much faster than a jet airplane does did the dino-killing asteroid travel?
Like all good reference books the Encyclopedia Infographica closes out with a comprehensive list of sources, a glossary, and a full index. There is also an excellent little section of other great places to find infographics, including, not least, my favorite infographic of all, the Periodic Table.
Why Read Encyclopedia Infographica?
As parents, we know that books have to fight hard for our children’s attention. I love books, but much to my chagrin, my children aren’t so keen. It’s much easier for them to entertain themselves on the internet. The same is true when it goes to homework. Why search in a book, when there’s Google? There is nothing wrong with this, of course, and I must concede, the internet often provides the best way to find a specific piece of information.
What the internet is bad for, is jumping from page to page, learning things you never intended to learn.
The term “browser” is misleading, because whilst we might find answers to our questions, we don’t browse. We consume. All too often, gorging on nutritionless pap, sprayed out through the social media meat grinder. This phenomenon could certainly be the subject of a much longer discussion post, but for the purpose of this review, we have all experienced losing half an hour to the almighty algorithm.
Encyclopedia Infographica has no algorithm. It has page after page of curated information, presented in a way that attracts its reader’s attention. Once you’ve finished a page, you can’t help but think “what else is in here?” and before long, it’s captured you. You are the browser. This isn’t an information superhighway but it is a weighty tome full of extremely interesting facts. It’s designed to help you lose half an hour too, but hopefully, when you’ve finished, you’ve learned what the largest star in the universe is or discovered what the 5 mass extinctions were and not just looked at pictures of cats.
There’s so much fascinating stuff in here, the book is very easy to wax lyrical about. The infographic presentation makes all that lovely information accessible and engaging. The Encyclopedia Inforgraphica is 100% the sort of book grandparents or aunts and uncles love to buy for their young relatives. On opening, said young relatives will possibly roll their eyes, and put the book aside in search of more immediate thrills.
Long after the gift-wrapping has been tidied away, and the sugar rush has worn off, Encyclopedia Infographica will be waiting. It will draw in inquisitive children and keep them hooked on the wonders of the universe. This is a book that is perfect for helping out with homework, and ideal for any child with an interest in the world around them. Once again, What on Earth Books and Britannica have delivered.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Encyclopedia Infographica you can do so here, in the US, and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
