This is the second edition of Absolutely Everything! It’s a book with everything.
Christopher Lloyd is an historian, educator and an author who loves to talk about ‘big history’, meaning from the Big Bang to the present. You can tell this by the title of this book.
We start with ‘Nothing to Something’, 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. As time passes we follow the forming of The Milky Way, the solar system, how our moon formed, then microscopic life appears in our seas, tectonic plates shuffle the continents, the Earth’s atmosphere changes as cyanobacteria make oxygen and then the Cambrian Explosion occurs 540 million years ago. Not sure what the Cambrian Explosion is? A good reason this book is needed.
Lloyd takes us through time as ‘creatures wriggle out of the sea’, giant lizards rule the world, apes evolve into humans and those humans begin to farm, write and trade. Various religions arise, a calendar is invented. Lloyd follows along right through the Middle Ages, revolutions, colonialism, the Great Wars, to the present where it is ‘to be continued’.
This is a big book to go with the big history, but it’s not overwhelming. Many other books like this present quite small chunks of information on every page. Lloyd presents the information in short sections but with longer written text, so we can read from page to page.
These are brought to life with illustrations, images and photographs making it even more interesting and helping us better learn. He communicates so well with engaging tales of how our world began and evolved into what we know today.
A terrific book for home, the library. An inspiring book to put into the hands of a young, enquiring mind. What better gift than knowledge.
Reviewed by Emily Ross
Age Guide 10+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bestselling author Christopher Lloyd began his career as a journalist with the Sunday Times newspaper. Then, while camping with his family, he had a critical realisation: even with a 1st class degree in history from Cambridge University and experience as a science writer, there was so much about the world he didn’t know. So, he set out to write books that zoom out and tell the big stories, opening readers’ eyes to how seemingly unrelated events fit together and showing them multiple perspectives on the world, all in highly engaging prose and matched with lively illustration and photography.
Now, with several books in print, including the bestselling What on Earth Happened? and Absolutely Everything!, Chris divides his time between writing books and delivering lectures and workshops to schools, literary festivals, and a wide range of other venues around the world. He lives in Tonbridge, Kent, UK, with his wife and two adorable terriers.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Andy Forshaw graduated in graphic design and illustration from London’s Central Saint Martins college, and has worked on numerous online and publishing projects. Since 2010, Andy has created more than 5,000 illustrations for children’s books. When not illustrating, Andy can be found exploring the countryside on his bike. He lives in London.
