For the record, science was never my thing. I took environmental science in high school, learning about nature and the environment rather than studying the periodic table or dissecting a frog. My knowledge comes from reading, hanging out at the Ontario Science Centre and looking up information for my eight year old who has a thirst for all things science and dreams of being a chemist.

So it was with him in mind that I requested DK Smithsonian Science Year by Year, A Visual History from stone tools to space travel ($31.99). However, it has been me who has spent a fair bit of time flipping through the years – from the time before science to the modern science.

Each double page spread offers a 10-year timeline with a number of inventions and discoveries. Each timeline also offers highlights about an invention or a person, including a short bio of “Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), the daughter of English poet Lord Bryon and a mathematician who worked with English inventor Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computer machine. Lovelace wrote the world’s first computer program in1843, and the modern programming language Ada is named after her.”

I find that completely amazing.

There is information about great scientist including Charles Darwin and Marie Curie as well as more detailed information about such things as the story of the atom or engines. There is so much information in this book, which shows the genius of humans and our quest to make the world a better place.

A copy of this book was provided by DK Books for an honest review. The opinions are my own.