'Almost Everyone's Guide to Science' was the first 'grown-up' science book I ever read; having miraculously saved enough pocket money, my ten-year-old self plucked a copy from the shelves of WHSmith and spent the next week or so reading and rereading it, almost obsessively. I simply loved it. Thirteen years on I can't recall the book's contents in any detail, but the effect it had on me as a child was significant: not only did I thoroughly enjoy reading it but it undoubtedly fuelled my later enthusiasm for all areas of science. So, risking some form of retrospective arrogance, I would say that this is a wonderful book for any precociously-literate child with a spark of enthusiasm for the subject.

Well done with excellent narrative descriptions of the microcosmic world. The book mostly talks about chemistry though and is not really a true guide to science as a whole. ( )