Books by Jack Challoner

The Atom: A Visual Tour (The MIT Press)

by Jack Challoner

An accessible and engaging guide to the atom, the smallest, most fundamental constituent of matter.
Until now, popular science has relegated the atom to a supporting role in defining the different chemical elements of the periodic table. In this book, Jack Challoner places the atom at center stage. The Atom investigates the quest to identify the smallest, most fundamental constituents of matter—and how that quest helps us to understand what everything is made of and how it all works. Challoner covers a wide range of topics—including the development of scientific thinking about atoms and the basic structure of atoms; how atomic interactions account for the familiar properties of everyday materials; the power of the atomic nucleus; and what the mysterious quantum realm of subatomic particles can tell us about the very nature of reality.
Illustrated in color throughout, The Atom offers clear answers to questions we have all pondered, as well as some we have never even dreamed of. It describes the amazing discoveries scientists have made about the fundamental building blocks of matter—from quarks to nuclear fission to the “God particle”—and explains them accessibly and concisely. The Atom is the engaging and straightforward introduction to the topic that we didn't get in school.

Water: A Visual and Scientific History

by Jack Challoner

The story of the most abundant substance on Earth, from its origins in the birth of stars billions of years ago to its importance in the living world.

Water is so ubiquitous in our lives that it is easy to take for granted. The average American uses ninety gallons of water a day; nearly every liquid we encounter is mostly water--milk, for example, is 87 percent water. Clouds and ice--water in other forms--affect our climate. Water is the most abundant substance on Earth, and the third-most abundant molecule in the universe. In this lavishly illustrated volume, science writer Jack Challoner tells the story of water, from its origins in the birth of stars to its importance in the living world.
Water is perhaps the most studied compound in the universe--although mysteries about it remain--and Challoner describes how thinkers from ancient times have approached the subject. He offers a detailed and fascinating look at the structure and behavior of water molecules, explores the physics of water--explaining, among other things, why ice is slippery--and examines the chemistry of water. He investigates photosynthesis and water's role in evolutionary history, and discusses water and weather, reviewing topics that range from snowflake science to climate change. Finally, he considers the possibility of water beyond our own hydrosphere--on other planets, on the Moon, in interstellar space.

DK Eyewitness Books: Hurricane & Tornado

by Jack Challoner

Now in Paperback!
Eyewitness: Hurricane & Tornado is a compelling guide to nature's most dangerous and destructive forces. Striking images, models and illustrations offer a unique view of catastrophic weather conditions allowing readers to see into the eye of a cyclone, witness hailstones the size of tennis balls, and learn how a gentle mountain stream can become a raging surge within a few minutes. Learn the techniques developed through the centuries to forecast weather, see a chicken that was stripped of its feathers by a tornado, and how human activity can cause weather patterns to change.
For over 25 years, DK's Eyewitness books have been the most trusted nonfiction series in classrooms, libraries, and homes around the world. In summer 2014 this award-winning series will get a fresh new look both inside and out. The introduction of paperback editions, eye-catching jackets, and updated interiors ensure that the Eyewitness series will continue to be relevant in the ever-changing world of education and remain the go-to source for homework help, research projects, reluctant readers, ESL students, and, as always, to satisfy the minds of curious kids.
Supports the Common Core State Standards.

DK Eyewitness Books: Hurricane & Tornado

by Jack Challoner

Eyewitness: Hurricane & Tornado is a compelling guide to nature's most dangerous and destructive forces. Striking images, models and illustrations offer a unique view of catastrophic weather conditions allowing readers to see into the eye of a cyclone, witness hailstones the size of tennis balls, and learn how a gentle mountain stream can become a raging surge within a few minutes. Learn the techniques developed through the centuries to forecast weather, see a chicken that was stripped of its feathers by a tornado, and how human activity can cause weather patterns to change.
For over 25 years, DK's Eyewitness books have been the most trusted nonfiction series in classrooms, libraries, and homes around the world. In summer 2014 this award-winning series will get a fresh new look both inside and out. The introduction of paperback editions, eye-catching jackets, and updated interiors ensure that the Eyewitness series will continue to be relevant in the ever-changing world of education and remain the go-to source for homework help, research projects, reluctant readers, ESL students, and, as always, to satisfy the minds of curious kids.

Science: The Definitive Visual Guide

by David Burnie, Robert Dinwiddie, Giles Sparrow, Jack Challoner, Carole Stott, Marcus Weeks, David Hughes

This remarkable reference book tells the story of science from earliest times to the present day, taking in everything from ancient Greek geometry to quantum physics, and the wedge to the worldwide web. Exploring science in a thematic, highly approachable manner, each spread takes as its theme a specific event, discovery, invention, experiment, theory, or individual and explains why this subject was so significant in the development of scientific thought and what its impact on history has been. In addition to providing a broad-ranging and comprehensive history of science, the book also explains how science works, employing DK's trademark clarity and visual ingenuity to render tricky scientific subjects easily comprehensible.

Science is structured chronologically with five chapters covering major phases in world history from ancient times to the present day, with an eye to the future. Within these chapters, subjects are arranged in discrete spreads, each of which takes a key scientific concept, event, discovery, or process as its subject. These spreads are framed by "Before" and "After" panels that place the subject in context, revealing the causes and consequences that surround it. Panels and feature spreads highlight key figures and inventions in the history of science, while major scientific breakthroughs are also pulled out as special features. An extensive reference section sets out key scientific principles and formula, and contains essential graphics, such as the periodic table.

DK Eyewitness Books: Energy

by Jack Challoner

With more than twenty million copies sold in forty languages in ninety countries worldwide, DK Eyewitness been the most trusted young adult nonfiction book series for more than thirty years. Visually engaging, informative, and lively, the one-hundred-plus titles in the Eyewitness series focus on subjects that complement students' personal interests and areas of study to make learning simple and fun. The most trusted nonfiction series for teachers, librarians, and parents Wall charts and clip art CDs are perfect for school projects and homework help Unique integration of words and pictures make the series an ideal match for reluctant readers and ESL students

1001 Inventions That Changed the World

by Jack Challoner

We take thousands of inventions for granted, using them daily and enjoying their benefits. But how much do we really know about their origins and development? This absorbing new book tells the stories behind the inventions that have changed the world, with details about--

Convenience items, such as safety pins, toothbrushes, and bifocals Weapons of war, including explosives, gunpowder, and shrapnel shells Industrial advances, such as the steam engine and the power loom for weaving Transportation advances, including the airplane, the diesel engine, the automobile, and the air-inflated rubber tire Electronic marvels, including color television, the microprocessor, the personal computer, the compact disc, and the cell phone Medical advances, from antiseptic surgery to the electron microscope. . . and much more.

Inventors and pioneers of science and technology, including Eli Whitney, James Watt, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Bessemer, Thomas Edison, J.B. Dunlop, the Wright Brothers, Werner von Braun, Jonas Salk, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and many others are also discussed. Fascinating photos and illustrations complement authoritative summaries of each invention, and remarkable quotations from many of the inventors add to this chronicle of human ingenuity that began some 6,000 years ago with the invention of the wheel. Approximately 700 photos and illustrations in color and black and white.

Maker Lab: 28 Super Cool Projects (DK Activity Lab)

by Jack Challoner

Supporting STEAM education initiatives and the Maker Movement, the National Parenting Publication Award-winner Maker Lab includes 28 kid-safe projects and crafts that will get young inventors' wheels turning and make science pure fun.
Each step-by-step activity is appropriate for kids ages 8–12, and ranked easy, medium, or hard, with an estimated time frame for completion. Requiring only household materials, young makers can build an exploding volcano, race balloon rocket cars, construct a lemon battery, make sticky slime, and more. Photographs and facts carefully detail the "why" and "how" of each experiment using real-world examples to provide context so kids can gain a deeper understanding of the scientific principles applied.
With a foreword by Jack Andraka, a teen award-winning inventor, Maker Lab will help kids find their inner inventor and create winning projects for school projects, science fairs, and beyond.

Virtual Reality

by Jack Challoner

A new book by the author of Smithsonian Maker Lab that explores the realities of virtual reality, explaining what VR is and how it works. Includes an app download for five exclusive VR experiences and a cardboard viewer with stickers to make it your own.
Learn about the history of VR, from how it was invented to how it is used in the world today—beyond smart phone apps—and how VR headsets play with your senses of sight, sound, and touch to fool you into thinking you are somewhere else. Then use the included VR viewer and smartphone app download to come face-to-face with a T. rex, look inside a volcano, explore the Roman Colosseum, hop aboard the International Space Station, and peek under the surface of a pond.
Created in association with the educational VR company Curiscope, this groundbreaking book from DK explains everything you need to know. Are you ready to be transported?

The Elements: The New Guide to the Building Blocks of Our Universe (Y)

by Jack Challoner

As Carl Sagan memorably put it, “We're made of star stuff.” The Elements: The New Guide to the Building Blocks of Our Universe takes you on a gorgeously illustrated tour of the Periodic Table. Filled with fascinating information about the elements, their main compounds, and their principal uses, this authoritative yet accessible book, written by renowned popular-science writer Jack Challoner, makes “hard” science easy, interesting, and relevant to our daily lives.

Un laboratorio en casa (Maker Lab): Grandes experimentos para futuros científicos (Spanish Edition)

by Jack Challoner

Grandes experimentos para futuros científicos

Este libro de experimentos científicos para niños contiene 28 proyectos brillantes, con explicaciones claras paso a paso, que requieren ingredientes cotidianos que pueden encontrarse en casa y fotografías que guiarán al joven científico desde principio a fin.

Textos informativos explican el por qué y cómo de cada experimento, utilizando ejemplos de la vida real para que los niños entiendan la aplicación de los principios científicos.

Construye un modelo de Sistema Solar con gomas elásticas, consigue que un barco navegue propulsado por jabón, fabrica tu propio slime o inventa la réplica de un volcán en erupción con Un laboratorio en casa, un libro lleno de grandes experimentos de ciencia para futuros científicos.

Crea tu pequeño laboratorio en casa y diviértete experimentando

Este libro de experimentos para niños explora distintas formas de crear y experimentar para que los niños se diviertan aprendiendo tanto en casa como en espacios exteriores. Todos los experimentos recogidos en este libro para niños están diseñados de forma que los puedan realizar con objetos caseros.

Este libro de ciencia para niños y futuros científicos ofrece 28 ideas brillantes, para que puedan experimentar tanto en casa como al aire libre con material casero. Además, cada experimento está anotado con su nivel de dificultad y el tiempo de duración medio.... ¡entretenimiento en casa asegurado!

Este libro es perfecto para que niños de 8 a 12 años se inspiren para proyectos escolares y aprendan divirtiéndose en su tiempo libre.

Un laboratorio en casa, pertenece a la sección infantil de la editorial DK, una sección donde podrás encontrar libros para niños de todas las edades. Los libros de esta sección cuentan con información clara, sencilla y están acompañados de ilustraciones que facilitan la compresión de cada texto. Además, favorecen el aprendizaje y desarrollo de los lectores más jóvenes.

STEM Lab (DK Activity Lab)

by Jack Challoner

From racing wind up cars to making music with a homemade guitar, STEM Lab will excite and inspire curious young minds.

STEM Lab is packed with 25 exciting STEM activities, perfect for firing up kids’ imaginations. Explore and discover beautifully illustrated science activities with an easy to follow guide that will explain how science, technology, engineering and math shape the world around us.

A perfect balance between education and fun, STEM Lab teaches young readers through each experiment, describing the science behind it and providing engaging STEM facts. The richly illustrated activities promote further thinking by suggested "Test and Tweak" notes. Encourage young readers to take their projects to the next level, while furthering their understanding of the science behind it.

Each activity has its own ‘How It Works" section covering STEM principles to help young minds understand answers to their science curiosity, exercising cognitive thinking and problem-solving skills.

Learn The Science Behind 25 Amazing Projects

Science activities for kids that can be done at home. Leap into the exciting world of STEM where Science, Technology, Engineering and Math combine in 25 fun and easy-to-do projects. STEM Lab teaches young readers how to make impressive insulating gloves, stunning spaghetti towers, amazing automations, and explores many more educational activities.

STEM subjects are a crucial part of a child’s education. STEM Lab helps kids to practice STEM principles in a fun and engaging manner, while exercising motor skills and cognitive thinking. The four subject areas this book is based on are interrelated, and by combining them new insights, ideas and solutions to problems emerge. STEM Lab will teach you the principles of engineering and the science behind it.

This STEM filled activity book is organised into four sections:

- Forces and Motion
- Liquids and Reactions
- Shapes and Structures
- Light and Sound

STEM Lab combines fun and learning with hand-on activities that engages STEM principles.

Tech Lab: Awesome Builds for Smart Makers (DK Activity Lab)

by Jack Challoner

This DK children's book for ages 11-14 is brimming with exciting, educational activities and projects that focus on electronics and technology.

Keep your siblings out of your room with a brilliant bedroom alarm, power a propellor motorboat, make a thermoelectric phone charger, build a set of speakers, and construct a crane by following step-by-step instructions and using affordable equipment. Tech Lab will engage budding scientists and engineers as they experiment, invent, trial, and test technology, electronics, and mechanics at home.

Simple steps with clear photographs take readers through the stages of each low-cost project, with fact-filled panels to explain the science behind each one, and to fascinate them with real-world examples.
With an increasing focus across school curricula on encouraging children to explore STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and maths), Tech Lab is the perfect companion for any inquisitive child with an interest in how the worlds of science experiments and technology work, and why."

The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life

by Jack Challoner

The cell is the basic building block of life. In its 3.5 billion years on the planet, it has proven to be a powerhouse, spreading life first throughout the seas, then across land, developing the rich and complex diversity of life that populates the planet today.

With The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life, Jack Challoner treats readers to a visually stunning tour of these remarkable molecular machines. Most of the living things we’re familiar with—the plants in our gardens, the animals we eat—are composed of billions or trillions of cells. Most multicellular organisms consist of many different types of cells, each highly specialized to play a particular role—from building bones or producing the pigment in flower petals to fighting disease or sensing environmental cues. But the great majority of living things on our planet exist as single cell. These cellular singletons are every bit as successful and diverse as multicellular organisms, and our very existence relies on them.

The book is an authoritative yet accessible account of what goes on inside every living cell—from building proteins and producing energy to making identical copies of themselves—and the importance of these chemical reactions both on the familiar everyday scale and on the global scale. Along the way, Challoner sheds light on many of the most intriguing questions guiding current scientific research: What special properties make stem cells so promising in the treatment of injury and disease? How and when did single-celled organisms first come together to form multicellular ones? And how might scientists soon be prepared to build on the basic principles of cell biology to build similar living cells from scratch.

Maker Lab: Outdoors: 25 Super Cool Projects (DK Activity Lab)

by Jack Challoner

Step outside and discover the science that surrounds you!

This fun, fact-filled book is brimming with exciting outdoor experiments to help budding scientists explore the science in their own surroundings. Using household items, construct a water rocket and
blast it skywards to learn about air pressure, or blow giant, long-lasting bubbles to reveal how
surface tension works. Make a worm farm and observe worms tunneling, then build a diamond kite and discover the key to aerodynamics.

Jam-packed with striking photography, step-by-step instructions, and rigorous attention to detail, Maker Lab: Outdoors will make young scientists excited from the get-go! Featuring a foreword by professor and scientist Robert Winston, the book gives a clear ‘how it works’ explanation for each project, revealing the fascinating science behind it, along with real-world examples that show everyday science in action.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your safety goggles and get stuck in to discover:

- 25 outdoor experiments that appeal to young readers aged 9+
- All materials used are inexpensive and easy-to-find
- Crystal-clear instructions are easy-to-follow
- Educational mix of science-themed craft activities and experiments
- Clear explanation of how and why each experiment works

Maker Lab: Outdoors is perfect for inspiring young scientists and outdoor enthusiasts to discover nature, weather, water, earth and sky. The real-world examples provide a context to better understand the scientific principles underlying each experiment young scientists and outdoor enthusiasts, this sensational science book for kids takes readers out of the house on a journey to better understand their world - and beyond.

From the world of weather to water power, nature watching to giant bubbles, this is a must-have science book for every young scientist who is curious about their surroundings, with something for everyone to learn and love!

How Technology Works From Monster Trucks to Mars Rovers

by Clive Gifford, Jack Challoner, Tom Jackson, Dorling Kindersley (COR), Hilary Lamb

Get inside the machinery of the modern world and understand the science that makes it all work with this all-in-one encyclopedia.

Make technology fun, fascinating, and accessible with this inspiring guide for children aged 9+ that explains the machinery of everyday life.

Each page of this detailed encyclopedia will guide kids through the technology that surrounds them. Have you ever been tempted to take the back off your TV? Have you wondered about what's going on beneath your feet on the street where you live? Children can lift the lid on the technology they use all the time but take for granted. It also takes them to places they'll never get the chance to see, such as the inside of a nuclear storage facility or the crew capsule on top of a Moon rocket.

This technology encyclopedia for kids offers:

- Important insights into the science that makes machinery work, explained in an accessible way for 9-12 year olds.
Zoom-ins, pull-outs, cutaways, and sequences that reveal hidden features and explain how things - work.
- Technology at every scale, from your own body to an electric scooter or a national power grid.


How Technology Works takes kids on a journey of discovery, starting with technology at work inside the human body before exploring cities and factories and then blasting off into space. Along the way, they will lose themselves in super-detailed illustrations that reveal amazing hidden things and explain how they work.

Science Year by Year The Ultimate Visual Guide to the Discoveries That Changed the World

by Mary Gribbin, Giles Sparrow, Jack Challoner, John Farndon, Philip Parker, Derek Harvey, Marcus Weeks

This epic journey of scientific discovery starts in ancient times and travels through centuries of invention before fast forwarding into the future.

From simple machines to modern-day marvels, you'll follow incredible illustrated timelines that plot the entire history of science and highlight the most momentous discoveries. A jaw-dropping collection of more than 1,500 photographs, illustrations, maps, and graphics charts the evolution of science year by year, century by century.??

You'll meet influential inventors and famous faces from the past, including Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, and Stephen Hawking. You'll visit places of scientific importance, such as prehistoric cave art, Stonehenge, Hiroshima and the first atomic bomb, the Moon landings, and the Higgs boson particle. These huge events are made simple thanks to eye-catching images, helpful timelines, and accessible, informative text.??

Landmark people and periods are combined in this one stunning volume for children, showcasing the ideas, experiments, and technologies that have shaped our daily lives and transformed the world today.??

Aspiring scientists, get ready for a time traveling trip like no other.

Stem Activity Lab

by Jack Challoner

Dive into science, engineering, and math with these fun and simple experiments for children to do at home.

Bring the science lab into your home with 25 experiments for budding scientists aged 9-12 to get stuck into. Children can build their own projects and experiments with SI Science Activity Lab, which uses easy-to-source materials and combines science with art and craft.

This book of fun science experiments contains clear step-by-step instructions for each project, from racing wind-up cars to making music with a homemade guitar. These projects take young readers through each experiment, describing the science behind it and highlighting STEM facts.

This children's book of science experiments offers:

• 25 hands-on projects that appeals to kids aged 9-12.
• Materials easily found around the home with no specialist equipment needed.
• Information boxes full of fascinating facts and panel stories that explain the science throughout the book.
• A clear explanation how STEM is involved in creating the project or the results of the experiment.

Ideal for kids who are interested in STEM, SI Science Activity Lab features experiments that explain how science, technology, engineering and math shape the world around us. Each activity has its own 'How It Works" section covering STEM principles to help young minds to satisfy their curiosity, stimulating their thinking and problem-solving skills.

More in the series

The Activity Lab series inspires children to get hands-on with learning by creating exciting STEM projects in their favourite subject. If you liked Science Activity Lab, then why not try Dinosaur Activity Lab for budding paleontologists, Cardboard Activity Lab for eco-friendly recycling fun, Space Activity Lab for aspiring astrologists, or Great STEM Projects experiments for all budding scientists?