Book review: 'National Geographic Science Encyclopedia' is a treasure trove of information

You guys, my internet has been super spotty all day today. As in, it would pretend it's loading a web page then bomb out and say it lost the connection. So irritating. I didn't realize how dependent I was on the www until today.

Anyway.

This book. Wow, National Geographic has outdone itself.

First of all, you could read a page in this book for almost a year and never get bored. The amount of information in, "National Geographic Science Encyclopedia" is staggering.

But want to know what's cool about all this info? It's not boring. This book was written with kids in mind and it's colorful, has amazing photography (does me drooling over NG stuff ever get old? Because looking at it hasn't gotten old at all), and talks about cool sciencey, nerdy stuff.

Image used with permission by Media Masters Publicity

"Science Encyclopedia" is divided into physical science and life science sections. And then in those sections there are many other divisions. Readers can learn about dinosaurs, metals, who Einstein was, time warps, force, electromagnetism, color, electronics, galaxies, weird little sea creatures (one of them seriously looked like it could be on that 80s movie, "Flight of the Navigator"), muscles, predators, DNA strands, plate tectonics, and should I go on!?

And, interspersed all throughout the book are funny little tidbits, helping all this science seem a little more approachable and even funny.

The only problem with this book is, despite its size, it can have a tendency of getting lost. I've had this volume for a few weeks now and there were several days worth of stretches where I couldn't find it.

I finally figured out the problem: my kids kept taking it and squirreling it away in their rooms. Once I figured out my kids were scarfing all kinds of educational knowledge down, I didn't get so upset about it going missing for days at a time.

Bottom line: "Science Encyclopedia" makes nerdy stuff cool, interesting, and really pretty (again with my obsession regarding NG photography).

This book has nothing offensive in it and can keep kids entertained for hours, if not days. Also, because of the breadth of knowledge it contains, this book is a perfect jumping off point for any kind of scientific wondering and information finding. Although "Science Encyclopedia" doesn't go into detail about most subjects, it does explain them in kid-friendly ways and give enough information to make readers feel like they have a grasp on things. Beware though, many readers will probably end up wanting to know more.