Uses humor in both text and illustrations to describe how antibiotics were developed and what methods were used to fight infections and disease before antibiotics were available.

Uses humor in both text and illustrations to describe the history of books and how important they have been to civilization.

Uses humor in both text and illustrations to describe what it would be like to live without clean water and describes how people access water and the importance of making sure that water is not polluted or wasted.

Uses humor in both text and illustrations to describe what it would be like to live without the electric power that makes modern life possible.

"Sticking sharp needles into small children doesn't sound like a nice thing to do -- but sometimes you have to 'be cruel to be kind.' Since the 18th century, vaccinations have saved millions of people from deadly diseases. In the future, as new techniques are invented, we might even be able to give vaccines without that needle"--Back cover.

Money allows people to exchange goods and services. How would you buy things without money? A simple timeline provides an easily understood history of money.

Soaps and detergents are among the great benefits of modern life. They help to keep us comfortable and save us from smelling unpleasant, but above all, they help to protect us from the germs that cause infectious diseases. Learn how soap works, how it is made, and how much harder life would be if we really did have to live without it.

"How would you know what time it was without clocks? How would you buy things without money? It's hard to imagine what life would be like today without the inventions and discoveries that we take for granted, from the humble bar of soap to the fantastic complexity of the Internet. Combining history with science, this series explains how these products of human ingenuity have transformed our world" --

Without coding, all the computers in the world would just be useless boxes of plastic and metal. You could feed information into them, but they wouldnt know what to do with it. Coding means creating a set of instructions (or algorithms) that tells a computer how to perform a task. Another word for coding is programming. Learn about how much we rely on coding in our daily lives to control things such as smartphones and laptops, kitchen appliances,...