How did the world’s earliest civilizations begin, grow, and change?Things You Should Know About Ancient Civilizations takes readers across thousands of years of human history, from the first cities and kingdoms to powerful empires across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.Through a question-and-answer format, the book examines Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Kush, the Indus Valley, Ancient India, Ancient China, the Minoans and Mycenaeans, Persia, ...

From the wheel and paper to the steam engine, telephone, antibiotics, computers, and space technology, inventions have changed how people live, work, communicate, travel, and solve problems.Things You Should Know About Inventions presents 137 questions and answers covering the history and development of major inventions across human history.The book covers early human technologies, writing and printing, timekeeping and navigation, farming, machines, transportation,...

How did Europe change after the fall of the Western Roman Empire? What was feudalism really like? Who were the Vikings, and why did the Crusades begin? How did castles, trade, religion, universities, plague, war, and new technologies affect medieval society?Things You Should Know About the Middle Ages presents 198 questions and answers covering roughly a thousand years of European history, from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries.The book examines the end of Roman...

Engineering turns scientific and mathematical knowledge into structures, machines, systems, and technologies used across modern society.Things You Should Know About Engineering explains the subject through a question-and-answer format, starting with the basic principles of engineering and moving through design, measurement, mechanics, materials, and the major engineering fields.Readers will learn how bridges carry loads, how machines transfer energy, how electrical...

Numbers are everywhere. They help us count, measure, calculate, compare quantities, record information, and describe patterns. But behind familiar numbers lies a much larger mathematical system filled with surprising ideas.Things You Should Know About Numbers presents 258 questions and answers covering the mathematics, properties, systems, and history of numbers.The book begins with counting numbers, place value, zero, positive and negative...

Things You Should Know About the Roman Empire presents the history of one of the ancient world’s most powerful empires through a question-and-answer format.Discover how Rome changed from a republic into an empire, how Augustus became its first emperor, and how later rulers governed territories stretching across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Learn about Roman armies, conquest, frontiers, citizenship, law, cities, engineering, trade, social classes, slav...

Have you ever wondered how a refrigerator stays cold, how a touchscreen detects your finger, or how a contactless payment works?Things You Should Know About How Everyday Things Work explains the science, engineering, mechanics, and technology behind familiar objects and systems through 120 questions and answers.The book covers electricity in the home, batteries, plumbing, heating and cooling, refrigerators, cooking appliances, washing machines, locks, eleva...

Language is everywhere, but how does it actually work? Why do languages have grammar? How do speech sounds become words? Why do meanings change? And how can children learn complex language systems so early?Things You Should Know About Language examines human language through 317 questions and answers. It covers speech sounds, pronunciation, word formation, grammar, meaning, context, writing systems, the origins and history of language, language families, dialects, ...

Human history stretches across thousands of years, from the earliest human communities to the major political and social changes of the twentieth century.Things You Should Know About World History presents 240 questions and answers covering major civilizations, empires, religions, conflicts, trade networks, revolutions, migrations, technologies, and political developments from across the world.Discover how agriculture changed human societies, why the first cities d...

Electricity is everywhere, from the current flowing through a wire to the electrical signals inside the human body. But what exactly is electricity, and how do electrical systems work?Things You Should Know About Electricity explains the subject through 258 questions and answers covering electric charge, static electricity, current, voltage, resistance, circuits, electrical energy, magnetism, AC and DC, generators, the electrical grid, household electricity, batter...

Why do tectonic plates move? How are mountains built? What makes one rock different from another? And how can fossils reveal events from millions of years ago?Things You Should Know About Geology answers 244 questions about the Earth and the forces that keep changing it. From minerals, crystals, and the rock cycle to earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion, glaciers, groundwater, fossils, geological time, and natural resources, each entry explains one part of geology in easy-to-fo...

Ancient Greece was a world of rival city-states, powerful armies, famous thinkers, dramatic wars, mythology, religion, art, theatre, science, and political change.Things You Should Know About Ancient Greece presents 285 questions and answers covering Greek history from the Minoans and Mycenaeans to Athens, Sparta, the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War, Alexander the Great, and the Hellenistic period.The book also examines family and society, slavery, trad...