Somewhere around the 70 page mark or so, this starts getting TOUGH to follow.

BUT. That's not the author's fault - cells and the biology of life as it turns out are really complicated and almost everything about them is ironically incredibly foreign and alien to us. I will flatter myself slightly that I am at least as knowledgeable on the subject of this book as any person who took biology in a public high school and didn't goof off more than 50% of the time. As a result, I had some familiar terms and jargon to hang on to. A few times, the author would describe a process and a vague light in the back of my head turned on as my brain rifled through the archives for knowledge gained and stored nearly two decades ago.

All of which is to say that for a book that seems to want to market itself to the casual reader who wishes to be illuminated on the functions of cells, there is a hell of a learning curve about a third of the way through the book (or sooner or later depending on your educational background). The illustrations are gorgeous and fun to look at - both those drawn by the author and those digitally created by specialized computer programs - which may be a boon to visual learners which I am not. So clearly, this book was in several ways just not made for me.

Despite that, it was plainly obvious that even if I couldn't make sense of every last tidbit of information contained within, that this was a lovingly crafted book. It is dense and scientific, and the scaffolding of knowledge doesn't quite work out in as straight a line as it could, but for all its flaws, the author's love for the subject matter shines through. If you are a visual learner and have a better basic grasp of biology than I did going in, you'll love this.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Experiment for advanced access to this book set to be published December 2, 2025 at time of writing.

With scientific imaging and colorful illustrations, this book shows and tells the magic of the cell and the microbial world. A large undertaking, the book is ambitious and broad in scope. The author covers topics from lipids to cancer to chloroplasts.

The illustrations are gorgeous, this would be a fun coffee table book for the biologist in your life. The text is very dry, but the audience is not people trying to learn microbiology so it works. There is a fun mixed media element with many qr codes to external resources.

2.75/5

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for advanced access to the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

As a visual learner, I found this book to be a brilliant companion to everything I once learned in school. It combines scientific knowledge, engaging illustrations, and clear explanations in a way that’s both accessible and fascinating. I like how it presents the history of life in chronological order, making complex concepts easier to grasp and remember.

A great pick for readers who enjoy learning through visuals and want to connect the dots across biology, evolution, and earth sciences.

Wow. Older children, parents, adults, students scientists, schools and libraries you should definitely get this book.

We can all think of those information books that are bland and so dense they are a struggle to get to page two, let alone the end.

This is NOT a boring book!!! The complete opposite.

I’ve been cover to cover, twice. And I think I’m going to be looking at bits of this everyday for a long time.

On receiving the book. I was mesmerised by the cover and illustrations. Colourful, eye-catching and detailed, and perfectly chosen to match the text. In fact when I opened the book I just went through it looking at the pictures.

Then the text. Everything you could wish to know about cells is here. Split up into many short sections. The history of cell discovery - it’s here. The Scientists who made the discoveries - they are here, including some gems forgotten in the history of who actually made the discovery. What is a cell - it’s here. What types of cells are there - it’s here. How cells function - it’s here. The breadth of how cells and life came about - it’s here. I could go on and on.

Okay these things are in other books too. Yes. But I’ve never before seen such an accessible dive into the fantastic world of Cells as presented in these pages.

As I said previously. This is the book to get!

Thank you to The Experiment and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I haven’t read a science non-fiction book in a good long while, and this one brought my fondness for them flooding back!

Whether you’re a seasoned scientist or an interested science reader, it’s a perfect read. You might have left science at school, or are maybe undertaking a life science or biology related course at university - perhaps science is your full-time day job, there’s something in this book for everyone. It’s a fab whistle stop tour through all things life. It also goes into a lot of depth which surprised me, as I thought it would be more basic but was more than pleasantly surprised as to how much detail this had!

Reading this really makes you appreciate not only the subtle complexities of life but also the sheer luck that we are even here! We follow the tale for the origin of life, how cells came to be, a quick blip into chemistry and physics and a toe thoroughly dipped into biology.

And of course, all accompanied by some absolutely stunning illustrations and images that really made reading this a breeze. It’s also reaffirmed my love for fluorescence microscopy as those images are just stunning and I also loved that there were interactive QR codes to further get you into the subject material.

Whilst I had this as an ebook, books like these are perfect to have in your hands! It’s even easier to appreciate the whole book and would be an impressive addition to any a bookshelf.