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The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World

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Contributors

By Dylan Thuras

By Jennifer Swanson

Illustrated by Ruby Fresson

Formats and Prices

Price

$19.99

Price

$25.99 CAD

Format

Hardcover

Format:

Hardcover $19.99 $25.99 CAD

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The team behind the bestselling Atlas Obscura presents a kids’ illustrated STEM-oriented exploration of the world’s most interesting technologies, inventions, and scientific discoveries.
 
Following up on the New York Times bestselling Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid, with more than 200,000 copies in print, here is a globe-spanning history of invention like no other. This illustrated and STEM-oriented exploration of the planet’s 94 most interesting inventions and scientific discoveries sends middle-grade readers on an unforgettable trip around the planet and across time.
 
Each spread focuses on a world-changing technology and how it led to or influenced the tech or discovery on the next page. Starting with the very first invention, fire, readers will spelunk the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa for evidence of humankind’s earliest control of flames, then learn how fire is necessary to create another essential tech: glass, including the modern-day glass bridge in Zhangjiajie, China, that offers a crystal-clear (and terrifying!) view of the chasm 1,300 feet below.
 
As you gaze at comets through telescopes, create unbreakable codes, zap space garbage with lasers, and break supersonic records in the world’s fastest car, gorgeously illustrated scenes will transport readers across continents and centuries into a world of wonder and discovery.

Genre:

On Sale
Aug 12, 2025
Page Count
112 pages
Publisher
Workman Publishing Company
ISBN-13
9781523516889

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Dylan Thuras

Dylan Thuras

About the Author

Dylan Thuras is the cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura. He lives in Rosendale, NY.

This author is represented by the Hachette Speakers Bureau.

Learn more about this author

Jennifer Swanson

About the Author

Jennifer Swanson is an award-winning children’s author of more than forty-five nonfiction and fiction books, including National Geographic Kids Brain Games and Outdoor School: Rocks, Fossils, and Shells (a Kirkus Reviews Best Book), as well as the co-author of The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for Inventing the World. She is also the creator and co-host of the award-winning podcast Solve It for Kids. When not writing, Jennifer loves to walk along the ocean watching for dolphins and sea turtles near her home in Florida. Visit her online at jenniferswansonbooks.com and @jenswanbooks.
 
Veronica Miller Jamison is the illustrator of A Computer Called Katherine (written by Suzanne Slade)—which received state nominations from Arkansas and Pennsylvania, and was named a Best STEM Book and an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the NSTA and CBC—and This Is a School (written by John Schu). Veronica spent nearly a decade in broadcast news before embarking on a career in illustration and fashion and currently works as a print designer for Lilly Pulitzer. Veronica grew up immersed in the stories of her family’s history in the south and Caribbean. She invites you to visit her online at veronicajamisonart.com.

Learn more about this author