The Knowledge

As the scouts say be prepared! Say your prayers that you never need this book -- Bear Grylls A glorious compendium of the knowledge we have lost in the living This is the most inspiring book Ive read in a long time -- Peter Forbes * Independent * An extraordinary achievement... It is a great read even if civilisation does not collapse. If it does, it will be the sacred text of the new world Dartnell that worlds first great prophet * The Times * The ultimate do-it-yourself guide to rebooting human civilization * Nature * A terrifically engrossing history of science and technology -- Steven Poole * Guardian * Impeccably researched and beautifully written, The Knowledge makes me proud of all we humans have achieved - and dismayed at how much we have to lose. You need to read this book -- Stephen Baxter Dartnell makes the technology and science of everyday life in our civilization fascinating and understandable. This book may or may not save your life but it'll certainly make it more interesting. This the book we all wish we'd been given at school: The Knowledge that makes everything else make sense -- Ken MacLeod, author of Descent A marvelously astounding work: In one graceful swoop, Lewis Dartnell takes our multi-layered, interconnected modern world, shows how fragile its scaffolding is, and then lays out a how-to guide for starting over from scratch. Imagine Zombieland told by Neil deGrasse Tyson and you'll get some sense of what a delight The Knowledge is to read -- Seth Mnookin, New York Times bestselling author of The Panic Virus and associate director of MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing A remarkable and panoramic view of how civilization actually works -- Roger Highfield of the Science Museum This book is useful if civilization collapses, and entertaining if it doesn't. After the cometary impact it may save your life, and if it doesn't at least you'll know why you perished -- S. M. Stirling

LEWIS DARTNELL is a UK Space Agency research fellow at the University of Leicester, in the field of astrobiology and the search for signs of life on Mars. He has won several awards for his science writing, and contributes to the Guardian, The Times and New Scientist. He has also written for television and appeared on BBC Horizon, Sky News, Wonders of the Universe, Stargazing Live, and The Sky at Night. A tireless populariser of science, his theory on how the heisters could have saved the gold bullion in the cliff-hanging ending of The Italian Job was mocked on Have I Got News For You. His two previous books are Life in the Universe: a Beginners Guide and the illustrated childrens book My Tourists Guide to the Solar System and Beyond. When the world ends, he will be ready to start again.