The Knowledge

If the world as we know it ended tomorrow, how would you survive?

A nuclear war, viral pandemic or asteroid strike.

As the scouts say – be prepared! Say your prayers that you never need this book

A glorious compendium of the knowledge we have lost in the living… This is the most inspiring book I’ve read in a long time

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 world’s first great prophet

The ultimate do-it-yourself guide to ‘rebooting’ human civilization

A terrifically engrossing history of science and technology

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

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

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

A remarkable and panoramic view of how civilization actually works

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

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 Beginner’s Guide and the illustrated children’s book My Tourist’s Guide to the Solar System and Beyond . When the world ends, he will be ready to start again.