The Bedtime Book of Impossible Questions

How does gravity work? Why do we need eyebrows? Do animals have imaginations? What’s the opposite of spider? These are just some of the impossible questions posed and answered in this excellent and thoroughly engaging information book. There are generally one or two questions per page, all accompanied by bright inviting illustrations, and the tone is infectiously enthusiastic, encouraging readers – or listeners, as it’s pitched as ideal for bedtime – to think about the answers and come up with more questions. Indeed, it opens with the premise that science is all about asking questions and demonstrates that each ‘impossible’ question asked is a stepping stone on the path to ‘understanding the universe and everything in it’. While it encourages this asking of questions, it also reassures readers that there’s no such thing as a perfect answer, and that some puzzles including, rather alarmingly, ‘how do aeroplanes fly?’, are impossible to solve. Certain to appeal equally to the always and the sometimes curious, this is a book you’ll want to return to again and again.