Books with author Professor Alex Woolf

It's August 1914. You are 16-year-old Tommy Atkins, living in London. Set against a backdrop of the war just broken out in Europe, find out what your life was like after joining up and being sent to the trenches. From sharing your bed with rats and lice to a diet of bully beef, bread and biscuits, discover why you really wouldn't want to be a soldier living in a trench during World War One. Handy hints include how to protect your feet from trenchfoot, how to use pigeons as spies, and how to detect enemy tunnelling beneath your trench.

Rome in the year 83 AD is the setting of this fun book, a blend of fiction and history. Readers explore the bustling city, including important Roman landmarks such as the Forum and the Colosseum. They interview a senator, a soldier, a gladiator, a slave, and an engineer among others and learn about many intriguing aspects of their lives. Roman medicines such as boiled liver and foods such as giant snails are just some of the interesting details discussed about this ancient culture.

What if we didn't have snot and mucus? The insides of our bodies would be very dry, and we would find it hard to digest our food. We would also quickly become sick, because mucus protects us from dirt in the air that we breathe. But what exactly is this sticky, slimy stuff and why do we produce more of it when we have a cold? And what do animals like slugs and snails do with their mucus? You might find it a bit gross, but you wouldn't want to live without it! You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Snot! is part of a brand-new science and technology strand within the internationally acclaimed You Wouldn't Want to Be series. The clear, engaging text and humorous illustrations bring the subject to life and stimulate young readers' curiosity about the world around them.

Rome in the year 83 AD is the setting of this fun book, a blend of fiction and history. Readers explore the bustling city, including important Roman landmarks such as the Forum and the Colosseum. They interview a senator, a soldier, a gladiator, a slave, and an engineer among others and learn about many intriguing aspects of their lives. Roman medicines such as boiled liver and foods such as giant snails are just some of the interesting details discussed about this ancient culture.

Imagine a world without books. You would have no information about the world outside, except what you could learn from travellers. You would know nothing about the past, except what storytellers could remember. The book is a truly amazing data storage device, yet most of us take it for granted. Find out how it has developed over the centuries, and how it is being reinvented for the future.

Many dangerous diseases are carried by bacteria - tiny organisms that can get into the body and multiply inside it. Bacteria breed in unhygienic environments, but soap can be used to keep our surroundings and bodies clean and healthy, keeping bacteria at bay. This book tells the story of how soap was invented, and its impact on our quality of life. You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Soap! is part of a brand-new science and technology strand within the internationally acclaimed You Wouldn't Want to Be series, created and designed by David Salariya.