Here is the essential guide to biology, an authoritative reference book and timeline that examines how we have uncovered the secrets of life-the most complex process in the Universe.

From the workings of molecules to the way entire oceans or continents of lifeforms interact, biology seeks to understand how it is that something can be alive, how it fends off death and how it leaves more life in its wake. We follow the journey through the history of life science to find out why the dolphin got its name (it is the ‘womb fish’), how a seven-foot strand of DNA is able to build your body, and what gives a lobster its blue blood.

The great names, such as Darwin and Linnaeus, are joined by lesser known discoverers, such as Karl von Frisch who discovered that bees dance, and Jan Baptist van Helmont who found a plant uses air and water to grow. Biology today is still very much a live science, finding a purpose in robot design and helping us to understand non-living complex systems like the Internet. Biology has changed the way we understand ourselves. What will it tell us next?

• Contains 100 chronological articles that tell the story of biology from the dawn of history to the present day

• Authoritative text, exciting imagery and helpful diagrams accompany each of the steps along the way

• Biographies of great life scientists and a chart of the tree of life

• A simple guide to biology draws together current understanding to set out the basics of the science

• The Imponderables looks at what questions biology still needs to answer.

Also contains a 24-page removable foldout concertina neatly housed at the back of the book. This fold-out concertina includes a 12-page Timeline History of Biology and 12 full pages of amazing electron micrographs called Our Hidden World.