Pick Me Up

Just try to put Pick Me Up down--we dare you. Like surfing the Web, it's alarmingly easy to lose oneself in this heavy compendium of "stuff you need to know." It's even designed with Internet-savvy readers in mind. Once you get beyond the dizzying lenticular cover, open to any page. After gawking at the many bright, sharp photos, illustrations, charts, and caption sunbursts, dig in to the meat: blocks (and triangles and circles) of text about everything from how to confuse an angry seagull to a history of medicine to Germany's exports and imports to an exploration of the meaning of life. As you read along, you'll come across underlined and bold-faced words with a page number following. These are the cross references that will send you flying from page to page, ever deeper into understanding the topic du jour. In the spread about wheels, for example, there’s a highlighted reference to "Inca, Aztec, and Mayan civilizations 298." Turn to page 298 and start reading about pyramids and lost cities…then get sidetracked by "fight 154." Suddenly you’re into "rappers 306" and "immune system 86." Get the picture?

Students won't necessarily be able to write entire school reports from Pick Me Up, but they will certainly be able to pepper their papers--and conversation--with unusual and useful facts. Kids and grownups alike will happily spend hours browsing Pick Me Up, always finding something new to marvel over. --Emilie Coulter