Big Countdown

Since landing on planet Earth, Paul Rockett has spent much of his time reading up on the adventures of human life, while also experiencing a few of his own. In his quest to find out more about his chosen home planet, Paul has travelled, doodled, eaten a lot of food, plundered dusty libraries and gazed out of windows. Having gathered together a vast amount of fascinating data, it is now his mission to present as much as he can in interesting ways, so that any passing Martian can see how brilliant life is on Earth.

• 1: There are 70 thousand, million, million, million stars in space1: There are about 200 tredecillion atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere1: There are 100 trillion bacteria living in the human body1: Seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains of sand are on planet Earth1: Hurricanes can release nine trillion litres of rain a day1: Our Solar System is 11 billion km wide1: Over seven billion people live on planet Earth1: There are signs of life from 1,000,000,000 years ago1: 500 million people watched the first moon landing1: 30 million different insects live in the rainforest1: 15 million °C at the centre of the Sun1: There are 1,305,250 known invertebrates in the world1: 700 thousand tribal people live in Brazil1: There are 321,212 species of plant1: Blondes have 146,000 strands of hair on their head1: 64,242 plants estimated at risk of extinction1: The largest vertebrate is 33,000 mm long1: 23,483 football pitches of rainforest are destroyed each day1: We take 20 thousand breaths a day1: It is 11,030 m down to the deepest part of the ocean1: There are 10,820 endangered species in the animal kingdom1: Darwin had 10,000 barnacles in his home1: The longest river measures 6,650 km1: There are 3,000 edible fruits1: All of Earth’s oxygen is renewed by plants every two thousand years1: 1642, the year of Galileo Galilei’s death1: 1,600 giant pandas live in the forests of China1: There are 1,510 active volcanoes in the world1: A pomegranate can have as many as 1,370 seeds1: Ladybirds migrate over a distance of 321 km1: There are more than 300 types of honey1: There are 206 bones in the human body1: The tallest tree is 115.54 m high1: The cheetah can travel up to 112 km per hour1: 100 species of moss grow in the Antarctic1: 80–85 cocoa beans are used in an average chocolate bar1: Wait 75–76 years for an appearance of Halley’s Comet1: The anteaters’ tongue is 60 cm long1: There are one trillion, 300 billion skin cells on the human body1: 28% of the world’s oxygen comes from rainforests1: There are 27 moons of Uranus1: It takes 24 hours for Earth to rotate1: There are 16 tectonic plates1: A poison dart frog has a 15-year lifespan1: It takes 14 trees to make one tonne of magazine paper1: The pink flamingo has 12 black feathers1: It takes nine months for a baby to grow in the uterus1: There are five zones on Mount Kilimanjaro1: There are four layers of the rainforest1: The queen of the night blooms for one night every year1: The smallest animal is 0.01 mm long1: Further information and large numbers1: Glossary1: Index

This is definitely a book to dip into and marvel over - a great one for number crunchers! It explores the world through numbers, huge and tiny,from 70 sextillion to 0.01. On the way it looks at numbers all around the universe - rainforests, outer space, oceans, the animal kingdom, nature, the human body and much more. It could be dry and boring but far from it - it brings facts and figures to life with illustrations, fun infographics and photographs, increasing our appreciation for the wonders of our world. It's a fascinating way to back up studies of specific subjects, such as science, history, geography and more. An excellent glossary and index complete the book.