Cool Coding by Rob Hansen is first up, looking at the history of computing but also coming bang up to date with tons of fascinating facts about everything from writing code to playing (and designing) video games.
Along with "Cool Science" series illustrator Damien Weighill, Rob shows us how the very first computers were mechanical, designed to solve maths problems far quicker than the human brain could manage.
As the world became more industrialised, Charles Babbage and Lady Ada Lovelace became pioneers in programming and computer design, and though their difference engine never quite achieved the huge success it deserved, it paved the way for many of the modern principles of computing that we know and understand today (with Ada, our absolute hero, essentially becoming the first computer programmer).
Rob's awesome book takes in all of the innovations that have affected computing in the past couple of centuries, right up to the present day as computers become smaller and videogames become more complicated.
Tons of facts and information are packed into this diminutive book, well worth investigating further.
"Cool Coding" is out now, published by Pavilion Children's Books.
From computing to physics with the next title in the range...
From Sir Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein and beyond, "Cool Physics" shows off all the amazing ways physics affects us and the world around us.
With tons of fun experiments for you to try out yourself, and brilliant historical facts about the figures who defined this branch of science, "Cool Physics" is definitely uber-cool indeed.
Written by Sarah Hutton, and illustrated once again by Damien Weighill, "Cool Physics" is out now, published by Pavilion Children's Books.
(both titles kindly supplied for review).