A toolbox to help kids understand the present and imagine the future

How can we help young people understand the world around them, acquire the right tools to grow into adults, find their own paths and maybe even change things for the better? With The 15 Questions, a new series is born that explains everything, absolutely everything that is important to know today. Have fun and become the ultimate connoisseur of every topic!

• A non-fiction series the likes of which you’ve never seen before. 

• 15 volumes dedicated to Economics, Neuroscience, the Human Body but also Technology, Astrophysics, Emotions and History, told in a clear and friendly way by Pierdomenico Baccalario and Federico Taddia, with the help of the best experts on each subject, such as Vito Mancuso, Stefano Bartezzaghi and Maria Rita Parsi.

• Each book contains 15 essential questions and 15 simple, focused answers. Plus boxes, in-depth explanations, comics, numbers and many, many illustrations from the greatest hands of comic design.

WHAT'S MONEY FOR?

Does everyone have to work? Can you buy anything? What’s the global market? Why is there poverty? What does it mean to play the market? With clear and accessible words, concrete examples and a lot of irony, this volume reveals all the secrets of the economy, from the individual to the global one!

WHAT'S INSIDE MY HEAD?

Who's in charge: me or my head? Why do I have to sleep? How do the five senses work? How do you learn things? How do I understand other’s thoughts? Can intelligence be measured? This volume explains how the brain works, helping the readers become experts in neuroscience!

IS TODAY ALREADY YESTERDAY?

What’s the point of studying history today? This volume offers young readers an approach to history, explaining not only the important events, but above all the concept of "before and after", collective memory, reliable sources, plus the role of historians and the importance of studying wars, maps and migrations.

CAN TREES TALK?

Do plants move? Are there plants in the sea and in space too? What can we learn from plants? Who gave them their names? Can robot plants be invented? All the secrets of the oldest living beings on our planet. Plus, what agriculture is, which plants can be eaten, but above all how special they are and why we must protect and take care of them.

IS THERE ANYONE UP THERE?

What is religion for? Do I have to believe? But all you do is pray? This volume of 15 Questions to Think About puts readers in front of the great questions of humanity: Who is God? Why does evil exist? Do faith and science get along?

HOW'S OUR PLANET DOING?

Has the climate changed or has it always been like this? Is the world warming up? In this volume, we discover all the secrets about the climate, both that of the past and that of today, to prepare ourselves for the future in a responsible way. Because the Earth is our home and we need to take care of it.

ARE WE ALL GONNA BECOME ROBOTS?

Technology isn’t a collection of electronic devices or gadgets: it's paper, a compass, glasses lenses, the sewer, pipes, wheels, clothes. We live immersed in technology and it would be impossible to imagine a world without our inventions. In this volume, we find out how much the history of man is, in reality, a technological history and investigate its future.

ARE WE "PERFECT MACHINES"?

What is the body made of? What is death and why are we afraid of dying? But above all, am I okay as I am? For all the times that, looking in the mirror, we see things we'd like to change, when in reality our body is a perfect machine, able to keep us alive. But it’s a very personal one, a unique model that only we can take care of.

HOW LONG IS A LIGHT YEAR?

How are stars born? Why are black holes black? Do aliens exist? Can we be hit by an asteroid? When will we all live in space? We discover all the secrets of the universe, hidden in the most remote corners of our galaxy, from those we've discovered in the past to everything we still ignore. Stars, planets, black holes: are you ready to conquer the universe?

WHAT'S UNDER MY FEET?

Why does the earth shake? How old is the Earth? How do you extract things? From the Anthropocene to the countless uses of oil, from the extraction of raw materials to the origins of earthquakes, with this volume, children will discover that geology is something that concerns them much more closely than they ever imagined.

WHY DO I LIKE YOU?

Emotions: what are they and what are they for? We all know them very closely, but understanding and managing them is sometimes so difficult! Raise your hand if you’ve never been really angry. And who hasn’t felt embarrassed at least once in their life. Who has fallen in love? In this book you can find out how emotions, which we can’t do without, really work.

DO FISH DREAM?

Are humans animals’ best friends? Do animals talk to each other? Do animals also have their own characters? We find out all about their behaviours, why they’re sometimes at risk of extinction and everything we can do to take care of them with this volume of the 15 Questions to Think About children’s encyclopaedia.

WHEN I SPEAK, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?

How do you communicate in the digital world? Why do I always say the wrong thing at the wrong time? Are only words used? And why do people tell lies? From the first forms of communication to the most innovative media of today, from the many expressions of art to simple emails, communicating means creating relationships, and it’s not always easy to do right. This volume offers you the tools to understand… and be understood. A fundamental compass for orienting yourself in the dense communications network of the present.

WHAT IS THE WORLD MADE OF?

What are we made of? Can energy be touched? Why is work tiring? How far does an electron travel? Talking about chemistry and physics seems very difficult and something absolutely distant from our lives. Yet we are chemistry and physics, we are atoms and particles and all the reality that surrounds us moves and changes based on physical laws. Talking about bicycles, soaps, mochas, on the other hand, immediately becomes everyday life. Well, in this book, matter has no more secrets, with each secret big and small revealed. And it will be an exciting journey.

WHAT IS BEAUTY?

What need does art respond to? How does you become an artist? Are video games also works of art? Thanks to the 15 questions, we discover all the secrets about the arts, about the beauty that surrounds us in all its forms, about what has always been considered art and about the new frontiers of creativity, such as comics and video games. Paintings, photography, video games: art is everywhere around us! We reveal all the secrets about the arts, to discover their beauty and complexity, with curiosities of all kinds. Beauty is in everything around us.