'A rare and magical book. I didn't want it to end.' Bill Bryson'Rundell is the real deal, a writer of boundless gifts and extraordinary imaginative power.' Observer'Rundell's pen is gold-tipped.' Sunday TimesThe world is more astonishing, more miraculous and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings.In this passionately persuasive and sharply funny book, Katherine Rundell tells us how and why.***A swift flies two million kilometres in its lifetime. That's far enough to get to the moon and back twice over - and then once more to the moon. A pangolin keeps its tongue furled in a pouch by its hip, a Greenland shark can live five hundred years, a wombat once inspired a love poem.

Katherine Rundell grew up in London, Zimbabwe and Belgium. She is the youngest female scholar to be made a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Her award-winning and bestselling books for children have been translated into thirty languages and have multiple awards. Rundell is also the author of a book for adults Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old And Wise. She is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.