Read our books any way you want! Open to any page and dive right in, skip around, read only the colored text, or start at the beginning and read straight through. Go ahead, do it your way! However you read our books, we think you’re going to learn something. And maybe, just maybe, in addition to learning a few new things about Earth, you’ll learn a thing or two about your own unique brain—things like how much you already know (or don’t), how much there is to learn, or how easy and enjoyable it is to learn with the EFFE book series. What other readers are saying By reading your books I've realized something about myself.... Having questions answered that I didn't realize I even had delights me so much. Also learning something new is equally delightful. It's a little like opening up a present. Dori L. (SC) I'm in awe at what a wonderful and novel approach to learning is captured in your book. Ed R. (FL) I got the book! And I love it! I know I'm looking forward to the next one. I loved the content, I loved the graphics, and I think the pronunciation guides are a great touch. Terri P. (KY) click here for more reader comments Updates to Book 1: The World Since we published this book in December 2005, the world has continued to change but not (yet) in ways that significantly impact the book’s factual content. For example, in May 2006, Montenegro become the world’s newest independent country. Even so, our book’s reference to “almost 200 independent countries in the world” is still accurate. And for at least a few more months, our U.S. population estimate of “almost 300 million” is probably fairly accurate, too. Check out the U.S. Census Bureau’s population clock, which is updated every five minutes, to get the latest estimates. We did, however, with help from some eagle-eye readers, notice a few errors in our book. Click here for the corrections.