Welcome to the Mysteryverse: A World of Unsolved Wonders - Clive Gifford - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Clive Gifford
ILLUSTRATOR: Good Wives and Warriors
GENRE: Children's Nonfiction.
RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: Not a book you will read for answers but to discover more questions about the world around you. Welcome to the ‘Mysteryverse’! #CliveGiffordRocks!


This is my fifth Clive Gifford book, and I am yet to be disappointed by his works. In fact, when I saw this book on Edelweiss, I grabbed it as soon as I saw the author’s name, without even bothering to read the synopsis. The content delivers, and how!

The word ‘multiverse’ has become quite popular in the last few years courtesy some books and movies. Playing around with the same, Gifford offers us the concept of ‘mysteryverse’, representing the (as yet) unknown and/or unknowable elements of our world and beyond.

As humans are inherently curious (which is also evident in our habit of poking our noses in others’ businesses!), we always want to find out more not just about ourselves but also about other creatures and the world in general. All of today’s scientific, technological, medical and other advancements spring from this curiosity. Our need to learn more has made us reach a point where we consider ourselves knowledgeable. This book proves how minuscule our awareness is, and how many components of the universe are still unfathomable to our puny brains.

This book touches upon a variety of mysteries connected to the human body, earth, wildlife, space, and miscellanea. Most of the information offered is mindboggling. There are scientific theories offered as possible solutions to a few of the puzzles, but as the title makes it clear, most of the trivia concerns unsolved mysteries. The number of questions and doubts the book will generate in your mind will far outnumber any answers or solutions it might offer.

As a STEM resource, the book stays restricted to tangible mysteries and doesn’t venture into unexplainable concepts such as ghosts or UFOs.

There is a glossary at the end, to explain the terms that can be explained.

The content thus delighted the geek in me. Where the book lost a star is in its presentation.

Each page is like a visual bombardment, with too many trippy illustrations in hallucinatory colours. I am not sure if this creative choice intended to add to the intrigue of the mysteryverse, but it made concentrating on the content very difficult. (Not to forget that I was reading this digitally, so the teeny font set against a rainbow of bright hues further aggravated my annoyance. I hope the physical copy will be more eye-friendly.)

All in all, if you can wear sunglasses to mitigate the effect of the pseudo-psychedelic graphics, this will be an excellent resource to learn more about things you cannot learn more about. 😛

The official target age group for this book is ages 7-10 (Grades 2 to 5.) However. because of the complexity of the content and the vocabulary, I think this will better suit middle-graders and older kids. It will also work wonderfully for “kids” of my age group who love trivia and unsolved mysteries. 😉

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and Edelweiss Plus for the DRC of “Welcome to the Mysteryverse”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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