Everyday things encountered in nature and at home carry many fascinating properties, from foodstuffs to common creatures to the physics behind light and heat. Simple tools like the needle and thread, or the dyes in clothing, or the usual methods of cookery are revealed as the result of many years of human effort; the chemical and physical processes behind so many inventions we consider ordinary or benign are anything but.

As an entomologist who studied nature and insects, Fabre goes on to keenly explain how small creatures in nature fulfil many roles. The various foods - chocolate, coffee, olive oil - are shown to have important properties and origins. Weather such as rain and snow, and the forces and phenomena of physics - light and sound - are also visited. A common theme throughout this work is the vivid and engaging style of the author; a capable explainer who wrote many books, Fabre brings life and fascination to objects and topics that would otherwise be thought mundane.