Most of the population has been wiped out by a virulent strain of avian flu and the job of rebuilding civilisation falls to you and a few other hardy survivors. Where do you begin, with just a smattering of the knowledge required?

Such is the opening scenario of Lewis Dartnell's book, which aims to provide a crash course in the scientific fundamentals underpinning modern-day living. Its introduction seductively markets the volume as essential reading come the apocalypse, which the author – an astrobiologist at the University of Leicester – disconcertingly presents as an inevitability. What follows, however, is a prosaic if erudite primer on the essentials of farming, medicine, power generation and technology.

Anyone seriously planning to construct a blast furnace will be sorely disappointed, but The Knowledge impresses as a condensed history of scientific progress, and will pique curiosity among readers who regret daydreaming throughout school chemistry lessons. Like this reviewer, some will be troubled by their ignorance of the basics, and how useless that could render them if the lights do go out.