---
title: "A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Guide_to_the_Scientific_Knowledge_of_Things_Familiar"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:32:29.017883+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Reception and legacy ==
A review of the second edition of The Guide to Science was published by Punch magazine in 1850. The book was seen to be a "very useful little work", but in the typical Punch satirical style, the reviewer disagreed with one answer that we "feel a desire for activity in cold weather" due to "fanning combustion in the blood" by instead insisting that we feel a desire "to sit cosily over a fire in cold weather".
The success of The Guide to Science convinced Brewer that his readers still accepted religious explanations rather than evolutionary theory. Following the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, Brewer wrote Theology in Science; or The Testimony of Science to the Wisdom and Goodness of God (published in 1860) in order to demonstrate that evolution had not destroyed theological tradition and to continue The Guide to Science's promotion of natural theology. The book's popularity also resulted in Brewer being sent "a large number of questions on all imaginary matters". These questions and their answers became the nucleus of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, first published in 1870. This latter book has long outlived all of Brewer's other publications and remains a classic reference work.

== Notes ==

== References ==

== Bibliography ==
Andrews, William (2008), Literary Byways, BiblioBazaar, LLC, ISBN 978-0-554-52804-5, retrieved 22 June 2009
Brewer, E. Cobham (1864), A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar (US ed.), Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library, ISBN 1-4255-5648-5, retrieved 1 April 2007 {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Brewer, E. Cobham (1880), A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar (38th ed.)
Evans, Ivor J. (1981), Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (new and revised ed.), Cassell, ISBN 0-304-31589-3
Ferguson, Chris D. (1999), From Past-Present to Future-Perfect: A Tribute to Charles A. Bunge and the Challenges of Contemporary Reference Service, Routledge, p. 80, ISBN 0-7890-0767-3, retrieved 1 July 2009
Lightman, Bernard V. (2007), Victorian popularizers of science, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-48118-0, retrieved 22 June 2009
Peterson, Robert Evans (1851), Familiar Science; or, the Scientific Explanation of Common Things, Robert E. Peterson & co., retrieved 1 July 2009
Peterson, Robert Evans (1863), Familiar Science; or, the Scientific Explanation of Common Things (revised ed.), retrieved 1 July 2009

== External links ==
Sound and Its Phenomena by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, written following success of the Guide
Evenings at home, or, The juvenile budget opened by John Aikin, pages 453–454 (one of many available copies of an advert with accompanying reviews)
A Handy-book of the Law of Copyright by Frederick Patey Chappell, John Shoard, page 34–35
Sources expressing dissatification with cramming facts
Report of the commissioners by schools inquiry commission, Great Britain, page 812
The governess by Trev Lynn Broughton, Ruth Symes, page 52
The Missionary herald by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, page 327