Filled with colour images, extremely readable and with an appealing presentation, The Bedside Baccalaureate provides a fascinating, no-pressure learning experience. Its goal is not the simple accumulation of trivia, but the placement of facts within the framework of knowledge. The 20 courses - focused overviews of subjects with which any well-educated person would want to be familiar - are created by experts in their fields with the intention of making the topics accessible and entertaining. Each course - from Art History to Mathematics and Engineering to Philosophy - consists of 18 one-page lectures that maximise clarity without compromising the integrity of the ideas. The lectures are rotated, rather than clumped together, to add variety to the reading experience and to mimic the heady mix of subjects one encounters in the world of the intellect. The assortment of areas can be dipped into or read in their entirety. Learning is contagious - once started, it's difficult to stop.