The Living World is often considered a student favorite. George Johnson has written this non-majors textbook from the ground up to be an engaging and accessible learning tool with an emphasis on "how things work and why things happen the way they do". The Living World focuses on concepts rather than terminology and technical information, and features a straightforward, clear writing style and a wide variety of media assets to enhance the content of the textbook.

The integration of text and the digital world are now complete with McGraw-Hill's ConnectPlus and LearnSmart.