A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson

In today's cultural adoration of celebrity, consumerism and their attendant ignorance, this book...more

In today's cultural adoration of celebrity, consumerism and their attendant ignorance, this book presents a viable and readable alternative to such apathetic ideals. A rather pompous introduction but true nonetheless. Many people avoid science due to the jargon and inherent difficulty of many of its disciplines. This book is the rememdy. Many have sniffed at Bryson's less than text book approach to the varied subject matter (covering everything from the beginning of time, via the formation of the earth, to the vastness of the Cosmos and just about everything in between). Some have read the book only to point out that there are some errors within it. This misses the point. Bryson has written an accessible history of science, with eminently readable dievrsions into the various branches of that subject. He has too a great deal humanised the subject. This book should be regarded as a stepping stone into the wonders of the Universe. I would unhesitatingly recommend this to anybody with even the vaguest or fleeting interest in matters scientific. Bryson writes with a curiously British slant. He reminds me of Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry. Rather than a selection of equations and long-winded explanatory notes, Bryson's book is more in keeping with a blog or travelogue. This is not a text book and shouldn't be treated as such. Maybe it is less than accurate in some areas, but then science is constantly evolving (which is why it is so more important and relevant than say...the monotheism bedevilling us). Read this and use it as pointer towards those areas which interest you. Totally and utterly recommended.    hide

Alternating between fascinating descriptions of the world of astronomy and physics and tedious...more

Alternating between fascinating descriptions of the world of astronomy and physics and tedious discussions of geology and botany, Bryson takes on an impressive explanatory task. His strength is accessibility for the reader, he takes intricate theories and phenomena and depicts them in a straightforward manner, accompanied with examples and portrayed images that assist in relaying complicated information. The account is filled with numerous anecdotal tidbits, some of suspect authority, but many are memorable. My three problems with this book are: 1) The extended discussion of geophysics, which is obviously my own problem, I just felt that the book really dragged in certain sections while I flew through others. And even some of those felt repetitive, which is again my problem just because I already knew some of the material he covered. 2) His obsession with denying certain scientists credit and trying to grant the correct innovator with his ideas. It as though Bryson thinks almost every tale of scientific discovery has been miscredited, but now, here, he will authoritatively set the record straight and finally give some overlooked scientists their due. While many of these may be true, Bryson misattributes other discoveries himself as well. 3) Fear-mongering. I guess he wants to make it more interesting or try to show how precarious our life situation is and therefore how amazing life is, but there were too many passages of ominous forecasts. Telling me that we are 1,000 years overdue for an ice-age, or that the next volcanic eruption could blot out the sky in ash just isn't going to keep me up at night. Try putting that stuff in Reader’s Digest. They love to scare their audience.   hide

Bill Bryson is by no means an expert on most of the topics discussed in his book, but he has...more

Bill Bryson is by no means an expert on most of the topics discussed in his book, but he has clearly researched and polled the world's leading authorities and summed it all up for us in this very readable and often humorous story of natural history, one of my favorite subjects. From the formation of the universe and our solar system, to plate tectonics and the elements, to cells and the rise of life and beyond, it reads much like a novel and is easily digestible in small portions. The book's introduction also contains what has become one of my favorite memorable quotes: "Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result -- eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly -- in you." You can hardly help but feel pretty darn special in this universe.   hide

Bill Bryson – A short history of nearly everything (06-071) I am trying to imagine what...more

Bill Bryson – A short history of nearly everything (06-071) I am trying to imagine what this book would have been like if Bryson had decided to write not a short history, but just a history or even an extended history. Knowing Bryson as a travel author, I had not been really prepared for Made in America, where culture and language took centre stage. Now I knew in advance that this was going to be a tough read. I was right. It has taken me nearly the same time it takes a baby to advance from egg to a self breathing creature. Though I had to read some other books in between as well obviously. The book is fascinating, but one can only manage so many new facts at the time. Especially the chapters on atoms and quarks were quite difficult with only 2 years of science under my belt. Good thing about the book is that Bryson manages to explain everything (hence the title?) so clearly that even rocket science seems like doing a four piece jigsaw puzzle. I have really enjoyed reading the whole book, though I have to admit to skipping the notes after the last chapter. I wish I had made notes while reading it, there are so many inexplicable things that Bryson explains through one easy comparison, but I have forgotten most of them again. Perhaps read the book once every second year? Number: 07-071 Title: A short history of nearly everything Author: Bill Bryson Language: English Year: 2003 # Pages: 688 (14353) Category: Science ISBN: 0-552-15174-2    hide

Science Made Fun Again My first introduction to Mr. Bryson's style of writing, this book...more

Science Made Fun Again My first introduction to Mr. Bryson's style of writing, this book was actually a Christmas gift a few years back - one that I hadn't ever intended on getting myself. I'm happy to say that I'm a complete convert to his books now. Tackling nearly every major branch of science, Mr. Bryson narrates and explains the origins, evolution and quirky details of each scientific specialization, without wading too far into the dense papers of academia - but not dumbing the language down to the lowest common denominator. The author maintains a pretty good balance between being informative and being funny...a task I think is pretty hard to do, when one starts going into superstring theory, CFC's or genome classifications. It's a relatively large book, but you'll be surprised at how quickly you can absorb it all. Whether you go with the original or illustrated version shouldn't matter - anyone who has even a remotely passing interest in science should read this. Echoing everyone else's reviews, I definitely wish our school science texts were this informative and engaging.   hide