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Swap the books you've read, for some you haven't!
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A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
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A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Synopsis: From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figured it out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson uses hundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews with luminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him, who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, to appreciate how we have used science to understand the smallest particles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With his distinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably. Though A Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and covers the same material as every science book before it, it reads something like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without a plot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age of our planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped into larger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself." Bryson chats with experts like Richard Fortey (author of Life and Trilobite) and these interviews are charming. But it's when Bryson dives into some of science's best and most embarrassing fights--Cope vs. Marsh, Conway Morris vs. Gould--that he finds literary gold. --Therese Littleton
Review: I read this book with great enthusiasm. As a younger man, science was taught to me without much of the interesting background behind the scientists who generated the new developments. Fortunately, I was interested enough in science to perservere in my scientific education. To paraphrase another well known book..."My cup hath runneth over" and the sheer volume of interesting facts about the science and the idiosyncracies of the scientists (which interested me more)amazed me. I wish there were more factual books that gave me such a feeling. As with anything however, one person's meat is another's poison and I can quite imagine non-scientists thinking what a load of rubbish. Vive la difference!
Review: Well ... I've now finished a book that had been sitting on my shelf for about two years! I'd been waiting for a good chance to start ploughing through it and recuperation from a back operation was the perfect opportunity!
I now feel I have a much better insight into the planet I live on, although I'll freely admit that my grasp of particle physics and the theory of relativity is still a little hazy.
In a strange way I found this book very life-affirming. I feel much better educated having read it, although I am in danger of becoming a bit of a bore. I have also now developed a strange and altogether new fondness for geology?!?
I will never forget two things:
1. How to draw the planets of our solar system on a piece of paper (i.e. you can't unless it's many kilometres wide)
2. Every diagram you've ever seen of an atom is complete rubbish too.
I loved this book and hope you will too!
Review: Buy this immediately!! If you have any interest at all in Geology, Astronomy, Mathematics, Botany, Physics - you name it, the book covers it in one form or another. Bryson has a magical way of describing things that makes you interested in subjects you would never have otherwise contemplated. A thoroughly absorbing read.
Review: This book contains a little bit of everything. It can be mind blowing in places and will undoubtably have you re-reading bits of it over again to make sure you "got it" the first time round.
A good book, a little hard to take in all at once, but worth reading.
Review: Bill Bryson has written a very well constructed and highly interesting book that can serve as a useful bluffers guide to anyone not generally familiar with all the intricacies and complex formulae and language of science. Though long, the pages turn fast as Bryson brightens up each new topic with personal biogs of relevant scientists, complete with tales of eccentricity or ingenuity. It covers all aspects of science, from astromnomy to human cell activity, from volcanoes and earthquakes to quantum mechanics, evolution and the structure of an atom. It is overall a well-researched and incredibly accessible book.
Review: I first purchased the audio version from Audible, then got it in print. As good as it gets. A truly universal book that should make anyone feel connected with every other human being. Should be mandatory reading for politicians, CEOs, nationalists, and other ideologists. The only thing I wished it had is illustrations - drawings and photos. Hopefully the next edition will include them.
Review: Bill Bryson freely admits that he does not have a very good background or understanding of science. This is apparent at some points in this book. It is obvious that he does not have a deep understanding of what he is writing about. It is miraculous, then, that he does such a wonderful job of explaining things.
The book is pretty ambitious. It seeks to explain how we know what we know about nearly everything. This includes astronomy, cosmology, physics, chemistry, evolution, genetics, and much else. As enjoyable as the science explanations are, the vignettes on the personalities involved are just as well done. It is easy to understand and accessible. Most of all, it is entertaining.
The scientific treatment is, of necessity, very shallow. It explains broad principles and uses those principles to lead into the discovery of the next new great principle. It all fits together and it works. Hopefully, it will whet the appetite and inspire others to study a little math and learn more.
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