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A Short History of Nearly Everything
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Rating: 4.47/5 from 236 reviews Important, enlightening and entertaininga fascinating story of our worldIn all my years of schooling, I never had a science class that I liked. I was bored and confused in every single one of them. Reading this book was the first time in my life that science was interesting to me. While this book might not sound very interesting at first, it really is very fascinating. With his typical humor and wit, Bill Bryson has written a condensed history of why we are here and how it all came to be. This book covers all the bases. Space, stars and planets; geology, earthquakes and volcanoes; dinosaurs; the development of chemistry and physics; climate, weather, our atmosphere and the oceans; how the first life began, evolution, and how humans came to be; microorganisms and bacteria; and of course extinction and the wanton destruction of plants and animals by humans. And he weaves it all together into a fascinating history with a wide range of bizarre characters and events, amazing coincidences, and some missed opportunities, all the while introducing all sorts of interesting facts that I've never heard before. I learned a lot from this book and I enjoyed reading it. Another Bill Bryson classic. Rediscover what you learned in school and forgotThis book is aimed at people who either know very little about science, or who studied it in school and then forgot it all (my case). I read some of the reviews here and was shocked at how people criticize Bryson, especially saying he got scientific terms mixed up or had errors in his book. He is not a scientist and in my opinion that makes this book that much more impressive! Bryson devoted years of his life to learn this material, and to think we can take it all in by reading a book.. well it just doesn't seem fair! I was sad when I reached the end of the book, I wanted it to continue. I learned so much from this book, and it's interesting how many times the subject material in this book comes up in every day conversations. Bryson approaches history from two angles: Astronomy and what we know about the universe, and Evolution and what we know about life on Earth. I learned so many things I didn't know. Fascinating facts such as that meteorites are used to date the earth with carbon dating (they're the same age). Meteorites contain proteins needed to build life. Human like species have been on Earth for 1 million years. After finishing this book, I find myself thinking about topics like these during my free time. That's how impressive this book is. If you love science, this won't be a book you just read and forget. It's a book that will teach you things you'll be thinking about for a long time. Honestly I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you're interested in science, it is a must read. Michael | ||||||||||||||||||||
The book succeeds on three levels. Organization of material is truly brilliant. Leaping from such diverse subjects as techtonic plates to stars to quarks to evolution is difficult and can bog down into a boring recitation of facts. This is prevented by the introduction of the second outstanding feature: Biographies and histories. We read about the famous, the infamous and the not-so-famous. We learn the history behind a current theory and excellent, layman-level explanations.
The third feature is a rare one in a non-fiction work - humor. The language is quirky, almost idiomatic. It is always immensely simulating and pleasurable. The sheer mass of facts could fill a college lecture series for ten semesters. There is an audacity in the challenge the author undertakes that one can only admire. It is difficult to find a single fault with the book with the possible exception of a lack of drawings or pictures.
Still, the descriptions are so rich and imaginative that perhaps a picture would be redundant. A troubling thought occurred while reading that most Americans would not grasp 1/100 of the ideas discussed in this work nor would they care to try and learn. Therefore, we can only hope that Bryson continues the task of both educating and entertaining us.