Think about everything that must have happened since the dawn of the creation of the universe in order for life to exist and for humans to have come into being. Now, how much do you actually know about what went on? From the Big Bang to the creation of our planet to human life, there are many things that had to happen in order for it to all come out the way that it did. Bill Bryson started out with the understanding that he knew very little about this planet and how everything works. Since Bryson could barely read the science textbooks from his youth (they were that boring), he decided to go to the experts in various fields of study to find out what they knew about the universe and our planet and just as importantly, how they know what they know. The result is this book.
Bill Bryson takes us on a journey starting with the origins of the universe and what science knows about it and how scientists have come to this knowledge. Bryson tells us about what we need to know to understand the larger concepts in this book but does not go into such minute detail that we are overwhelmed. Bryson combines a smooth, easy writing style with wit and humor and presents us with the story of our planet. Bryson takes us from the dawn of the Big Bang through primordial life on Earth through the evolution of the species right up into the beginnings of human civilization. The story is well told with scientific information but also with the stories of the scientists themselves and the circumstances of their lives and how they came to discover the previously hidden secrets of our planet. While the paragraphs on the scientists may seem like digression, I found it to be vital to the book because this reveals how and why scientists believe what they do and what theories have been discarded and what sort of struggle there was for a particular theory to be accepted.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a fairly long book and comes in at approximately 500 pages in hardcover format. It is packed with a lot of information, though in a highly readable form. The book is an investment in time, but I think that it is a time investment well worth making (despite the fact that by the end of the book I had a difficult time remembering things from the beginning of it). Excellent book. Highly recommended.
Bill Bryson takes us on a journey starting with the origins of the universe and what science knows about it and how scientists have come to this knowledge. Bryson tells us about what we need to know to understand the larger concepts in this book but does not go into such minute detail that we are overwhelmed. Bryson combines a smooth, easy writing style with wit and humor and presents us with the story of our planet. Bryson takes us from the dawn of the Big Bang through primordial life on Earth through the evolution of the species right up into the beginnings of human civilization. The story is well told with scientific information but also with the stories of the scientists themselves and the circumstances of their lives and how they came to discover the previously hidden secrets of our planet. While the paragraphs on the scientists may seem like digression, I found it to be vital to the book because this reveals how and why scientists believe what they do and what theories have been discarded and what sort of struggle there was for a particular theory to be accepted.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a fairly long book and comes in at approximately 500 pages in hardcover format. It is packed with a lot of information, though in a highly readable form. The book is an investment in time, but I think that it is a time investment well worth making (despite the fact that by the end of the book I had a difficult time remembering things from the beginning of it). Excellent book. Highly recommended.
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