A Short History of Nearly Everything

Rating:
Summary: Lying Under Fourteen Cement Trucks
Review: The Short History should be mandatory reading for everyone. It must be the most painless and entertaining book about the field of science ever written. Hopefully those who read it will become interested in science, and read more books that describe the wonderful world around us. BB does cover most everything from Astronomy to Zoology.

I am a layman who loves to read science books, and I must say that I learned some new things by reading the Short History. Bryson devotes a significant amount of the book to the history of science, writing out brief biographies of discoverers from the famous like Darwin, to the unknown like Hallum Movius. Indeed, he seems to like the obscure scientists the best, and on reading about discoveries and their discoverers you do, indeed, begin to subscribe to the saying that new discoveries are first rejected by the scientific community; then are put down as of little importance; and when fully accepted the credit for them is given to the wrong person.

I picked up many interesting facts such as that the layers of ash underground in eastern Nebraska came from a volcanic eruption in Yellowstone park. The explosion was roughly 300 times larger than Mt. St. Helens and the ash settled on 19 western states. Sometime in the future Yellowstone will blow again..

While I heartily endorse this fun book, I do have a few criticisms. First of all the author is a bit patronizing in presenting data. He buries you under metaphors. The average water pressure at the ocean's average depth is presented not as pounds per square inch, but as the weight of fourteen cement trucks lying on top of you. The book bulges with things that tell you that if something very teeny were the size of basketballs then the number of them in your body would stretch from here to the constellation Cygnus. Does this make things simpler than to just tell you that there are 10 million of them per square millimeter?

The other problem is that when you put the book down after consuming its 500 pages you quickly realize that you haven't really learned much science. This is not Mr. Bryson's fault, I guess. Subtract the history from the book, and really how much overall scientific information can you provide? There is a section of the book that is devoted to cells, and after reading it I realized that about all that was really presented on cell function was that ATP is manufactured in the mitochondria, and that there is such a thing as programmed cell death. Cellular function is one of the world's most fascinating marvels, and has been described in books such as the exciting and very accessible book Life Itself, by Boyce Rensberger. I worry that BB's chapter on the cell will not spur much interest in this topic. He again spends too much time with his metaphors, e.g. the heart pumps 675, 000 gallons of blood per year which is enough to fill 4 Olympic size swimming pools; and that cells are frenzied places each containing 100 million protein molecules (and if each, I suppose, were the size of a Chevy Suburban and placed end to end would'.well you know how it goes).

But, don't let my nitpicks dissuade you from reading this enjoyable book filled with Bill Bryson's usual wit. It's one of the first science books that I have read that I have laughed my way through.

Rating:
Summary: Inevitable odds and magic
Review: If you've ever read 'The Dancing Wu Li Masters', 'The Mind's Eye', or 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman' and liked them, then you're in for a real treat, with a caveat. Bryson does an impressive job of bringing us (the subject of the 'short history') up to date with the current formulations of what makes us what we are, and everything else, what it is.
He writes about, news flash, everything related to the physical sciences as they relate to who we are, how we know who we are, how we know from where we came, and how the physical world that we are a part of interacts with us (and plays strange hide-and-seek games with us). The Big Bang, primordial soup, the enlightenment, industrialism -- it's covered.
He's a master story-teller; the book flows with ease. Bryson details a theory, and then gives the back story of the discovery. What you wind up with is a formula of a renaissance-man coupled to Jerry Springer. In fact, some of the stories Bryson recounts are made-for-reality TV set in the age before Springer and TV.
The caveat: Bryson himself becomes the Springer episode. To wit, Bryson affixes an inordinate amount of blame to our current suffering to a man who advocated the use of lead in household products. The departure of objectivity in this relatively short passage in the book is a minor inconvenience.

Rating:
Summary: An ambitiously titled read that will not disappoint !!!!
Review: Having just returned from Kuwait, and having read a few too many 'classics' whilst there, I was thirsty for something hot-off-the-shelf. The ambitious title of this book, coupled with my fondness for Bill Bryson's work, made this an easy choice. This book absolutely fascinated me. I spent two days of my post-deployment vacation glued to the couch reading. It was time well spent.

Somewhat of a departure from Bryson's typical travel narrative, this travel narrative takes the reader back aeons and follows roads of human curiosity, discovery, and ancestry. Akin to such books as 'The Mother Tongue' and 'Made in America', 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' is very much so an educational experience and a fun one at that. Anyone with an interest in zoology, archaeology, astronomy, geology, physics, paleontology, et al. will love this book; those with simply insatiable curiosities will too.

This book fits comfortably amongst my favorite non-fiction reads. I trust others will agree.

Rating:
Summary: A short history of Nothing
Review: The correct title of this book must be "A SHORT history of Nothing" with sub-title "For pre-school kid"

A typical C-student's last-minute make-up paper, knowing nothing at all yet pretending to know everything.

Rating:
Summary: a fascinating story of our world
Review: In 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.

Rating:
Summary: Lay Person's Guide To The Universe
Review: In "A Walk In The Woods", Bill Bryson writes on hiking the Appalachian Trail; a journey with a beginning (Georgia), and an ending (Maine), with interesting side journeys. In "A Short History Of Nearly Everything" the same approach is taken, except the journey is from The Big Bang, to how life arose, to our cells, to how modern humans came to be (and a lot more). And as with "A Walk In The Woods", this worthwhile journey is sprinkled with humor and clashing adjectives. Obscure concepts are consistently translated into human-digestible images, some of which are truly astounding. A great book.

Rating:
Summary: As entertaining as it could be
Review: You never know what to expect from Bryson's books. But on the other hand you are never disappointed. That's the case with this book - it is really great to read, still it gives you so much information about what you always wanted to know.
If you really paid attention during classes at secondary school, do not expect to find revolutionary knowledge in the book (at least this is the case with schools in Poland, where I come from), but the style of presentation is outstanding! This book is so easy to read yet it gives you so much to learn.
And biographies of scientists'... You will feel as you were next to them during their life.

Rating:
Summary: An Uncommon Education
Review: Bryson's exceptional research represents a great tribute to the spirit of pure curiosity. This is a must read for anyone who wants to gain a broader view of the earth and human experience.

Rating:
Summary: Bryson's Best Book Yet
Review: Bryson's attempt to make various fields of science understandable and interesting to the layman has certainly succeeded. His organization and clarity of writing, with his usual witty style, is a joy. This book could be used as a model for good writing. Don't miss this exciting, fascinating, and witty explanation of various scientific fields. It is so great that I didn't want it to end, and I have even started rereading it.

Rating:
Summary: Inventions, history in the making, and the roots of new idea
Review: It's a pleasure to see something contemporary offered in large print which is nonfiction in nature and intellectual yet lively in content. In Short History Of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson tackles subjects like geology, chemistry and physics and makes them of interest to the non-scientist reader: chapters probe inventions, history in the making, and the roots of new ideas and innovative thinking. A highly recommended title for large print readers seeking something more than novels.