A Short History of Nearly Everything

Rating:
Summary: Looks promising!
Review: Like everything Bill Bryson writes, this looks like an enjoyable adventure. This time it won't be across far-off or domestic lands, but instead through the fields of science that have placed us here - physics, space, physiology... I got to attend the first stop on the tour for this book, in Brookline, MA, and he had the audience in stitches with his charming, droll, wit. Don't make this your first Bill Bryson book [...] but if you're a fan, definitely (as I will) make it part of your library.

UPDATE: I got to enjoy on CD this while driving from Seattle through Oregon this past summer. It's great!

Rating:
Summary: Less than promised
Review:

Bill Bryson doesn't know the difference between a volt and an electron volt. He doesn't know the difference between force, energy and power. He thinks (alas! along with Stephen Hawking) that "10 million million million..." is somehow more understandable than 10³⁷. So don't expect precise science here.

In the introduction, he says he'll tell us how scientists figured out all kinds of esoteric things: the age of the universe, the size of the universe, the mass of the earth. Then he forgets his promise; in the few cases where he makes the attempt, the details are too superficial to be informative.

But the anecdotes are fun. Anecdotes are _always_ the best part. It's just that, in keeping with the rest of the book, it might be prudent to regard the anecdotes as semi-fictional, rather than rigourously factual.

Rating:
Summary: Rediscover what you learned in school and forgot
Review: This 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

Rating:
Summary: Just like on PBS
Review: I like Bill Bryson's writing style. This is a book one wishes they read as a teenager. It really brings science alive. One feels like they are witnessing events as they occur in the first person. I like how Bryson takes scientific topics and makes them simple too understand. Bryson puts numbers in perspective and helps the reader understand the spatial enormity or complexity of the elements, atom, planets, and stars. Its easy to retell a Bryson story because they have good imagination well connect ideas that flow into an interesting story without sounding too intellectual. Like, "What is it like to be inside of an Cell? How do cells work? Who discovered DNA and why?" Question like these.

I think reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is a great introduction to science, astronomy, biology, and geology. Bryson keeps the narrative down to earth, terminology to a minimum, and brings out interesting viewpoints on the birth of the cosmos, the self-repairing DNA, life on planet earth, and the composition of the earth.

Bryson did a job not boring the reader with the mysteries of science. Its entertaining reading and not difficult material to understand. Bryson presents thought provoking material that makes one want to read many other published books by Bryson.

Rating:
Summary: Not Short, not Everything, but wonderfully written
Review: I have been addicted to science popularizations since junior high school, beginning with Isaac Asimov and going on to include Robert Jastrow, Carl Sagan, Steven Pinker, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Roger Penrose, Paul Davies, Murray Gell-Mann, and many others. I have also read a few of Bryson's other books, including The Mother Tongue and Made in America, which I found delightful. However, I was a bit skeptical of this foray into explicating science, since Bryson is no scientist (unlike all the others, possibly excepting Asimov, who gets a special polymath exemption). I was delightfully surprised at this very engaging book. The scope is rather narrower than the title suggests, limited mainly to cosmology, geology, paleontology, and evolution, but there is very little "dumbing down" and the stories of the personalities involved make it a fascinating read. There was a lot of stuff I already knew (and I caught a few minor errors) but I encountered a lot of material that was new to me, and the writing is always engaging and clear.

Rating:
Summary: Dense
Review: This is a truly dense book. I doubt it is possible to cram any more information into 470 or so pages. In college I took a course entitled "Physics for Poets." This is a sceince book with the same intent - science for the non-scientific. It covers everything from the history of the universe to atom construction to the history of living things to human development, etc., etc.

I found the book inconsistent. The first third is a history of scientific discovery. On top of telling the story, Mr. Bryson adds amusing anecdotal information about nearly every scientist named. At times these digressions got too far off point and I found I had to go back to remind myself of the topic being covered. Very often, Mr. Bryson would spend an inordinate amount of time describing scientific theories that were proven false. Occasionally these were interesting. Many times, however, I felt they were added only for humorous effect and did not add to the book.

Later in the book, it is straight science. Perhaps it is my liberal arts bent, but I found much of this to be tedious.

This book is hard work. It began as history and ended as dry, often complex science.

The best part of the book is that it relates how little we actually do know about our world, its history, atomic structure, and really every scientific field. The title perhaps should have been "The More we Know Tells Us How Much We Don't Know." That is the best lesson learned from getting through Mr. Bryson's epic tome.

Rating:
Summary: Short entertaining bio's of 100 scientists
Review: Bill Bryson is not a scientist; he's a journalist. He is well known for a series of highly successful books on travel, backpacking, and language. One day while admiring the earth from 40,000 feet on a commercial flight, he got to thinking about how little he knew about our planet. "I didn't know a protein from a proton...So I decided I would devote a portion of my life to finding out how the universe works." Bryson read voraciously and apprenticed himself to a host of willing profound scientific minds from all over the world, covering every aspect of science.

There are a little over 100 names of scientists in the index (I counted them). Bryson's modus operandi is to give the big picture by telling fun stories about the main characters - hence his succession of mini-biographies of famous and not-so famous scientists. Most of the stories are told from the point of view of those researchers who did the work. Some are told from the point of view of who got the credit. Sometimes (all too often) they are not the same person. Bryson must know that homo sapiens thrive on good gossip, because there is plenty here for the most addicted soap opera freak.

It took Bryson 3 years to come up with this book and it is indeed a masterpiece. He manages to take subjects of immense complexity and render them comprehensible to the lay reader. That, it seems to me, is the strongest selling point among this books many assets.

I first listened to this book on abridged audio, some of it twice. Bryson's audio (spoken by Bryson) was a perfect start for my own efforts at filling the scientific void in my brain. After the audio, I read the book and found that no more than 10%-15% is missing from the abridged version. This book is pure gold and I do not have a higher recommendation for any other introductory to mid-range science book. I believe that if this book was used as a co-text in some way in high schools, there would be a significant increase in candidates for majors in science of all types in college.

Congratulations, Bill Bryson, on your superb effort.



Rating:
Summary: Delightful!
Review: This is an excellent book for the generalist covering just about everything..Note that on page 60 of the UK book, the author states that Betelguese is 50,000 light years away. It is more like 400 light years from earth.

Rating:
Summary: Makes a dull subject come alive
Review: Bill Bryson is a great writer. I've noted before how his talent is to make the most mundane subject come alive with wit and insight. In "A Short History of Nearly Everything" he works his magic on science. For most people, there couldn't be more boring subjects than quantum physics or plate tectonics. Bryson, however, creates a page-turner by focusing on the quirky characters of science and their improbable discoveries. He also conveys a real sense of wonder and amazement about the word around us that is very endearing and contagious. If you want a fun read that will also teach you more than a thing or two, this is the book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for generalists
Review: To all of you out there that enjoy science as generalists this is the book to read. It has excellent accounts - yes from other books/magazines in some cases - but you cannot write a book to encompass this much information by doing all the experimental research yourself in three years.
I would recommend this book to all of you who enjoy learning an interest account of a lot of different scientific issues by asking the right questions...