Rating: 
Summary: Just for Me
Review: I think a lot of people have a great deal of appreciation and respect for the sciences, but like most of us, it IS easy to get lost in those old textbooks that read like a dry explanation of paint drying.It's comforting to find that the author himself has been and still is perplexed and awestruck by the questions from the scientific world. From microorganisms to the double helix and E=mc2 to geology, Bryson makes sense of it all, well, at least most of it. (Granted, fungus, I thought, weren't all that great [granted, still isn't ;)] and continues to be a bit confusing; however, Bryson makes it fun and not too complicated.) He really knows how to break concepts of physics to a level that an average high school student can understand and GASP! enjoy. You must be thinking that something is quite wrong here. I know that's what I thought the first time I read it. Bryson delves into the science itself but gives a rich history and account of man's discoveries. He gives some great facts and ironic stories of discovery whilst juxtaposing honest candor throughout the whole book. It's a huge thick book and can be quite daunting. But, it's something that I'll read over and over again. It's a great reference piece that I know I'll use. There are names you've heard and stories you'll be familiar with and many anecdotes that make you chuckle but also makes you cringe regarding humanity's great follies and parochial tunnel vision. At the end of book, there is a list of all his sources as well as pretty good index of the major topics he discussed. Mind you, it's not very comprehensive and you may find yourself leafing the whole section of one chapter to find the name or reference that's NOT in the index. It does get a bit vexing; but, it's well worth it. Just read it again; in fact, you'll appreciate it better and remember things too.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reading,, but...
Review: Bill Bryson is an excellent writer, no question. He's at once friend and informative, chummy without being condescending. The problem is that Bill Bryson is not a terribly well informed writer. I read an interview with Bryson in New Scientist not long ago in which he admitted that he really didn't understand a lot of what all these scientists were telling him, and unfortunately that's all too clear in reading this book. As a consequence Bryson gives you a good deal of infomation peppered with some really horrid misunderstandings and errors. I'm reminded in reading "A Short History" of Bryson's book on language, in which he either repeats or invents any number of terribly inaccurate folk etymologies. Also a very readble but terribly inaccurate tome. He's great fun to read on personalities (although the accuracy of some of his characterizations is suspect) and he does have an ear for fascinating trivia, but science takes a back seat to all of this. All too often we get the beginning of an explanation that trails off into a "and anyways it's all very complicated but it's it just fascinating" sort of gee-whiz summary. One suspect that we've just reached the point where Bryson has either lost the thread of understanding or perhaps just decided that he doesn't care to understand something any further. As enjoyable as Bryson can be to read, I only wish he'd had his manuscript vetted by editors with a solid science background, or better yet, collaboraated with a scientist on the writing. As it is, I can't really recommend this book. The reader interested in how science has shaped the world would do far better to read James Burke's justly well-regarded "Connections".
Rating:
Summary: Where was Mr. Bryson when I went to high school?
Review: I sure wish Bill Bryson could have been one of my high school teachers.
When I was in high school, most of my science classes were tedious, tiresome and terribly unexciting. If I could have been a pupil in Mr. Bryson's class, my glazed stare and overwhelming feeling of confusion, would have been replaced by a wide-eyed hunger for knowledge. This book gave an overall view of almost every ology out there.
In this comprehensive look at the failures and successes of science to date, the author has colorfully illustrated the events and people that have contributed to our understanding of the world.
Rating:
Summary: A Must read for everyone
Review: This has to be the best book that I have read in the past 10 years and the best science book ever. It should be required reading for every incoming college freshman. I couldn't put it down and had to continually share it's insights with my family and friends. I hope that there is a second book of it's kind somewhere in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible! Entertaining and educational.
Review: I listened to the abridged audio book in my car, and it got to the point where I was looking forward to my morning and evening commutes, actually hoping for traffic! Bill Bryson is a great writer who has the perfect ear for the stories and facts that his readers need. This book covers everything from the origins of the universe to the invention of chloroflurocarbons and onset of global warming. But it's the details and the stories BEHIND the discoveries that makes this book so interesting. I loved every sentence.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable read
Review: This book presented information in an informative and often whimiscal style. Bill Bryson presents information and stories in most of the scientific disciplines and he does so with wit. I am a Biologist and often I enjoy getting away from the intensity of reading journal articles to books such as Bill Bryson has written. I have read this book twice and recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good and Informative Book. Only one complaint.
Review: Mr. Bryson's book does its job: Explain how things are. Complicated? Some of them are, but they are explained in the easiest possible way. It would be impossible to explain supernovi or black holes in a less succint and simple way. Just one word of correction for Mr. Bryson (and hence my one star reduction). In disc one, you mention the triangulation efforts to measure the earth's dimensions, and you say they were done in Peru's Mt. Chimborazo. Well.....Mt. Chimborazo belongs to Ecuador and it has never even been in dispute with Peru. I hope there are no more misinformation bits like this one. Still, I enjoyed the book a lot and would recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: An expression of awe and awareness
Review: It takes a range of talents to compress the history of the universe into 500 pages - prose skill, comprehension and presumption. Bryson possesses all three in surpassing quantity. He's brought them all to bear in this impressive work. He adds a strong dose of enthusiasm to his account. This additional element from a man previously rarely exhibiting a feeling for science imparts in this book a sense of his awe at what research has achieved in recent years. While his awe sometimes leads him to abundant superlatives, we can forgive his exuberance as an expression of discovery. He wants us to share both his wonder and his realisation that science is comprehensible. We must respect his objective, since it's important in our lives. After a string of entertaining but mildly useful travel books, Bryson offers the grandest tour of all - a journey from the beginning of time. His "In A Sunburnt Country" gives an account of his visit to Shark Bay in Western Australia. His awe at being in the presence of ancient stromatilites is reflected in his portrayal of life's history. Opening Part V, with the observation that "it isn't easy being an organism" he summarises what conditions must prevail to allow life to come into being and survive. Those stromatilites poisoned the atmosphere for early life forms, he reminds us. Only a special few survived to evolve to become us. We often think of ourselves as "carbon-based" life. Bryson suggests counting any 200 atoms in your body - only 19 of them will be carbon. Bryson tracks the threats life has confronted and survived. Deep-sea pressure, intense heat - some creatures can't survive unless it's hotter than we can tolerate - and the vagaries of climate and topography. A wandering planetary orbit incites an ice age that nearly eliminates life. A wandering asteroid annuls a multi-million year reptilian global empire. Two continents, long separated, join through a narrow isthmus of land. The resulting change in ocean currents dried Africa, shrinking its forests and leading an ape to become bipedal and brainy. All of which led to the creature that wrote this book - and others reading it. And both creatures, along with all others, must survive on the 0.036 per cent of fresh water available to us. The remainder, except for a few tenuous clouds, is locked up in ice.
If Bryson's travel books reassure us about places we might visit, this book reassures us that science, although demanding and seemingly mysterious, is accessible to us. This is a fine place to start. He's interviewed many scientists and read widely. His excellent bibliography at the end reflects his efforts and the state of various fields of science. It is wonderfully up-to-date. The Index, on the other hand, needs some serious attention. Those stromatilites and their location at Shark Bay, so important to Bryson elsewhere, fail to appear in the Index [it's page 299 in the text]. It would be churlish to fault the lack of illustrations - the scope for selection is simply too vast. Still . . . [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: Well-written and quite enjoyable
Review: This book is more in line with Bryson's "The Mother Tongue" about the English language. So if you are expecting humor, you may want to choose some of his other titles. If you want to learn a ton of stuff, read this. Over the years, I have read a lot of Sagan, Gould, Lederman, etc. and Bryson does a great job of bringing their best ideas together plus many more. I enjoyed his book greatly. I find it especially interesting how he weaves the story about we humans muddling through just about everything all the while the universe is unwittingly trying to snuff us out. It puts things in perspective.
Overall, I'm very impressed at Bryson's accomplishment with this work and recommend it without reservation.
Rating:
Summary: Not Easy Reading
Review: Thought this book was going to be a bit easier to read. I don't recommend this book to someone who is looking for some easy reading on "A Short History of Nearly Everything". The layout is way to tight and you cannot find info on any particular subject easily. Sorry Mr. Bryson.....I guess it's just not for me or the Father's in my life. I had bought 4 of them for Father's Day gifts and had to return all of them.
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