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Summary: This is the finest book on science I've ever read.
Review: Mr. Bryson has a way of making the most complex subjects easily understandable. Did you know that 500,000,000,000 protons would fit into the space taken up by a sentence-ending period? Bryson does and he offers all kinds of similar facts backed up by easy-to-read explanations.I am firmly convinced that, if I had read his book while I was in high school, I would have selected one of the sciences as my life's work. I am now reading this book for the second time and will probably read it many more times as well. I liked it so much that I even gave a copy to my son for a Christmas present. Get a copy for yourself, settle down in your easy chair, and enjoy hours of pure pleasure.
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Summary: Bill Bryson is the best writer of our day, plain and simple
Review: The only books I've not read of Bill Bryson's have been his books on language (though I intend to buy them soon). Simply put: Bill Bryson is the best writer of books in the English language alive today. Everything he writes, and I mean EVERYTHING, is well written, insightful, fascinating, and funny. This is no small feat for A Short History of Nearly Everything. Buoyed by a desire to learn SOMETHING from science, he embarked on a 3-year journey of research--the kind you get from reading books and interviewing experts. During the 3 years, Bryson indeed learned quite a lot. He shares his knowledge with you. Whether explaining astronomy, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, evolution, geology, or giving you a funny side story about someone well-known in any of the myriad fields he discusses, you will learn more from this book (unless you're already a scientist), than you've probably ever learned of science. He takes the complexity out of (nearly) everything and shows you why it is--or at least should be--important to you. Not everything he excels at, however. He tries to explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity, but he evidently doesn't quite understand it himself (who can blame him?). There are a couple of other places like that in the book. But overall, this book is wonderful. School systems would do well to use this book in their general science courses! It's not enough to be a really rigorous science book, but it is a fantastic introduction to everything. If you have ever been curious to learn something about...everything...then pick up this book. You won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Open yourself in a compelling and wonderful way
Review: After reading many many books by several empowering authors such as, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer,Marianne Williamson, and Tiffany Snow, that I am still reading,my life has opened up to me in such a compelling and wonderful way. This new book is well written, and thought provoking. There are great transforming authors, who shift the consciousness of humankind in a way never known before. A "short history" is one of those.
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Summary: Humbling
Review: Reading Bryson's book makes you appreciate in a totally different way the work and the effort scientists have put in order to explore the universe, and how much there is out there to be fascinated by. It transmits the message in a very light and readable method. It takes you through the details of how things have developed, the incredible dimensions that exist out there, and how much more there is to discover. The book also tells you how little the earth is, how insignificant we can be to how much there is out there, and how humble we should be relative to everthing else. It puts the human being back in its place (which is nearly nothing), and gives us a new and fresh way to approach what we do and what we deal with every day. A great book to read, amazing facts that would just stun you, and make you realize how much more there is to life...
Rating: 
Summary: A Renaissance book
Review: Bryson's wry observations as a travel writer have long been favourite reading for me - and "A Short History of Nearly Everything" continues to present his observations on life in a dryly-humorous way. The change in subject matter, from travel to "life, the universe and everything" is a bit of a shock to the reader, but the topic is approached well. In many ways "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is the epitome of a Renaissance book. There is no detailed examination of a single theme, but instead a wide-ranging exploration of scientific topics, covering their history and development. Rather than creating a specialised book, Bryson has adopted the eclectic approach of a modern day equivalent of the "gentleman scientist" of four centuries ago. Bryson attempts to put complex concepts across in a way that the lay reader will understand - and indeed, as Bryson himself admits, the author is no scientific expert. The result is a book that is readily accessible, with further reading referenced for those whose interest in specific topics has been piqued. This book serves as an ideal introduction to science for those who (like Bryson) never took that much away from their school days. The humour of the writing style makes it a worthwhile book for those of catholic reading tastes who enjoy history.
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Summary: A great way to learn about science
Review: In learning history, it's easier to learn it in the context of a story than with a table of dates and events, so too with science. By covering the discovery of various scientific facts and theories as their story of how the scientists of their day figured them out, Bryson entertains the reader with fascinating background and makes the learning of science a pleasant byproduct of the story. It's a longer fluffier read than just reading a science text. For those who are just after the answers, read something else. But I found many of the stories fascinating. How did they figure out the weight and size of the earth? Or how far we are from the sun? Good stuff and nicely written -- if you don't mind a little fluff here and there (sometimes Bryson is a bit over the top on cheerleading about how interesting it all is).
Rating:
Summary: very curious
Review: Before reading two great books, I was very curious about two things...science and women! The two books that helped me understand these two things were this book and The Nice Guys Guide To Getting Girls. Now I really do fell like I know the history of everything!! I liked Bryson's book because of its easy laymen terms and its "non-intimidating" way of explaining science. I didn't really like science in high school, but this book made it so easy, fun, and humorous to understand. It's not the same old boring, hard to understand stuff that I remember from high school. After reading this book, I understand and learned so much more about science and the scientists who have changed history!
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Summary: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Review: Bill Bryson has taken what it is and what it will be to a new height and makes reading about science fun along with expanding your mind. This book will help the average person without a clue of what makes life around us tick, have a good idea after they read this book. The book would be great used in a school classroom and would be great for any book shelf. When you have nothing to do and some time to burn why not learn about our beginning and life around you. Larry Hobson-Author "The Day Of The Rose"
Rating:
Summary: Quite good
Review: Very readable. Jumps a little from topic to topic, but in a story-telling sort of way. It is a flying survey of the history of the natural sciences, so there's broad but not deep coverage of topics. Very entertaining bits about the personalities of science. Sorta like the History Channel can make history so much more interesting than your history teacher did, Bryson makes the history of natural science very accessible. My only complaint is the last chapter. Bryson spends 400+ pages basically saying the universe is really complex, Earth's history of weather and animal life is extremely complex, there's a whole lot of stuff we don't know...but he seems to accept as Gospel the idea that humans are causing rapid extinction of species. It's a conclusion that is refuted (at least weakened) by the entire opus that precedes it. (I'm not arguing that we are or we aren't - it was just a jarringly inconsistent conclusion.) Overall, it was a very fast read. You won't walk away understanding the General Theory of Relativity much better than you do, but you'll have fun and learn the stuff you wish you'd learned in school.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but still entertaining
Review: This is a good book. And coming from someone who is not a big Bryson fan (which puts me in a minority, i know) is a big thing to say. This is an enthusiastic book about science: easy to read, entertaining and informative. It is not meant as a reference book - you would not read it necessarily to learn about science, but rather read it as entertainment and perhaps learn something on the way. But...it does have it's faults. About a third of the way through Bryson falls in to his usual trap of spending an inordinate amout of time on 'things that can kill us'. In previous books this has usually been in the form of animals (bears, crocodiles, jellyfish etc. etc.) but here he gets hung up first on asteriods that could crash into the earth at any time, then volcanos and earthquakes. Not that these are not interesting subjects, but he goes on and on. And he doesn't really stick to the history aspect, just about how scary it all is if you think about it. A big let down for this reader. He does recover, however, and goes on to finish a good book. The first third or so is more a history of the discoverers/theorisers of early science, the second 2/3rds (minus the disaster theories) is more actual history of science. It is well written, goes at a good pace, and was entertaining. There have been some reviews who have pointed out factual inaccuracies which detract from the book, in that whenever you read something fascinating, a voice in the back of your head asks 'but is it actually true?' Oeverall however, i would recommend this book if you are looking for something entertaining to read with a bit of depth to it. You don't have to be a science buff to truly enjoy it, just someone who likes to learn something new about the world around them. Who knows, this might actually explain something that previously didn't make much sense to you!
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