A Short History of Nearly Everything

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Summary: a short history of everything
Review: i can never remember reading a book so entertaining and informative and enjoying it so much that i decided to read it again immediately. it seems that the only people who didn't enjoy it were some scientists and then probably because it had been written by a travel expert, even though he had spent some 3 years researching it. this could be put down to jealously as they themselves could not encompass such a feat.
as far as i could tell, there are no major errors in this book, even though some of his views are controversial. but there is one glaring mistake that can be corrected for future editions: in the 4 bases for DNA, one is given as thiamine, which is vitamin B1 and hardly could be used as a strut for that structure. blame your proof reader, bill.
again, i enjoyed this book so much,i have given copies of it to my 5 kids. brian corrigan

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Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: An absolute must-have for the inquisitive mind. With such boundless informative facts and quirks about the everyday functions of not only our own processes, but of the entire world and beyond. Bryson explains (or attempts to at least highlight what little we actually know) about most generally unanswered questions regarding nature and the like, and successfully accomplishing to do so in an entertaining 'Dummy's How-To' fashion. A novel which can be read over and over, each time as surprising and interesting, revealing new facts and bringing forth new questions about the mystery of what is.

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Summary: A Man Said to the Universe
Review: Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is beautifully written, very entertaining and highly informative. Bryson is not a scientist, but rather a curious and observant writer who, four or five years ago, realized that he couldn't tell a quark from a quasar, or a proton from a protein. Bryson set out to cure his ignorance of things scientific, and this book is the result.

For readers who are new to science and its history, "A Short History of Nearly Everything" contains one remarkable revelation after another. You'll be amazed at how enormous, complex and just plain weird the world is and at how small a part humanity plays in it all. It's a humbling experience, a little reminscent of Stephen Crane's blank verse: "A man said to the Universe: 'Sir, I exist!' 'However,' replied the Universe, 'the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.'"

Just as engaging as the story of what we know is the parallel story of how we know it--from the first clever experiments to figure out things like how much the earth weighs to today's ongoing efforts to describe the origins of the universe itself, you come to appreciate that science is not an answer but a process, a way of learning about a world that always has one more trick up its sleeve.

Whatever else may be said about the universe, Bryson explains that learning about its mysteries is a very human endeavor. And so his book is peppered with tales of the odd turns, like Percival Lowell, the astronomer who saw canals on Mars when in fact there are none (and whose initials figured in the naming of Pluto, the ninth planet); the Askesian Society, a learned 19th century body devoted to the study of laughing gas; and the knock-down, drag-out personal battles between scientists whose genius was rivaled only by their lack of civility.

This is a superb book and a quick read despite weighing in at nearly 500 pages. If you enjoy "A Short History of Nearly Everything," I highly recommend for further reading Daniel Boorstin's "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" and Timothy Ferris' "Coming of Age in the Milky Way," all of which are elegant explorations of the history of science and how we have come to know what we think we know.

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Summary: Everything Explained
Review: From subatomic particles to tectonic plates to Pluto and then back again; Bryson covers it all. His goal is to help you and me understand (like the title says:) Nearly Everything. Every major science and the eccentric characters who built them are presented in a smooth and often hilarious tone. Bryson somehow makes reading about sediment a thrill. The first three-quarters of A Short History were highly entertaining, likely because Bryson dedicates as much time to the oddball scientists and their antics as to the science itself. In the latter chapters, the reading turns heavier, but that might be because there weren't so many colorful characters to focus on. That's not to say any part of the book was anything less than enlightening. A Short History shouldn't be missed.

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Summary: Great Layman's to Science - Past and Present
Review: As an engineer I've always been fascinated with science and turned off by bad science writing. Having a great writer like Bill Bryson write a history of scientific thought and discovery is just pure joy. Don't get me wrong - there are wonderful scientific writers out there but what Bill manages to do is bring a great number of different specialities under one roof and write about them consistently, interestingly and with great warmth.

The book is really a short history of scientific discovery since the time of Newton. Bryson moves us seemlessly from topic to topic, always finding some interconnection - reminiscent in some respects of the classic James Burke TV show, "Connections". Bill is interested not only in the science but in the people who discovered it. And some of these people are not household names, they have been overlooked; their ideas stolen or unrecognized. Often an amazing degree of stupidity is involved on the part of the discoverer - publishing in provincial magazines that have nothing to do with the subject!

There was one quote in the book that I found particularly appropro in this regard. I can't remember it exactly but it's something like, "First a scientific discovery is discredited; then it's significance is discredited; then the wrong person is credited".

For me this was one of the best aspects of the book. Pretty much every scientific discovery was one I already knew about but the history of the scientists was refreshing. For instance, I knew about leaded gas and CFCs (of course, who doesn't) but I never knew that the same guy was responsible for both! It was reading about people like that which made this book so enjoyable; your view might vary: Some of the negative reviews feel the book was spoilt by this.

This isn't always a comfortable book to read. For instance, the discussion about a massive volcano that sits hidden under Yellowstone National Park and is "past it's due date" and the discussion about being overdue for an asteroid attack gave me uncomfortable nights. To some extent we live in a bad age - we have discovered these things that could destroy us but we haven't yet figured out how to prevent them!

Whether you are already familiar with scientific thought and history or not I think you'll find this to be a wonderful book.

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Summary: Wonderful Science at its Best
Review: Any book by Bill Bryson is a delight to read. "A Short History of Nearly Everything" readily fits this bill.

Bryson shows a child like joy in uncovering any thing new. This book is full of interesting pieces which Bryson is only too happy to share with his readers. Bryson succeeds in making science readable. Popular science has rarely had a better communicator.

From another perspective, this is the sort of book that all believers in "creation science" should read. It keeps the scale of the earth and its occupants in true perspective to the universe. If there are 140 billion galaxies, how was all this made in seven days?

I recommend this book to all thoughtful and inquiring minds. Read and enjoy its many pleasures.

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Summary: This is simply Bryson at his best
Review: This is simply Bryson at his best - making complex subjects such as astronomy and the mysteries of cosmology intelligible to mere historians and people in the humanities like me. This is well worth the read - more so I think than some of his other books, since the jokes were beginning to pall. (What is wrong with Des Moines, after all...) Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)

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Summary: History of Scientific Discovery
Review: This is a serious work, but Bill Bryson still focuses on the ironies and foibles of the people who advanced scientific thought over the centuries, unearthing lots of interesting bits of trivia and history. An engaging book that would be a good companion piece for a survey course in the hard sciences.

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Summary: Everything you thought you knew, but didn't...
Review: This exceptionally well-written and entertaining history of the physical world, and all that surrounds it, should be mandatory reading for everybody. Bryson causes the reader to appreciate the wonder of physical science and those who discovered its mysteries.

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Summary: Top 5 List
Review: This book provides a fantastic overview of both the history of discovery and the information learned. It covers a multitude of scientific fields, from their origins to prevailing (and often disputed) beliefs. Contrary to most scientific text books, however, Bryson makes it all understandable amd mostly memorable. After reading, it is impossible to look at our physical surroundings the same way. Excellent read.