A Short History of Nearly Everything

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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.

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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.

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Summary: The Best!
Review: If you never have time to read another book, make sure that you read this one!
It is a Feast for the intellect and the soul.
Bill Bryson is at his best.
Well, :-) he usually is.

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Summary: History for the Layman
Review: This is history for the layman. I myself wouldn't have used the title "Nearly Everything", rather, "of the World" or "of Nearly every Science". Bryson deals mostly with scientific history pertaining to the universe. From the beginning of the universe to stars, planets, matter such as atoms, quarks, our earth, chemicals, geology, astronomy, human evolution, dinosaurs, scientific principles from einstein to newton to darwin, and much more. He covers many bumbling and brilliant scientists along the way, giving special attention to those whose work happened to have the misfortune of not being discovered, laughed at and later proven correct, or their discoveries being credited to others. Unlike any other history book however, Bryson does it with his own unique and interesting style. He presents it all in an easy to digest, though sometimes superficial manner that makes it a very enjoyable read. For those who happen to be looking for more depth, this is still a great read as it presents many many topics and notable names to choose from as a starting point to begin your journeys deeper into the study of the history of our universe. As one who especially appreciates Bryson's sense of humor, I find this book a bit lacking in such, however Bryson does have some good quips interspersed to keep things light. All in all, another fine book from a fine author. P.S., doesn't Bryson know that Elvis isn't dead?, there's a teaser for you.

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Summary: Teaser -- in a good way
Review: This is an enjoyable read. Mr. Bryson surveys many different aspects of current scientific thinking in an entertaining, readable manner. He is equally able to convey the broad gist of the ideas under discussion as well as provide many interesting notes on the eccentricities of the people who first had those ideas. It's also interesting to read about the myriad ways that natural cataclysms may wipe out all life on earth, though it may have more emphasis in this book than I'd normally be inclined to read. It feels like a justification by Bryson to the reader for why we should care about what he is telling us.

Based on this book, I think I have a new insight into a series of subjects that I've always read about since Bryson approaches everything from the (rarely encountered) angle of a neophyte. It has also spurred me to look to reach beyond the level that this book is able to provide and to start picking up texts in astronomy, DNA biology, dinosaur history and others. Ultimately, that's the mark of a survey book that's done its job well.

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Summary: A superb book!
Review: I'd read all but one or two Bryson books. Bought this one on vacation when I finished the books I'd brought with me. Went back to the store to get it after looking it over and wondering: "What the...?"
Well, I began re-reading it the day I finished it, a first for me.
The information is dumbed down effectively (with many easily grasped examples concerning probabilites and sizes/distances) but retains a meaningful degree of substance.
Bill has adapted his style for this project, peppering the text with amusing details concerning the development of scientific knowledge and the people who groped their way to it.
The main thing I came away with is an appreciation for the seeming miraculous circumstances that made life possible on our planet.
Moreover, it is now very clear to me that, even without man's environmental sins, our planet, or at least life as we know it, can and almost certainly will be destroyed by some natural process at some point (most likely a comet/asteroid impact, or the next blowout at Yellowstone) and that not only will we not be able to do anything about it, but we may have no warning that it is about to happen. It may not happen for thousands of years, so we may already have self destructed, but it could happen before I click the preview button below.
That has shifted my conciousness to a startling degree. Really, it has. Bill Bryson, for God's sake!
I recommend it without hesitation. Should be required reading.

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Summary: Science Explained For The Rest Of Us
Review: Bill Bryson has done something exceedingly useful: written a book that explains the major tenants of science in a form that non-scientists can understand and enjoy.

This is a smart and intelligent book that retains Bryson's charming and witty voice in the telling of the broad range of natural history. It is interesting that this author can retain his appeal across mediums -- he is known as a witty travel writer and has also produced fun and intelligent books on the history of the English language. Now, he goes far afield and explains natural philosophy, as the sciences were once called, in a way that textbooks have avoided ever since there have been science textbooks.

Bryson tackles space, the origins of the universe, geology, the formation of the Earth, physics, the beginning and development of life, cells, DNA and humans in this natural world round-up. Each chapter follows a similar format. A fascinating tidbit is introduced to draw the reader in, the history of understanding in each field is discussed and the evolution of thinking to the current state of understanding explained. This format is enlivened by the personalities past and present (including science's crackpots, iconoclasts and geniuses).

Besides the Bryson wit, what makes this a phenomenally good read is the author's ability to relate scientific principles with examples that laymen can understand and that clarify often confusing scientific knowledge and theories.

For example, I was floored to learn that our solar system is so vast, that it literally could not be drawn to scale on any size in a meaningful way. Neptune is five times farther from Jupiter than Jupiter is from Earth. On a scale drawing with Earth the size of a pea, Jupiter would be a thousand feet away and Pluto a mile and a half (and the size of a bacterium). Now that illustrates space in our immediate environs better than I've every seen it described before.

What is the largest concentration of magma waiting to blow? (and possibly blow us out of existence) It's under Yellowstone National Park. Ten percent of the weight of a six year old pillow is dead skin flakes, mites and mite dung. Most physicists think Einstein wasted the second half of his life pursuing a unified theory instead of thinking about other useful things. Every human cell contains DNA strands that are six feet long if laid end to end. The core of the Earth is as hot as the surface of the sun - and solid because of the immense pressure compacting that mass. Only three percent of the Earth's water is fresh, and almost all of this is in ice sheets - only a scanty .03% of the total is available to us a fresh, flowing water.

Interesting tidbits like the above abound. So do dire stories about past volcanic activity, changes in magnetism, changes in atmospheric conditions and asteroid impacts that have periodically befell Earth and helped move species development forward (usually by wiping out most species existing at the time). Could they/ would they happen in the future? Sure. However, the scale of time over which the next cataclysmic event may occur could be so far removed that we will have evolved into something else (or have found a way to blow up or steer threatening asteroids out of our way).

This book fascinates and amuses. If science textbooks had a bit of this ability to relate and engage during my time in school, I'd bet today there would be a lot more scientists working to figure out the remaining mysteries of our world.

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Summary: The title says it all--and it's FUN to read!
Review: I hadn't read Bill Bryson before his 'Short History of Nearly Everything'. But one night while reading my iPaq's AvantGo update, Random House had a 'teaser' of the first chapter of this excellent read. I was hooked! Mr. Bryson starts out with a absolutely breathtaking description of how utterly large the universe is and breaks it down without a moment of mind-numbing scientific jargon. He entices the reader with simplistic examples that truly hit home, as in 'How small is an atom? Well the period at the end of this sentance contains, oh, a billion times a billion of them'. Now that's SIMPLE!
Whereas one would think that this book would either be too simplistic or too complex, Bryson's gift is to put it squarely in the middle. Stephen Hawking 'sort of' has that gift, but he can get WAY over my head in a hurry! Bryson doesn't do that, prefering to act as a wide-eyed curiosity seeker simply trying to find the truth. He does that superlatively in this book. Never overly complex, yet never pandering to the point you'd think it was written for teenagers, it is breathtaking to read some of the salient points he unfolds for the reader. Such as the temperamental nature of geology, the dangers of runaway chemistry without concern and all the time giving you a behind-the-scenes mini-biography of scientists that have simply languished from the public eye.
The single thing I can say even SLIGHTLY negative is that the book is just plain heavy; I like to read in bed and this one is an arm burner. When it comes out in paperback, I'm buying it again, just so I can re-read it. It's that good.

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Summary: Here we go again
Review: How to Cook Everything; A Short History of Nearly Everything: what do people have against nothing?

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Summary: We're all going to die, he says, awfully and soon
Review: Mr. Bryson's depressing thesis seems to be that life's current status on this planet, and more specifically so-called intelligent life, is a blip and an accident which could be wiped out in a moment through any non-human methods that have historically happened at smaller intervals than the largest gap we're seeing.

For some people, this should be proof of God's providence. For others, the emptiness of existence. For me, it's a little depressing, even though he's got good evidence for it.

I'm giving this book 3 stars because it's not true to itself.

First, it should be called Eccentrics and Our Upcoming Extinction, as that's really the jist of the book.

Second, the science mixes too strongly with the anecdotal and picaresque.

While I enjoyed the gusto brought to this book, I'm afraid it pales compared to tighter, more interesting personal writings he's had in the past. Like his book on Australian, Mr. Bryson's "I'll just drop in on some folks" style doesn't work for history or science or history of science.

I truly hope that Mr. Bryson will write an Eccentrics book: he has a gift for finding the odd duck who doesn't just putter but changes the world, and those stories are much more interesting than the bits that Richard Fortey (cited and interviewed extensively in the book) and others do a vastly better job at explaining.