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Summary: This author will be judged by God
Review: This book, and so many other horrible books, should not be allowed to be published or sold. It was written by a liberal who has been possessed by the Devil. Belief in, and a personal relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ is the only way to understand the truth about these things. The only book you need to read is the Bible. The Bible is 100% accurate and true, this laughable book is a book filled with horrible lies.
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Summary: You should read it!
Review: I'm interested in this kind of books, books about everything explained in few, plain and light words.My favorite author in this topics have been Carl Sagan, but now I think I found another source of wisdom. And the best of all, I enjoyed it. "Culture don't hurts"
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Summary: Infinitely entertaining
Review: If science isn't your area of expertise, but you find yourself fascinated when looking at the stars or through a microscope, this book is just right for you. It took me all of a day and a half to read: I just could not put it down. The subject matter could be dense at times, a fact Bryson himself acknowledges, but his ways of description are as unscientific as you can get (his apt use of describing the universe as "really, really, big"). Included in the book are several highly amusing anecdotes about competing scientists, useful background and, well, a short history of nearly everything. You don't have to be a scientist to appreciate this book (although a lot of scientists who have read this book despise its easy nature and glossing over important facts). Sit back and enjoy some fascinating facts about our world.
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Summary: The only book I have ever read twice, back to back
Review: Bill Bryson's A short History of Nearly Everything rates as nearly the best book I have ever read. He takes complex subjects and renders them readable, understandable and highly entertaining. While I am an avid reader, I learned more from this book than I have from nearly anything else. A must read!
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Summary: An excellent piece of work
Review: This book is a credit to Bill Bryson. I have studied in Geology, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, yet have never had the world of science explained as well as it is in this book. Of course the principles raised need far greater exploration for those who truley want to understand the precise workings of the world, but Bryson allows those who are usually scared off by the mundane writing of scientists, an entertaining introduction to the complex universe in which we reside.
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Summary: Lost Money Buying this book. Not Happy.
Review: Bad reading and a waste of my time.
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Summary: FASCINATING!
Review: This book is excellent...it reads like fiction but is all science. Bill Bryson writes for the lay person and attempts to answer major science questions. It's so impressive that the high school where I teach is thinking of creating a one-semester class around it and using it as our textbook. I think just about every science teacher would love it, and even the most science-phobic students and adults will get a kick out of it. Unlike most popular science books, this weaves together the various aspects of science (history, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and space science) into a seamless "story," replete with humor, interesting tidbits, and character development.
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Summary: A not-so-short history of science
Review: To begin with, this is not really a history book, nor is it a science book. A more accurate description of it would say that it's a history of science book. The author, Bill Bryson, an extensive traveler famous for his keen observation and engaging storytelling, attempts to take a journey through the history of the universe but ends up telling the story of how our scientists came to theorize about this history. Science can be a very boring subject, and is manifestly so for Bill. To help himself go through it all he amuses himself with numerous anecdotes and interesting trivia about the scientists involved. He has a talent for digging up the interesting stories behind important discoveries and popular theories of old times and of today. He's always on the lookout for fascinating facts and astonishing numbers even if they had little significance for the whole body of scientific knowledge or if they featured any practicality at all. He starts the book by telling what we know about the beginning of the universe itself. The problem he stumbles upon, however, is that all we have are theories and very few, if any, facts. To maintain credibility, Bill explains how we came to conceive those theories. This book is a tribute to all the scientists forgotten by the public and especially those that are not even credited with their own achievements. He tells not only about the scientists' work, but he paints you profiles about their characters and recounts many of their entertaining and sometimes surprising anecdotes. Bill's style is very exciting and can make even the most boring stories seem interesting. After describing the universe and how scientists arrived at what they know about how it became, Bill lands on Earth. Once again he talks about the features of our planet and how we came to learn about them. I found this chapter to be difficult to go through since it mainly chronicled the emergence and development of geology, one of the sciences that least interests me. Unsurprisingly, the lives of geologists aren't that interesting either. Unfortunately, the book seems to lose coherence at this point. Once here you'll get the feeling that the author is overwhelmed with information and is trying to absorb it all at once. Just as we begin talking about Einstein's relativity we find ourselves discussing how we came to know about the Dinosaurs and their extinction. And while we're learning how to date paleontological findings we suddenly delve into a subatomic venture to encounter the quarks. And only after reaching all the way down to the core of the Earth and up to the highest point of the Earth's thermosphere that coherence is restored. But until then, disorientation was my prevailing sentiment. The fourth part looks at life itself and how we think it began. We learn about how Darwin envisioned the evolution theory and how the world reacted to it. We find out what enhancements were introduced to it and what picture it depicts about life. Many questions are pondered such as how is life so perseverant and fragile all together, and what various hurdles it had to overcome to reach you and me. This is a very enjoyable part not only because Bill seems to get over his fascination with the scientists and focus instead on the science itself, but because the story is told coherently and contemplatively. This part definitely makes up for the lousy reading that precedes it. Its only flaw is that it ends. The book concludes on a reflective note. Bill cogitates about where do humans stand in the midst of all this. What is our role in this cosmological game? What do we mean to life itself? He ends the book by leaving you puzzled by the conundrum that although we might be the only beings able to observe life, yet our own ignorance and greed could very well be the main reason behind life's annihilation. We're not good for the job, nevertheless we might be all there is. So in summary, this is not a book that will make you a scientists. After going through the hundreds of names and stories, all the unpronounceable terminologies and the expired theories, I assume that I'll hardly remember 20% of it all. So take this book for what it's worth. It's very entertaining all while being to some extent educating. If you're looking for a science reference or a more science-oriented history book, however, then this is not the book for you. Also, if you are a fan of audio books then I highly recommend the abridged audio edition of this book . It is available on 4 tapes and the book is narrated by the author himself. It is informally divided into 5 minutes sections, which makes them very convenient to listen to in the car.
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Summary: Now I know almost everything
Review: This was a fun and eye opening book. It's great to read on the train going to work or when you only have ten or fifteen minutes to spare. Fascinating information.
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Summary: Has Bryson Ever Written a Bad Book?
Review: I have a shelf at home of all of his books. Need I say more. His books are sort of like Seinfeld - about nothing but very entertaining. I bought his Australia "Down Under" book while traveling in Australia at the Melbourne airport. That was the first but then I was hooked on Bill's books.Then I walked with him up the long Trail in his "Walk in the Woods", and on and on through Europe in "Neither Here nor There" and England the "Small Island". You cannot throw his books away, they are great reads and make good gifts. This book like the others is a no brainer. I am a professional scientist and would highly recommend. It would be better if it was a few dollars cheaper so they could sell more copies. Great book. Bill loves to write and it shows.
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