A valuable service to society - don't quibble over facts

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	• A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson Random House Large Print, 2003 - 960 pages average customer review:based on 630 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The history of our world for dummies

Bryson does a great job of compiling a huge amount of information into a mere 475 pages. It is well organized, easy to read, and surprisingly enjoyable considering the complexity of certain topics. While some subjects, like geology, microbiology and atomic structure were a bit tedious, I really enjoyed reading about astronomy and especially anthropology (my favorite class in college). This comprehensive book embarks upon the history of the world we live in, from the nothingness of a pre-Big Bang universe, to the atoms that compose everything, to the primordial soup that yielded life, and to our most ancient hominid ancestors. What makes this book work is not that Bryson presents the history of nearly everything, but how these everythings were discovered. He investigates the history of exploration and narrates how scientists discovered answers to some of the most fundamental questions pertaining to who we are and how we came to be (especially during the 18th and 19th centuries). Bryson's goal was to fulfill his readers in ways that textbooks never did and he did that in an entertaining and often humorous way. For someone like me who often cringes at the mention of certain science topics (physics, chemistry), Bryson's delivery felt comfortable and was not intimidating. Best of all, Bryson left me with awe and wonder at the sequence of events that led our planet to enable our existence.

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excellent

wonderful book, both educational and entertaining. It's one you can read over and over. There is so much information that it is really not possible to remember it all but it is delightful to read.

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Interesting but not up to my expectations

The book covers the history of several scientific areas and tries to tell a coherent story covering the most important discoveries. Most chapters give interesting information, but sometimes the historic trivia outnumber the scientific facts and figures. Chapters 4-5-6 are long winded and almost caused me to stop reading (they definitely need rewriting!). The second half of the book (biology, anthropology) has sounder foundations and is better argumented. It is certainly an interesting work for later reference and it gives an interesting and very extensive bibliography. Some of the conclusions are biased or lack correct arguments (especially where physics is involved, it often comes down to popular talking rahter than correctly argumented science, so in the end you learn nothing new). All in all a book worth reading and owning but a little disappointing, considering the enormous expectations formed by some reviews.

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One of the Most Useful and Best Science Books I Own

This is a fantastic book. If you're interested in science and history, this is the book for you. Bryson brings up interesting trivia about key people and events in science history.

He shares the story of Thomas Midgley. His two great claims to fame were putting lead into gasoline and the development of chlorofluorocarbons. Bryson shares the observation that seldom has one person inflicted so much damage with his inventions.

I have a "junk" copy of the book that I have marked and written in. I use this to read to my 6th & 7th grade students when we are discussing that topic in science. I also love the way he begins the book. I can't think of a better way to start the school year to the read the beginning of the book.

Each year I recommend this book to my student's parents when I send out my monthly newsletter to them.

I strongly recommend this book and assure you that you won't regret your purchase!

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A valuable service to society - don't quibble over facts

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm not normally a "deep" reader, so I really appreciated Mr. Bryson's effort to make these subjects more accessible. In fact, after reading this, I was inspired to take another look at some of the more challenging titles in this genre. Therein is the real value of this book, from my perspective. He opens a door to us who tend to be a bit intimidated by the scholarly tomes about such topics as the life-cycle of a proton. Maybe we just need a little encouragement to dig a bit deeper. Those who focus on pointing out factual mistakes are missing the point.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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