A Short History of Nearly Everything
Featuring a special introduction written for the audiobook edition and read by the author A Radio 4 Book Club Selection. A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson’s fascinating and humorous quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. He takes subjects that normally bore the
Bryson should rewrite all textbooks in the curriculum – the ideal non-fiction balance: informative, interesting, amusing! I assume most people like me, are used to learning about science by fixating on one topic at a time, and becoming immersed (and very often lost) in the technical jargon and intricacies. This book surprised me in the amount of effort Bryson took to go through book after book of different sciences, both old and new, (from physics, chemistry, geology and many more) and connect the dots into several cohesive stories about our home, planet Earth, and its residents.The book’s title is…
Required reading for everyone, everywhere Quite simply this book is the single best book I have ever read. I have two well worn paperback copies and the kindle version. If you want your children to grow up with even a modicum of appreciation for our planet, then get this book and read it to them every night – again, and again, and again. In my view this book should replace the free bible on Desert Island Discs!
Perhaps one of the best popular science books (if that was the intention), and entertaining too I am a particle physicist and cosmologist by training. I really enjoyed how Bill Bryson, better than most scientists themselves, can put things into language that speaks to real people. I will be using this myself when preparing for public science education events, as I am doing just right this minute!