 2008-12-28 - One of the best books that I have ever read
Bill Bryson has raked together a sampling of all the technical knowledge that we have. Some of the conclusions may be questionable, but questioning is what man does best. This is a book that everyone should read. I am reading the book for the second time and have two other copies that I am circulating among my friends.
2008-12-28 - Everyone should read or listen to this book
Anyone interested to know where we come from, how big is the universe is, how tiny is human history, how and where life "is", etc... must read this book.
Hands down, one of the greatest books in its category written by a funny author with the ability to make complex things pleasant and easy to grasp.
I suggest the complete audio CDs (17 hours). Started to read this book and the experience was somehow less interesting. Too many names are acknowledged throughout the book, I'd guess around 1000, and that makes it a bit hard to follow.
I intended to write a longer review but after seeing more than 640 reviews on Amazon alone with a rating average of above 4.6/5.0, I would suggest to just get the audio CD and listen to the whole book twice!
Kudos to Bill Bryson for this magnificent masterpiece.
2008-12-28 - Entertaining Journey Through the Universe
I got this book because I could not find the one I wanted. I was hoping I made the right decision. I have been really enjoying this book. Bryson explains Science in a way that makes it extremely interesting and understandable. I'm very glad I got took a chance on it.
2008-12-12 - Bill Bryson is One of My Favorite Authors
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a fabulous book. Somewhat different from his usual travel books but really worth reading. At times you might not understand some of the topics like particle physics but keep going--it gives you a comprehensive picture of the history of the earth and all its denizens. If it's by Bill Bryson, you can count on its ability to hold your interest and attention. I really liked this book even though it made me feel pretty insignificant in the cosmic scheme of things.
2008-12-04 - Very Interesting and Entertaining
This is an excellent book and is very entertaining to read. It starts by explaining the beginning of time (big bang), and then goes chronologically from there explaining pretty much every aspect of the history of the universe and the Earth.
Of course to fit this all into 400 pages Bryson has to be very brief, as the title of the book implies. But despite being brief, he never leaves out anything important. The book discusses many different subjects, including astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, and especially the biology of life on Earth. It talks a lot about important people from history and how they have advanced science, and often includes amusing facts about these people. The book also talks about lesser-known, but very important, scientists from history; scientists who are often ignored because other scientists have stolen their credit for discoveries.
A major theme in the book is emphasizing how little we humans actually know about the world and universe, which is totally true. After reading this book you'll be amazed by how many species of animals and plants we know absolutely nothing about and how many are estimated to be discovered in the future; you'll see that we really don't know all that much about the history of the Earth; and that we don't really know much about the rest of the universe. It's also quite interesting to note that Bryson has no formal scientific background. He just researched this stuff very thoroughly and then simplified it so that almost anyone can understand the material.
Overall it's a very good book and it was very hard to put down.
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