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A Short History of Nearly Everythingby Bill Bryson
Staff Pick
This learned and amusing work covers the origin of the universe to the human genome. A welcome journey with Bryson in typical wise and witty fashion. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:One of the world's most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey — into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.
In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail — well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand — and, if possible, answer — the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world's most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining. Review:"Bryson...achieve[s] exactly what he'd set out to do, and, moreover, [he does] it in stylish, efficient, colloquial and stunningly accurate prose.... Review:"Bryson has made a career writing hilarious travelogues, and in many ways his latest is more of the same, except that this time Bryson hikes through the world of science." People Review:"Hefty, highly researched and eminently readable." Simon Winchester, The Globe and Mail Review:"All non-scientists (and probably many specialized scientists, too) can learn a great deal from his lucid and amiable explanations." National Post Review:"One of the most engaging general-interest science books around. Think of it as a kind of a handy manual to the cosmos....Mr. Bryson believes that much of what humankind has learned can be conveyed to the average reader with humor and clarity." Dallas Morning News Review:"To those acquainted with the popular-science writing Bryson has digested, his repackaging is a trip down memory lane, but to his fellow science-phobes, Bryson's tour has the same eye-opening quality to wonder and amazement as his wildly popular travelogues." Booklist Review:"[T]o read Bryson is to travel with a memoirist gifted with wry observation and keen insight that shed new light on things we mistake for commonplace....[A] trip worth taking..." Publishers Weekly Review:"Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science into perspective." Kirkus Reviews Review:"I can't vouch for the accuracy of the content, but written the way it is, it undeniably makes learning fun....I can't imagine what Mr. Bryson will tackle next....But I look forward to his future undertaking with unabashed eagerness." BookReporter Review:"With his keen and wonderfully humorous perspective, Bryson has written the best kind of travelogue...in which each stop on the itinerary is fascinating because he settles in and stays awhile, unearthing the stories and myths of the local denizens." Philadelphia Inquirer Review:"Bryson is surprisingly precise, brilliantly eccentric and nicely eloquent...a gifted storyteller has dared to retell the world's biggest story." Seattle Times Review:"Bill Bryson gives you science that's both serious and fun in this detailed and enjoyable book....Bryson's challenge here was...to make us understand and appreciate how profound, frightening or just plain interesting our world is, and he's done a wonderful job." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Review:"A 545-page doorstop that is neither a hilarious travelogue or a witty book about language, both trademarks of the author. Rather, it's a swift tour of the sciences and an ambitious one at that....Bryson is a master of his craft." Chicago Sun-Times Review:"Bill Bryson's latest tome...delivers exactly what the title suggests....Readers familiar with Bryson's wry sense of humor and casual writing style will find plenty here; he makes science interesting and funny." Boston Globe Review:"A Short History of Nearly Everything is everything a book should be — informative, engaging, well styled, rewarding both for the information it provides and the art that shapes it." Minneapolis Star Tribune Synopsis:In this book, bestsellling author Bill Bryson confronts his greatest challenge: to understand--and, if possible, answer--the oldest, biggest questions posed about the universe, everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. High school & older.
About the AuthorBill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, In A Sunburned Country, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, Bill Bryson's African Diary, and A Short History of Nearly Everything. He lives in Norfolk, England, with his wife and children. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Pt. I Lost in the Cosmos 7 1 How to Build a Universe 9 2 Welcome to the Solar System 19 3 The Reverend Evans's Universe 29 Pt. II The Size of the Earth 41 4 The Measure of Things 43 5 The Stone-Breakers 63 6 Science Red in Tooth and Claw 79 7 Elemental Matters 97 Pt. III A New Age Dawns 113 8 Einstein's Universe 115 9 The Mighty Atom 133 10 Getting the Lead Out 149 11 Muster Mark's Quarks 161 12 The Earth Moves 173 Pt. IV Dangerous Planet 187 13 Bang! 189 14 The Fire Below 207 15 Dangerous Beauty 224 Pt. V Life Itself 237 16 Lonely Planet 239 17 Into the Troposphere 255 18 The Bounding Main 270 19 The Rise of Life 287 20 Small World 302 21 Life Goes On 321 22 Good-bye to All That 335 23 The Richness of Being 350 24 Cells 371 25 Darwin's Singular Notion 381 26 The Stuff of Life 397 Pt. VI The Road to Us 417 27 Ice Time 419 28 The Mysterious Biped 434 29 The Restless Ape 453 30 Good-bye 469 Notes 479 Bibliography 517 Index 529 What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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