This book is aimed at people who either know very little about science, or who studied it in school and then forgot it all (my case). I read some of the reviews here and was shocked at how people criticize Bryson, especially saying he got scientific terms mixed up or had errors in his book. He is not a scientist and in my opinion that makes this book that much more impressive! Bryson devoted years of his life to learn this material, and to think we can take it all in by reading a book.. well it just doesn't seem fair! I was sad when I reached the end of the book, I wanted it to continue. I learned so much from this book, and it's interesting how many times the subject material in this book comes up in every day conversations.

Bryson approaches history from two angles: Astronomy and what we know about the universe, and Evolution and what we know about life on Earth. I learned so many things I didn't know. Fascinating facts such as that meteorites are used to date the earth with carbon dating (they're the same age). Meteorites contain proteins needed to build life. Human like species have been on Earth for 1 million years. After finishing this book, I find myself thinking about topics like these during my free time. That's how impressive this book is. If you love science, this won't be a book you just read and forget. It's a book that will teach you things you'll be thinking about for a long time.

Honestly I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you're interested in science, it is a must read.

Michael

The book's title is very gripping but somewhat misleading - it is in fact a book of science tabloids - in a good way. It covers basic findings and histories of almost all major areas of natural sciences in a shallow but easy to follow manner. It is not intended to be introductory to science and science history (find a textbook instead), it is a fun-fact book of science and science history.

This book is full of interesting anecdotes of science and scientists behind scene, which makes the reading stimulating and gives the readers a joyful sense of "discovery". Here are just a few examples top of my mind:

- Components of your daily household cleaning powders like Comet and Ajax are made from the huge ash deposit in eastern Nebraska - they are leftover volcanic ashes from the ancient monstrous eruption of Yellowstone.

- Marie Curie, the only person to win Nobel prize in both chemistry and physics, was never elected to the French academy of sciences largely because she had an affair with a married fellow physicist after Pierre Curie died in a traffic accident. Madame Curie eventually died of leukemia and her papers and lab books (even her cookbooks) are so dangerously contaminated by radiation that those who wish to see them must wear protective clothing.

- Clair Patterson (a University of Chicago alumnus), who in 1953 gave the definitive measurement of the age of the Earth (4,550 million years - plus or minus 70 millions) by analyzing lead/uranium ratios in old rocks and meteorites, was also the leading expert in atmospheric lead poisoning and the early advocate of cleaning lead additives from manmade product. To his credit, Clean Air Act 1970 eventually led to the ban of leaded gasoline in United States in 1986. Almost immediately the blood lead level in Americans dropped 80%.

Informative tabloids like these are all over the book. Bryson did a perfect job of bringing dull facts in history of science into fun everyday life experience. He compiled a huge amount of anecdotes from otherwise hard to find sources and weaved them together seamlessly in fluid and humorous writing. It makes the reading of science fun.

By reading this book you realize how lucky you are to be here right now. To be reading this in front of your computer is an acomplishment that you may not realize. It shows how much we know about ourselves and the enviroment around us. "A Short History of Nearly Everything" explains in full detail how we became who we are, how we survived, and how impossible it is to do so. If you are interested in science and are looking for something to read, this well-written story is a great page-turner.

I have been addicted to science popularizations since junior high school, beginning with Isaac Asimov and going on to include Robert Jastrow, Carl Sagan, Steven Pinker, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Roger Penrose, Paul Davies, Murray Gell-Mann, and many others. I have also read a few of Bryson's other books, including The Mother Tongue and Made in America, which I found delightful. However, I was a bit skeptical of this foray into explicating science, since Bryson is no scientist (unlike all the others, possibly excepting Asimov, who gets a special polymath exemption). I was delightfully surprised at this very engaging book. The scope is rather narrower than the title suggests, limited mainly to cosmology, geology, paleontology, and evolution, but there is very little "dumbing down" and the stories of the personalities involved make it a fascinating read. There was a lot of stuff I already knew (and I caught a few minor errors) but I encountered a lot of material that was new to me, and the writing is always engaging and clear.

A SHORTH HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING is a book "about how it happened--in particular how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and since" (p. 4). In writing his astounding book about everything scientific under the sun, Bill Bryson (A WALK IN THE WOODS) devoted three years of his life to reading books and journals, and asking "saintly, patient experts" a lot of "outstandingly dumb questions" (p. 6) about such subjects as the Big Bang, the age and size of the Earth, evolution, earthquakes, Einstein's theory of relativity, and what goes on inside cells and atoms. "The idea" in writing his SHORT HISTORY, Bryson explains, "was to see if it isn't possible to understand and appreciate--marvel at, enjoy even--the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn't too technical or demanding, but isn't entirely superficial either" (p. 6). Not only does he succeed, but in documenting his long-distance hike through the challenging Appalachian Trails of cosmology, astronomy, paleontology, geology, chemistry, and physics with his distinctive wit, Bryson has written a book that is "unputdownable," to use a word coined by Oxford academic, Richard Dawkins (p. 331). Although he may have failed in his attempt to complete his long WALK IN THE WOODS, Bryson has triumphed in completing his even more daunting journey through the universe.

G. Merritt