A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
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Book Reviews of A Short History of Nearly Everything
Book Review: A very good read but. ... science takes back seat, a humourous take on the life and times of scientists instead
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is like crash course on steroids across all the genres of science. You will get to know a bit from nuclear physics to meteorology to cosmology and everything in between. But note as the book is correctly titled, it is more of a history of science. This is a biographical portrait more about the people who made the science rather than the
science. Bill Bryson writes in his usual wry witty style , the humour a bit more toned down to suit the mood of a science book but the humour comes through when he describes the quirky habits and attitudes of the scientists who shaped the foundations of the various desciplines of Science. After reading this book, you will probably go back more knowledgable about facts like newton used to poke his eyes and did strange experiments with them rather than gaining a great deal of insights into newtonian physics. The humour about these personality traits about these scientist will keep you going and the style of writing is such that it never gets into the complicated nitty gritty details of the science thus remaining an easy read. The main grouse with a title of this sort for most for me was that although it has got lot of dates and names of scientists, the real science was missing. Because of the very nature of the book , since it is a crash course of nearly everthing in about the length of a paperback based book, you are going to get to skin deep level on every topic and switch to the next. I got the feeling that when Bryson was getting to the complicated bit of the science, he concludes the chapter with "and then they went on and discovered more stuff and such and such scientist went on to confirm this with such and such scientific papers and later on all of this was experimentally proved...over to the next topic" kind of manner. When the dicussion gets too complicated, Bill drops it and moves on to the next topic. Areas like relativity and quantum physics needed more pages about the science. The "history" in the title of the book refers to the biographical portrait of scientists, the science in itself playing second fiddle to the quirky and humourous facts about scientists. But although this book Innocuous as it is a paperback, but the net information content of the book can turn out to be sensory overload. A blitzkrieg of facts about scientists are unfurled on to you much like packet of sphagetti unfurled on your face as you wait with fork and spoon on your plate. If you are a causal reader on a flight you would read it cover to cover. If you want the facts to get digested, it would be better to break it down inot sets of chapters between sittings. Reading the next day after organising in your mind what has gone before will benifit you better in the overall satisfaction of the book. Also this is definitely not a science popularizer either in the strictest sense of the word, as there is less here to do with the nitty gritty science stuff and more about the life and times of the scientists who made this science possible. A good book neverthless to see things through Mr Bill Bryson's looking glass where everything is a caricature, even science. The main good thing about this book is that a great many people who would never have picked up a science book would read it as it has Bill Bryson's name on the cover . Even a passing read by someone just reading it for Bryson's witty humour cannot walk away from this book without learning something. This in itself is a good thing.
PS: For someone looking for the real deal all-in-one book Science book covering all of science, I mean the real science in a non-academic and
non-textbookish sort of way, I suggest "Asimov's New Guide to science". This is not your ideal inflight reading material, it's over 1000 pages, but you get it as paper back and you get the real deal here, the complete science to the detail level that a non-scientist/lay man would like to go without feeling he's getting back into School. Great reference material sitting in your study. Refer certain sections or read it cover to cover. Dont worry it is not boring like an encyclopedia, you will be hooked on to it because of Asimov's explanatory talents. He was one of the foremost Science popularizers of his time.
regards, Vikram
Book Review: Why the human race may be the universe's "supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously"
Summary: 5 Stars
Thus begins Bill Bryson's Introduction: "Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realize...Of the billions and billions of species of living things that have existed since the dawn of time, most - 99.99 percent are no longer around. Life, you see, is not only brief but dismayingly tenuous. It is a curious feature of our existence that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it." As Bryson then explains, he committed three years of research to answer a number of "outstandingly dumb questions" in order to understand and appreciate, indeed enjoy "the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn't too technical or demanding, but isn't entirely superficial either." What he learned is provided in this entertaining as well as enlightening book.
Of special interest to me, a non-scientist, are his remarkably clear and concise explanations of some of the greatest insights throughout the history of science, notably Robert Hooke's description of a cell, Isaac Newton's three laws of motion, Charles Darwin's concept of natural selection, and Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity. His rigorous and extensive research also revealed some interesting elements of their personality. For example:
Robert Hooke (1635-1703), "who was well known for taking credit fir ideas that weren't necessarily his own, claimed that he had solved the problem already [i.e. why planets are inclined to orbit in a particular kind of oval known as an ellipse] but declined now to share it on the interesting and inventive grounds that it would rob others of the satisfaction of discovering the answer for themselves."
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) "was a decidedly odd figure - brilliant beyond measure, but solitary, joyless, prickly to the point of paranoia, famously distracted (upon swinging his feet out of bed in the morning her would reportedly sometimes sit for hours, immobilized by the sudden rush of thoughts to his head, and capable of the most riveting strangeness. He built his own laboratory, the first at Cambridge, but then engaged in the most bizarre experiments" such as sticking a long needle deep into his eye socket, as he later explained, "just to see what would happen."
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) didn't use the phrase `survival of the fittest' in any of his work (although he did express admiration for it)...Nor did he employ the word `evolution' in print until the sixth edition of Origin (by which time its use had become too widespread to resist), preferring instead `descent with modification'... [and] never ceased being tormented by his ideas. He referred to himself as `the Devil's Chaplain' and said that revealing the theory `felt like confessing a murder.'"
In 1905, having "just solved several of the deepest mysteries of the universe," Albert Einstein (1879-1959) "applied for a job as a university lecturer and was rejected, and then as a high school teacher and was rejected there as well. So he went back to his job as a Swiss patent office clerk third class, but of course he kept thinking...When the poet Paul Valéry first asked Einstein if he kept a notebook to record his ideas, Einstein looked at him with mild but genuine surprise. `Oh, that's not necessary,' he replied. `It's so seldom I have one.' I need hardly point out that when he did get one it tended to be good."
I provide these brief excerpts by way of suggesting the thrust and flavor of Bryson's writing style as he examines "the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn't too technical or demanding, but isn't entirely superficial either." Of course, no commentary such as mine can possible do full justice to the scope and depth of his coverage. It is worth noting, also, that Bryson provides a wealth of footnotes (Pages 479-516) and a comprehensive bibliography of his research sources (Pages 517-527). I have discussed what is of greatest interest to me. It remains for others to decide for themselves what - during a period of 3.8 billion years - is of greatest interest to them.
Book Review: Thought Provoking
Summary: 5 Stars
Thank goodness Bill Bryson has an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Here I thought he just walked all over the world and then wrote about it --- fortunately not. I've read about half a dozen of his books: A WALK IN THE WOODS, NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, NOTES FROM A BIG COUNTRY, NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, even a dictionary he wrote. Not one of them failed to elicit embarrassing giggles, often at highly inconvenient, and public, times. So I jumped at the chance to read A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING. I mean, just look at the title! By the time I'd finished the Prologue, I was running to my husband exclaiming how incredible this book was going to be. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the content, but written the way it is, it undeniably makes learning fun. While his travelogue humor is much more likely to elicit wild bouts of guffaws, Bryson speckles A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING with amusingly constructed sentences and an occasional observation on the absurdity of what he has singled out to share with us.
Bryson cements the facts with quirky personalities and places. Lord Kelvin, for instance, father of the temperature scale that bears his name, virtually leaps alive on the pages, as do Richter, Pasteur and a host of others. Biographical trivia personalizes these gods of science and history. Did you know that Albert Einstein failed his college entrance tests the first try? That little factoid should make you feel better the next time your boss scoffs derisively at your presentation.
One of the chapters includes a fascinating look at the life and work of Charles Darwin, distilled down to the intriguing parts and expanded upon with charmingly obscure odd morsels. Here's a good one: after reading Darwin's ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, an editor of the British Quarterly Review politely suggested he write on a subject that might be of more interest to a large audience, say a book about pigeons.
Aside from an abundance of famous names, you'll encounter some key minds wrapped in lesser-known countenances. For example, have you ever heard of the Reverend William Buckland? Likely not, but he made some exciting discoveries among the fossils of yore. How about his friend, Gideon Algernon Mantell, a country doctor and amateur paleontologist? You can find out about this man's tragic life in the shadows of a great discovery he made.
When Bryson isn't treating his readers to an intimate look inside some eccentric scientists' lives, he's wowing us with some truly staggering figures --- the number of atoms it takes to build a pinhead; the distance, in terms we can almost grasp, of Pluto from where you sit at your computer right now; the depth of the Earth's crust, or simply its age. (I can tell you without giving the plot away that it is very old.)
A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING starts with the birth of the universe and the creation of the Earth, and then carries through evolution, the discovery of elements, the counting of comets, the makeup of chromosomes and DNA, the mysteries of the seas, the composition of the air, and potential --- and historic --- natural disasters, to name but a few of the subjects covered.
I can't imagine what Mr. Bryson will tackle next. It seems he has covered literally everything in just this one volume. But I look forward to his future undertaking with unabashed eagerness.
Book Review: a wonderful read
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson was a wonderful book to read. Although it has no discernable plot or conflict, but it was still a marvelous way to spend a frigid afternoon perusing through a delicious memoir. The remembrance, (or more likely, Bryson's quest for knowledge) was spawned when the author was taking a science course, and his textbook had a very dry explanation of the earth, simply showing a cutaway then labeling the different layers. The narrative gave no explanation to why they were there in the first place. That's what this extended essay is - Bill Bryson wants to know why things are the way they are, except in a much more interesting, well-written form.
The book is true to its title, starting with "The Big Bang," and goes all the way through to the rise of homo sapiens. It covers that and everything in between in an easy-to-digest, user-friendly style that seems to give the proverbial wink of the eye to the reader from time-to-time. The tome does a very good job at giving credit where it is due. He starts by giving a "short back round" on the person; then, goes on about what important contribution he or she made to the topic that the book is currently discussing. I found everything in this book to be true as far as I could tell. Bryson did not omit any of the facts, even the more confusing stuff. He wrote his narrative in plain English, and used an explanation where it was needed, allowing the average layperson to understand normally challenging parts of the book. For instance, he writes, "To get down to the scale of atoms, you would need to take each of those micron slices and shave it into ten thousand finer widths. That's the scale of an atom: one ten million of a millimeter". - (135) Here is an excellent example of one of Bryson's witty explanations that he uses to help people to understand something that is so unimaginably small. He has many more like that though out the book on different topics that enable the reader to more concretely picture abstract things more precisely.
Bill Bryson has a very interesting way of thinking about things. At the beginning of the book, he makes it very clear that the human race is lucky to be here, if one ratio was different then it is life as we know it could not have existed, and that there are trillions of atoms that have to coexist in order to make up a person. "Welcome. And Congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy, I know in fact, I suspect it was a little tougher then you realize". - (1) It is in passages like these that I could tell the Bryson enjoyed writing this book, and he was clearly fascinated by what he was learning. He spent three years talking to people knowledgeable on their subjects for the book; I think that he thoroughly enjoyed everyone of his years.
This is one of those few books that I was completely captivated by, and would spend hours on end reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and found that the narrative actually opened up my eyes to things I had either not understand or had just taken for granted.
Book Review: Entertaining science rigorously researched
Summary: 5 Stars
Full credit to Bill Bryson for tackling science for the benefit of the every day person. Like he states in his introduction, I too, love science but have always had trouble remembering the details. But since our modern world is so absorbed in science, I felt like my lack of knowledge was holding me back. Well, no longer - thanks to Bryson I was able to successfully answer an entire Jeopardy category on nuclear physics (e.g. "what is a neutrino" ...).
The true brilliance of this book lies in the disguised pile of research underlying the entertaining story Bryson tells. Having been acquainted with his work on travel writing, I never took to the author much in the past even though I travel a lot and thought to find a common interest with Mr. Bryson there. However, in this masterful piece Bryson has captured me forever. Any time I need to know something about atoms, the size of the world, the constant danger from space, volcanoes, oceans and more that threatens to extinguish our very being, or simply to know more about cells, bacteria and evolution, I will be turning to this book.
Did you know, for example, that Newton had a bunch of quirky traits, including an affinity for sticking needles in his eyes as an experiment. He also invented calculus (because he was frustrated with conventional mathematics) but failed to tell anyone about it for twenty-seven years!
Did you also know that one man can be held single-handedly responsible for destroying our atmosphere? His name was Thomas Midgley, Jr. Not only did he put lead into petroleum, knowing full well that it was dangerous, he also, "with an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny" invented CFCs. Equally interesting, was his death (you have to read it to believe it).
Bill Bryson takes us through a journey of the history of the world. He tells the story of how scientists made discoveries, some so ludricous (such as Ice Ages) that the men and women who thought of them were though mad, and their theories ignored for decades. Until someone came along who could prove them. And he personalizes the stories; turning legends into characters that we feel we can begin to know, because they all have their faults. Darwin, for example, spent five years on the Beagle because its captain, FitzRoy (a very, very odd man), liked the fact that Darwin was a devout Christian. But even after five years, Darwin was mystified to find out that FitzRoy was engaged to be married. I mean, how do you spend five years in close confinement with someone and not even find out a basic fact of their life?
It's these kinds of stories that make this book such fun to read. And all the while it's very informative. There are well over a hundred pages of notes at the back of the book to back up the stories. And who'd have thought that I am so passionately interested in bacteria? Just fabulous. I wish I had such talent!