A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
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Book Reviews of A Short History of Nearly Everything
Book Review: For anyone who ever wanted to know anything
Summary: 5 Stars
Popular author Bill Bryson tackles a topic that's quite a departure from his previous books on backpacking trips and the English language: science. Or perhaps it's not such a departure after all, as Bryson displays his trademark genius for ferreting out the most colorful of details associated with the great scientific discoveries in history.
Bryson sums up the significant achievements of science, from physics and the Big Bang to human prehistory, with a lot of chemistry and meteorology and biology and genetics and geology in between. When he sees a good story, such as that of Sir Isaac Newton probing his eye with a needle to see what happens, he recognizes it and presents it to the reader. But he also seems driven to provide a comprehensive base of science. No matter what discipline he tackles, he explains everything that we know, and then notes what we don't know, which tends to be a shocking amount whether he's talking about molecules or people.
A lifelong devotee to truth, Bryson also sets the historical record straight, sometimes deflating the achievements of men who we've come to know as household names. Hubble the astronomer turns out to have been something of a liar; double-helix describing Crick and Watson are only partially deserving of their fame (and somewhat sexist to boot). He also shines the spotlight on scientists who have, for one reason or another, been ignored by history, as in the case of Rosalind Franklin, who deserves to share Crick and Watson's spotlight.
In the end, the reader is left with a stock of interesting stories and a working knowledge of how the world works.
The Good and the Bad:
Bryson gets everything right in this book; his prose tends to be both hilarious and succinct; entertaining and informative; completely accessible without leaving out any of the important bits.
I also appreciated that there are some necessary environmental lessons to be learned; no objective science-minded observer can walk away from this book without some misgivings about the impact humans have had on the earth.
The book does tend to get slightly less interesting towards the end, but this is more a product of the increasing complexity of the subject matter rather than representing a misstep on the author's part.
A high school or undergraduate science teacher in any discipline should include appropriate sections of Bryson's book as part of the reading material. Indeed; a school could do far worse than throwing out all other textbooks and relying on Bryson alone to guide students to a point of understanding how science works.
But even if you're just looking for an entertaining read, this book is for you.
Book Review: The BEST of Nearly Everything!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book isn't as good as you may think it is - it is in fact, much better than you could imagine. Bill Bryson has basically succeeded in writing the MOST comprehensible and concise science book there is - to date - on the surface of the Planet. And he made it look as if he had fun doing it, which is probably the greatest trick of all considering the broad scope of his subject matter.
I must admit, I had my doubts when I first picked up a copy at a local bookstore and flipped through the first few pages. It looked almost as if this once famous "Travel Writer" may have bitten off more than he could chew when he announced boldly that his intentions were to see if "it isn't possible to understand and appreciate... the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn't too technical or demanding, but isn't entirely superficial either."
In my mind, most books written ABOUT science - up until this one - were PRECISELY THAT! They were either too technical (written by experts) or too superficial (written by non-experts.) Bill Bryson walks the tightrope - no, more like dances across the tightrope - between the pedantic and trivial. In fact, he does this with such spectacular ease - that you wonder why so many science writers (even to those he often quotes and refers to - Hawking, Sagan, Kaku - even Newton and Darwin) never thought of injecting their work with as much light hearted banter as Bryson does, to make their books more endearing to the masses.
Bryson puts the Human Being - with all his (or, her) failings and flaws - back into Science. He shows that the people who made the world what it is today, were never the Gods or Giants they are often thought of to be. And he places Science itself - under the critic's microscope. A Short History of Nearly Everything is so wonderfully pack with surprises, wit and humor - that I've never grown tired of reading it. (And THAT, I've done now more than five or six times!)
If there is anything, which this book needs - is a newer edition. Science has moved so quickly, that here and there - you very quickly discover certain facts that need revision. Nothing is more telling than the sudden fall from planetary grace which Pluto experienced only last year (pg. 50 of this book now needs a footnote!) But this only serves to show that the Story of Science - is as yet - far from over. The human race needs more science writers like Bryson, who is neither over-awed by his subject matter, nor unduly dispassionate.
So, do yourself (and anyone you know) a favor - and BUY this book! Read it until the pages fall off - and then buy a second edition. It's one of the best books ever written about EVERYTHING!
Book Review: A great summary of popular science
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a big Bryson fan and a big fan of popular science writing. I was therefore a little nervous when travel writer Bryson created a giant tome of popular science, especially given his mildly ambitious topic: Everything.
I need not have worried. Bryson has matured as a writer. He was funny years ago with books like "Neither here nor there", but with the "Short History" and "Sunburnt Country" he has become a truly great wordsmith. His descriptions and stories are startling clear and crisp, and his trademark wit just never misses anymore.
Finally, Bryson just plain gets it. Most popular science is a summarization of the work of real scientists which tends to be both dry and so specific that is unnapproachable not only by the layman but even by others in the field unless they are actively studying the exact aspect covered in the book or paper at hand. The task of the popularizer then is to convey the essential concept without becoming technically innaccurate or just plain misleading. Fine...we have masters of this art: Ferris, Dawkins, Greene, Gould, etc. Note however this list consists of scientists who happen to have a knack for writing and explaining (an obvious exception is Dennis Overbye who as far as a know is simply a journalist, but does the astrophysics popularization very nicely).
But Bryson? Well, I would say "Short History" is a popular summary of popular summaries. I have read many of the books Bryson draws on, and those popular accounts have already backed away from the mathematical language and precision of the original works. How then can Bryson fail but to "dumb down" the material. But he does. While not going deep, he pulls the threads together, tells the stories and does it all with his dry ironic tone. This is called writing...and Bryson has become a master. Though frankly, I can't help being impressed with how smart the man must be to have synthesized all these threads. I guess we know what he reads at night when he's on one of his trips.
To be clear, if you've read all the greats of popular science, you're unlikely to learn anything new from Bryson. But read this anyway! The sum is greater than the pieces of the whole, at least as stitched together by Bryson. And you probably won't stop grinning all the way through.
Book Review: How we got here
Summary: 5 Stars
It's a little odd that many popular books that deal with astronomy and cosmology don't start at the beginning, i.e., the Big Bang. Instead, they usually start with more familiar matters like the solar system and work their way towards the more exotic concepts like black holes and the Big Bang. This is not the case with Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, which does start out not only with a bang, but a Big Bang.
In the cosmic sense, human civilization has been around for a mere sliver of time, so it is not part of Bryson's Short History. Instead, he gives us a look at all that went before: from the Big Bang to the creation of matter, the galaxies and eventually the Sun and Earth. Then, we get the development of life, followed by the development of human life, or at least man's predecessors: homo erectus, Neanderthal man, etc. We get billions of years in around 500 pages.
A constant theme that runs through the book is not only how much we know, but how much we don't know as well. Much of the evolution of the universe, Earth and humanity is understood, but there is also uncertainty. It makes sense: much of this knowledge comes from inference, and the material we have to work with is sometimes sketchy. This does not, however, give credibility to non-scientific alternatives such as creationism. A conflict as to whether the universe is 10 or 20 billion years old does not invalidate both ages and mean the universe is only 6000 years old (as I have heard creationists argue). Similarly, while an argument can be made as to whether Neanderthal man was a direct ancestor to modern man or more like a cousin, it doesn't refute the fact of human evolution. The broad picture is certain, even if not all the brushstrokes have been made.
Bryson, as usual, relates all this in his standard manner, which is to say, with immense readability and a good amount of humor. This is not a book of dry facts: Bryson humanizes science, giving life to the many individuals who discovered these concepts. Even if you familiar with much of the material in this book, Bryson presents it in a refreshing way with lots of interesting trivia as well. If you have an interest in general science (even if you're unfamiliar with it), this is a great book to read.
Book Review: The details are less important than the PERSPECTIVE
Summary: 5 Stars
Being a middle-aged person (arguable, a young old person at 59) I have some awareness about what I am good at and what I am not. From earliest childhood, I had almost NO head for science. In High School, I nearly failed chemistry as a function of my inability to rote learn the Periodic table, or to make enough sense out of the idea to recall it without having to simply memorize it. I didn't understand it. Likewise, I suffered required courses in Physics and Trigonometry - getting by just well enough to not spend my life behind the counter at a fast-food emporium. All of that notwithstanding, I was always interested in things ancient. I fantasized about being an archaeologist and discovering ancient things and loved to visit museums where antiquities were on display. Consequently, this book (which I listened to on a series of CDs while commuting back and forth to work over a period of two weeks) was PERFECT.
The names alone would fill an encyclopedia and the numbers literally numbed my consciousness. However, I DID get what I believe the central point of the book is. Perspective. The understanding, in this instance, that we are bigger than things so small we can barely begin to imagine them, and smaller than things so vast our wildest hypotheses cannot adequately contain them.
Moreover, that in this 'life' as we have and know it, we are the stewards of our world - and are not doing a particularly impressive job of managing that stewardship.
The perspective is not limited to the global - to that pertaining to human life as a species, but has important and dramatic relevance, I believe, to each of us as individual stewards of the small pieces of the world that we each directly interact with.
I feel the richer and the wiser for having experienced this book and heartily recommend it to all interested in mankind's place in the universe and in time.
Criticisms I have read regarding the inaccuracy of some of the specifics Bryson speaks of are, in this context, simply irrelevant to the main point, as I see it.
I'm not sure I could have weathered reading it - the recorder version worked perfectly for my style of attention and ability to absorb information.