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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Bill Bryson is an expert at describing complicated subject matters in both an entertaining and an understandable fashion. A really good read for anyone who is and isn't interested in science. Though I personally found some of the subjects uninteresting or dull, Bryson managed to write the chapters that did catch my interest in the most fascinating manner. Highly recommend it, especially if you're interested in its topics.
A truly beautiful book. A gargantuan attempt at telling the entire story of the natural sciences in a fun and approachable way. It succeeds at conveying the great journey that science has been, at telling the human side of every great advance or discovery, and also the mysteries and dead ends we have encountered. It succeeds at putting humanity, its great failures and its successes in perspective. It makes you feel at once microscopic and gigantic. A great read for every non scientist out there to better understand the world around them.
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This is definitely what it says on the tin: a general guide to a lot of areas of science. It is very accessible and far more condensed than it could have been given the extent of the knowledge covered in it. I enjoyed the prose in the beginning and did find it funny but by the last section it got tedious and irritating; this might have been because I found the content so uninteresting though (partly because I already knew a lot of it in more detail). It also doesn't help that I don't trust all the information as the book was published over 20 years ago. Despite this, it was a well-written, sort of enjoyable read that I can believe inspired the pursuit of knowledge in a lotta people!
The title says it all. Felt like this helps the reader become more rounded on all sorts of subjects.
An interesting read, but also an outdated one. A more current and, in my opinion, better read is Origin Story by David Christian. Loved the pacing of the writing, Bryson deserves applaud for condensing a monumental amount of information into a few hundred pages. I just wish he avoided the unnecessary backstories of various scientists as it hampers the flow of the narrative. Really appreciated the last chapter of the book paying homage to the species lost due to humanity's destructive habits.
funny
informative
slow-paced
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
This book succeeds when it is making big concepts and discoveries approachable, and becomes a brick when it is discussions the historical squabbles of the scientists who made said discoveries and concepts. It also entirely ignores any and all science not done by a European, American or Australian which feels like a huge oversight for such a supposedly broad topic.
challenging
funny
inspiring
medium-paced