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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
petition for this man to write every textbook in existence.
Underholdende og lærerik for meg som er særdeles dårlig på navn og årstall. Nå er jeg litt bedre
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A Short History Of Nearly Everything is one of, if not the best 'popular science' books of all time Whilst convering a wealth of topics, Bryson never comes across as too vague, each chapter contains a satisfying amount of detail within a roughly chronological account of the developments within that field. My only complaint (although extremely minor) is that I would have liked to seen him dive into plate tectonics more, covering how the continents and oceans changed over time, as well as who put forward each theory.
Quite honestly, basically no review is needed--the title is accurate. I'd recommend this book to anyone. What you know about, you'll get a refresher on. What you don't, you'll get a taste of. What interests you, you can flag for further investigation.
My only quibble is that early on, Bryson talks about being motivated by the observation that there is a lot written about what we know, but almost nothing written about how we could possibly have come to know it. Like how textbooks just present the facts and don't give the backstory of finding the stuff out. Well then, through most of the book Bryson does the same thing! Sigh. It's still entertaining and worth a read for anybody.
My only quibble is that early on, Bryson talks about being motivated by the observation that there is a lot written about what we know, but almost nothing written about how we could possibly have come to know it. Like how textbooks just present the facts and don't give the backstory of finding the stuff out. Well then, through most of the book Bryson does the same thing! Sigh. It's still entertaining and worth a read for anybody.
informative
fast-paced
I didn’t know what history this book was gonna cover going into it but I guess “everything” is pretty accurate. It goes into the discovery of the universe, the atom, periodic table, fossils, tectonics, human evolution, and extinction along with much else. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this read considering the contents and it being non-fiction. I’d recommend this to a podcast listener. Feels like that kind of storytelling style.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Death, Drug use
Thank you Bill Bryson, I learned a lot from this entertaining book.
Everyone must read this book. You must read this book, whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever your beliefs or your views of the world.
Quite simply, a book of the most astonishing facts in our universe told by a master and entertaining story-telling and read by a phenomenal narrator: It was a symphony for the ears and music for the soul to listen to how our universe was born, well what we think we know anyway and that goes for just about everything else: We think we know how quantum physics works or how evolution of apes ended up with us homo sapiens or how big or old the universe really is but honestly, we really know so very little. So very little indeed. And that is the biggest realization as you read or better yet, listen to Bryson's brilliant book read by Richard Matthews.
I studied engineering in college, thanks to my dad's influence, and I don't believe I have ever appreciated science, math, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, anthropology, botany, or zoology at all. That has changed. This book has made me more hungry for knowledge than all my years in college or high school ever did. And that alone makes it a magnificent book.
Bryson is entertaining to a fault; if you can weave the deep mysteries of the universe into fascinating stories such as he has done, with the characters varying from atoms or stars in far away galaxies to scientists and mathematicians and physicists who played a role in some major discovery, and if you can then help our feeble human mind expand its understanding of reality by just a little bit, then you have my deepest gratitude and loyalty as a reader and follower and Bryson has done this and so much more with A Short History of Nearly Everything.
You must read this book. Or better yet, pick up the audio from Audible because Richard Matthews is exclusive!
Quite simply, a book of the most astonishing facts in our universe told by a master and entertaining story-telling and read by a phenomenal narrator: It was a symphony for the ears and music for the soul to listen to how our universe was born, well what we think we know anyway and that goes for just about everything else: We think we know how quantum physics works or how evolution of apes ended up with us homo sapiens or how big or old the universe really is but honestly, we really know so very little. So very little indeed. And that is the biggest realization as you read or better yet, listen to Bryson's brilliant book read by Richard Matthews.
I studied engineering in college, thanks to my dad's influence, and I don't believe I have ever appreciated science, math, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, anthropology, botany, or zoology at all. That has changed. This book has made me more hungry for knowledge than all my years in college or high school ever did. And that alone makes it a magnificent book.
Bryson is entertaining to a fault; if you can weave the deep mysteries of the universe into fascinating stories such as he has done, with the characters varying from atoms or stars in far away galaxies to scientists and mathematicians and physicists who played a role in some major discovery, and if you can then help our feeble human mind expand its understanding of reality by just a little bit, then you have my deepest gratitude and loyalty as a reader and follower and Bryson has done this and so much more with A Short History of Nearly Everything.
You must read this book. Or better yet, pick up the audio from Audible because Richard Matthews is exclusive!