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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
I appreciate the idea of having a book trying to cover such a broad range. Obviously, it only presents selected main topics but it does a decent job, especially when explaining situations where no consensus in science is found. However, the book was clearly not written by a scientist. I expected a book explaining how the world works and why but it’s (especially in the beginning) rather about scientific discoveries over time and - here comes the not scientific part - focusing heavily on eccentricities and odd peculiarities of scientists. Often it read more like a gossip magazine exaggerating a lot and with a lot of sensationalism (which can also be entertaining sometimes but it was intense). It was very slow-paced because it was so dense with information. I still liked it because it covered the most important fields. I would have appreciated more sections about climate change and the use of the metric system… I keep wondering what is still up to date, as I imagine that a lot of new discoveries were made in the last 20 years.
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
If all science texts were written with Bryson's wit and charm, I'd likely be working as some type impassioned -ologist by now. This book is a brief history of the natural sciences and how we came to know what we know (well, what we knew as of its 2003 publication), and contrary to what one might assume upon reading that statement, it's wildly entertaining and packed full of fun facts that stopped me in my tracks. If I'd read the physical or digital copy instead of listening to the audiobook, I would have an ungodly number of tabs and highlights.
Its one major limitation is, in a way, my fault: I found myself wanting a post-script or afterword with scientific developments from 2003-2025, and I wouldn't have felt that way if I wasn't reading the book a cool 22 years after its release. Still, despite becoming more aged by the day, I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves learning new things from funny, knowledgeable people.
Its one major limitation is, in a way, my fault: I found myself wanting a post-script or afterword with scientific developments from 2003-2025, and I wouldn't have felt that way if I wasn't reading the book a cool 22 years after its release. Still, despite becoming more aged by the day, I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves learning new things from funny, knowledgeable people.
inspiring
fast-paced
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
informative
medium-paced
While I do like his ability to explain a great variety of topics in a way most people can follow, I do have some bones to pick.
"One quarter of one per cent" instead of 0.25% is so much harder to read for me. As well as constantly saying "billions of trillions of years ago" instead of power of 10.
It just makes comparisons of numbers more difficult. Just like using kilometers in one sentence and miles in the next, which also happened.
"One quarter of one per cent" instead of 0.25% is so much harder to read for me. As well as constantly saying "billions of trillions of years ago" instead of power of 10.
It just makes comparisons of numbers more difficult. Just like using kilometers in one sentence and miles in the next, which also happened.
informative
reflective
medium-paced