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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Another hum dinger from Bill.
I really enjoyed this!! Perfect blend of science and the people behind it for the non-science person! It definitely explain a lot of concepts I've nodded along to in a way that I can easily understand. Also it was super funny which kept me engaged throughout. Overall glad I read and would recommend!
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Engaging and accessible, with quirky facts and political anecdotes
I had been wanting to read this book for a while and although it was very dense (taking forever for me to finish), I genuinely enjoyed it. The book really did a wonderful job making science across all principles like ecology, paleontology, microbiology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc. into something of a story. For some of the subjects I typically would have a hard time learning about, this book made it interesting and easily digestible. Bryson captured how amazing our world is in the way it all works. It really was the best history of almost everything!
I took some very incoherent notes will reading this book. I think this is partially due to the fact that while Bryson does his best to link things that he’s talking about between chapters, the book inevitably is all over the place. (Understandable, he literally does try to cover all based of science, serious respect for tackling this beast of a challenge)
Bill Bryson is an excellent writer, with a skill in describing highly technical, complex and incomprehensible concepts in tangible and understandable ways. However, even with a Bachelors degree in a science discipline, I was still lost at times (I have literally no idea what Bryson was talking about in Chapter 11 Muster Marks Quarks, completely and utterly lost).
My favorite chapters were on topics like the universe and stars, history of chemistry and the periodic table, plate tectonics, and oceans and ocean life. And a very strange chapter on the historical names of plants. “The dandelion long popularly known as the pisserbed. Other names in every day use include maresfart, naked ladies, twitch bullock, openarse, and bumtowel.” Now I did listen to this as an audiobook, and these names are so outrageous I’m honestly wondering whether I misheard the narration. Absolutely outrageous!!
And of course it was wonderful to hear references to places I know well. Many scientific achievements were made my Australians or discovered in Australia, and even more surprisingly from small towns and cities such as Goulburn and Canberra (yes capital but always overlooked). Although the narrator had an unusual pronunciation of Goulburn (as “Goolburn”).
Bill Bryson is an excellent writer, with a skill in describing highly technical, complex and incomprehensible concepts in tangible and understandable ways. However, even with a Bachelors degree in a science discipline, I was still lost at times (I have literally no idea what Bryson was talking about in Chapter 11 Muster Marks Quarks, completely and utterly lost).
My favorite chapters were on topics like the universe and stars, history of chemistry and the periodic table, plate tectonics, and oceans and ocean life. And a very strange chapter on the historical names of plants. “The dandelion long popularly known as the pisserbed. Other names in every day use include maresfart, naked ladies, twitch bullock, openarse, and bumtowel.” Now I did listen to this as an audiobook, and these names are so outrageous I’m honestly wondering whether I misheard the narration. Absolutely outrageous!!
And of course it was wonderful to hear references to places I know well. Many scientific achievements were made my Australians or discovered in Australia, and even more surprisingly from small towns and cities such as Goulburn and Canberra (yes capital but always overlooked). Although the narrator had an unusual pronunciation of Goulburn (as “Goolburn”).
informative
inspiring
slow-paced