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connie_rea 's review for:
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
This book wasn't at all what I expected. I was expecting, well, what most people consider history...Henry VIII and stuff like that....this was the science aspect of it. I really enjoyed the first third of the book. I was familiar with many of the names...but I'm not really "science smart" so I did learn a lot...even expanded those things I thought I knew...and finally was able to grasp the concept of certain things....my real love started in the last two-thirds of the novel. I don't recall every studying geology except in the 8th grade. Mr Merkel....yep...I really enjoyed that part of the my 8th grade science class. I had forgotten just how much until it was discussed in this novel. Okay, parts did really scare me...knowing that if Yellowstone blows that most of the Earth will be effected...well that's a sobering thought. I also was amused when Yakima was mentioned in the book and the havoc that the ash from Mt St Helens played. How it shut down the town for 3 days. I moved there 30 years after Mt St Helens blew...and people still remembered the ash. The darkness for days. Whenever I dug a hole in my garden, I often found ash. Mother Nature is amazing really when you stop and think about it.
This novel is what I want in a history book. I want to be amazed. I want to wonder at all the things around me. At the things that came before me. At the things to come after. I want to think scientists are some bad assed MF and this book provided all of that! I learned more about the moon, the sun, the stars, comets, the earth's layers, dinosaurs, prehistoric men, scientists, atoms, protons, neutrons, DNA and so many others that I can't list it all....Of course, since it's Bill Bryson I laughed out loud a few times as well!
This novel is what I want in a history book. I want to be amazed. I want to wonder at all the things around me. At the things that came before me. At the things to come after. I want to think scientists are some bad assed MF and this book provided all of that! I learned more about the moon, the sun, the stars, comets, the earth's layers, dinosaurs, prehistoric men, scientists, atoms, protons, neutrons, DNA and so many others that I can't list it all....Of course, since it's Bill Bryson I laughed out loud a few times as well!