A Short History Of Nearly Everything

I recently finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The book is a simple introduction to both the classical and modern sciences and covers topics such as cosmology, quantum mechanics, relativity, evolution, and nearly everything else. What made this book so interesting was that Bryson is not a scientist. He’s a writer (and a good one to say the least) and this clearly works in his favour. Bryson covers each topic with the history of the men and women involved and their often humerous or tragic ending in the pursuit of science. At times I had to put the book down to ponder what I had just read. At other times I was laughing too hard to continue.

Bryson’s book won him an Aventis Science Book Prize for Scientific Writing (2004) and he was the first nonscientist ever to win. Bryson donated the £10,000 prize (which was matched by the Aventis Foundation) to the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity. Way to go Bill!

No matter who you are, this book will definitely offer you moments of, “Wow! I didn’t know that!” Go buy it and enjoy.