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A review by gilles
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
5.0
There's a lot to take in here. This is a book that attempts to briefly cover everything we know (and don't know) about how and why we're here, starting from the Big Bang all the way to modern times. If that sounds like an ambitious thing to try to cover in a single book, it certainly is, but Bryson uses a logical narrative beginning with astrophysics, and covers areas of geology, palaeontology, biology, chemistry, many types of physics, and more. It also covers how we came to learn what we know in these areas, detailing who discovered what, and in many cases restoring credit to people even many textbooks have forgotten. It details arguments between experts in the various fields, how depressingly frequently new science is simply dismissed by those experts for not fitting with their existing world view, and how often new things are actually discovered by hobbyists and amateurs whose views do not have those limitations. It also makes clear that new discoveries really can and do come from anywhere, which might provide some inspiration for people who want get into a scientific field.
This book is intended to be readable by people less familiar with its various subjects areas. As such, it does not dive in depth into any of its subject areas, providing only a general overview of some of the more important concepts, but Bryson indicates that he did run his text by experts as much as possible. As with any science book, some of it was dated almost as soon as it was published in 2003. For instance, the book mentions the then-upcoming New Horizons mission to Pluto, which at the time of my writing, recently performed its fly-by and data from that probe is coming fast. Among other things, it also mentions particle colliders like CERN's Large Hadron Collider, which at the time had yet to be powered up. As a result, some of the science discussed within may be outdated now, but it's certainly enough to give you a general idea.
This is an extensively researched book, with an equally extensive bibliography. Books from other experts are frequently quoted, and experts themselves are quoted from interviews as well. Every one of those quotes is clearly sourced, to the extent that upwards of 80 pages is devoted to providing those sources and the general bibliography. You certainly won't be lacking for more reading material if you decide that you want it.
I definitely recommend this book to people who want a broad overview of many areas of science and who want to learn how we came to know them or in many cases, how much we don't know and why. Some of the science here you may already know, but the history behind our knowledge can be just as interesting.
This book is intended to be readable by people less familiar with its various subjects areas. As such, it does not dive in depth into any of its subject areas, providing only a general overview of some of the more important concepts, but Bryson indicates that he did run his text by experts as much as possible. As with any science book, some of it was dated almost as soon as it was published in 2003. For instance, the book mentions the then-upcoming New Horizons mission to Pluto, which at the time of my writing, recently performed its fly-by and data from that probe is coming fast. Among other things, it also mentions particle colliders like CERN's Large Hadron Collider, which at the time had yet to be powered up. As a result, some of the science discussed within may be outdated now, but it's certainly enough to give you a general idea.
This is an extensively researched book, with an equally extensive bibliography. Books from other experts are frequently quoted, and experts themselves are quoted from interviews as well. Every one of those quotes is clearly sourced, to the extent that upwards of 80 pages is devoted to providing those sources and the general bibliography. You certainly won't be lacking for more reading material if you decide that you want it.
I definitely recommend this book to people who want a broad overview of many areas of science and who want to learn how we came to know them or in many cases, how much we don't know and why. Some of the science here you may already know, but the history behind our knowledge can be just as interesting.