A Short History of Nearly Everything
By Bill Bryson
This must have been a very challenging book to write. It's a very broad survey of science from the past 350 years or so, and it's a testament to the talents of Bill Bryson as a writer that he weaves it all together in an engaging, accessible story. Well, maybe not "weave" ... I mean, each chapter examines on particular topic and is fairly independent from the others, but the transitions seem smooth somehow.
When you're dealing with science, the mind can't really appreciate the magnitude of the quantities involved. It's extremely difficult to really relate to how small an electron is, or how brief humans have been on this planet relative to the age of the Earth. Bryson has a special skill in coming up with creative ways to illustrate these quantities that are sometimes head-shakingly unbelievable. My favorite:
Perhaps an even more effective way of grasping our extreme recentness as a part of this 4.5-billion-year-old picture is to stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth. On this scale … the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the wrist of the other is Precambrian. All of complex life is in one hand, "and in a single stroke with a medium-grained nail file you could eradicate human history."
Different chapters will appeal to different people according to their interest in the subjects. I've read quite a few science texts in my days, mostly related to physics, so actually I found some of those chapters a little slow. The most disturbing yet fascinating chapters were those where he discusses all of the possible ways that our species could be wiped out from some enormous global event: from comets striking the Earth to (gulp!) a massive eruption of Yellowstone volcano. Yes, Yellowstone National Park is built on top of one of the largest active volcanoes on the planet. Where do you think those geysers come from?
Make no doubt about it, this is a science book, so if you really don't like science you're probably not going to like this book. But for everyone else, it's a great read that will undoubtedly expand your appreciation for the personalities and achievements of science over the past few centuries.
Original entry from September 20, 2004:
I've really enjoyed some of Bryson's earlier works (especially A Walk in the Woods), and I've been waiting for this book to come out in paperback for months so I can bring it on the train. Well, it finally arrived, and I'm going to dig right in.