From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson

Start date: March 1, 2009

Finish date: March 31, 2009

Discussion: Book Club 2010 & Prior

Why we're reading this: Picked in a poll to read about science history for the March reading.
[close] Picked in a poll to read about science history for the March reading.

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Book Club 2010 & Prior

March Book Club "A Short History of nearly Everything"
By William · 14 posts · 147 views

last updated Aug 06, 2014 12:20PM

November 2010 - Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End / The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
By S. · 62 posts · 80 views

last updated Apr 19, 2012 04:58PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 04, 2011 Mike W rated it really liked it

Shelves: natural-science

This book is a failure, as an book that attempts to provide "a short history of nearly everything" is bound to be. And yet it is so packed with interesting facts, anecdotes, tidbits and whatnots from various scientific fields that it is a delight to read.

I haven't read any of Bryson's other books. But he writes well and engagingly. His description of Isaac Newton is a good example of his prose:

"Newton was a decidedly odd figure--brilliant beyond measure, but solitary, joyless, prickly to the p This book is a failure, as an book that attempts to provide "a short history of nearly everything" is bound to be. And yet it is so packed with interesting facts, anecdotes, tidbits and whatnots from various scientific fields that it is a delight to read.

I haven't read any of Bryson's other books. But he writes well and engagingly. His description of Isaac Newton is a good example of his prose:

"Newton was a decidedly odd figure--brilliant beyond measure, but solitary, joyless, prickly to the point of paranoia, famously distracted (upon swinging his feet out of bed in the morning he would reportedly sometimes sit for hours, immobilized by the sudden rush of thoughts to his head), and capable of the most riveting strangeness."

Bryson then relates how Newton once stuck a needle in his eye socket and rubbed it around "just to see what would happen", and how, another time, he stared at the sun for as long as he could to find out what effect this would have on his eyesight.

Such details of Newton's life are inherently interesting to anyone at all thoughtful or curious,

But Bryson does not stop at biographical details of great scientists. He gives a good, elementary description of their ideas. And he does not stop with the greatest and most famous scientists.

He tells the reader about Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist who proposed in the early 20th century that the continents had at one time all been one landmass. But Wegener's idea was rejected by geologists at the time... This is a recurring theme in the book. An inquisitive person, usually an outsider, proposes a new theory that radically challenges the accepted dogma. His ideas are rejected and he is either ignored or ridiculed. Eventually he is vindicated, though in many cases he does not get full credit for his discovery in his lifetime. I'm not sure Bryson intended this to be a theme, but it happens so often in the annals of science that it becomes one regardless.

Bryson ends the book by reemphasizing another theme of the book--the delicacy of nature and the need for care by human beings to preserve it. At times he sermonizes about it, and the book loses some of its charm in those tedious and tendentious passages. Bryson the storyteller is better company than Bryson the social critic and moral philosopher. In some cases his conclusions are right, but nothing in the book suggests that he has though about the economics of environmental policy at all. Policies to protect various species or mitigate climate change have costs as well as benefits, and any serious person weighing in on such issues ought to address both.

But these are minor defects in the book. A bigger one is that, in trying to do so much, it cannot do anything very well. The layman interested in modern physics will likely want to look for a fuller treatment of quantum theory or string theory than that found in this book.

In all, though, I recommend this book as a charming and informative overview for the non-scientist of much of modern science. ...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Cori rated it really liked it

My beau and I listened to this while doing our respective work, and we both really enjoyed it. The pacing was perfect for multitasking for two people who enjoy science. Nothing jaw dropping, but well put together. The audiobook read like having NPR on in the background, sometimes things would catch your attention and you would focus in.

Would I recommend it to everyone? No. I have a feeling people who don’t have that background interest and knowledge would be bored. If someone is new to the subje ...more

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Feb 08, 2015 Ibis3 marked it as tbr · review of another edition

I've read this in a prior edition back in 2006. I'm looking forward to a re-read, now that I have some more scientific knowledge under my belt. Since I read this, I've pretty much moved entirely into the naturalist camp. Nature needs no gods to work. If anything just 'is', it's the universe itself, and it cares naught for us.

And might I add that this edition is particularly spectacular? I can't wait to look at all the pretty pictures. ...more

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