“Stylish [and] stunningly accurate prose. We learn what the material world is like from the smallest quark to the largest galaxy and at all the levels in between . . . brims with strange and amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic of science writing.”
—The New York Times
“Bryson has made a career writing hilarious travelogues, and in many ways his latest is more of the same, except that this time Bryson hikes through the world of science.”
—People
“Bryson is surprisingly precise, brilliantly eccentric and nicely eloquent . . . a gifted storyteller has dared to retell the world’s biggest story.”
—Seattle Times
“Hefty, highly researched and eminently readable.”
—Simon Winchester, The Globe and Mail
“All non-scientists (and probably many specialized scientists, too) can learn a great deal from his lucid and amiable explanations.”
—National Post
"Bryson is a terrific stylist. You can’t help but enjoy his writing, for its cheer and buoyancy, and for the frequent demonstration of his peculiar, engaging turn of mind.”
—Ottawa Citizen
“Wonderfully readable. It is, in the best sense, learned.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
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The subject of the book is a wide range of science based topics. They range from the size of the universe to DNA structure. Since it is a short history of nearly everything, it doesn’t go into great detail of theories and how things work, but it gives you a general idea.
ReplyDeleteThe main thesis of the book is for the reader to understand that there is that how humans got here, what exists b`1eyond earth’s atmosphere, what used to exist on earth, and what is currently on earth will always remain a mystery. There is too much out there and too many complex concepts for humans to gather all of the information on all of it. He also stresses that the existence of basic life (even at the single cellular level) is an amazing achievement.
Bryson talks of many complicated concepts, like how viruses work, and explains them briefly and on a simplified level. The fact that he doesn’t go into the details (ie chemical processes) alone tells the reader that there is really much more to be known but we can’t ever know it all. There were a couple of examples in particular I know there is much more information he could have shared but didn’t in order to keep it simplified. For example, the chapter, Cells, starts with: “It starts with a single cell. The first cell splits to become two and the two become four and so on. After just forty-seven doublings, you have ten thousand trillion cells in your body and are ready to spring forth as a human being” (371). In reality, there are many chemical processes that occur in the cell before the cell doubling can even begin. Then there are the steps of how cells split: Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase. Within these steps even more chemical processes happen in order for the steps to go smoothly. Yet, Bryson puts a human’s beginning of life in to two sentences.
Although to understand some concepts proved more difficult than others, Bryson managed to simplify concepts to make them at least graspable. Another strength the book has are the tangents at the bottom of the page where he explains minor topics in further detail. One thing that I did find was that some parts dragged on; however, it is almost impossible to be completely interested in every matter he talks about.
The book is very informative if you just want to have a wide breadth of knowledge in the science world. If you prefer to have very detailed descriptions of a certain area this book isn’t the one to turn to.
“Bill Bryson’s: A Short History of Nearly Everything” is a fantastic read which in depth describes the creation of the universe and everything we see around us today. The book explains and simplifies concepts that most of us have found difficult or impossible to understand. This book starts out with creationism at which time there was nothing. There was no universe, no earth and no life. This book describes the planetary origins, the management of our universe and finally the beginning of life forms with the ultimate creation of human life.
ReplyDeleteThe thesis of the book is an attempt to explain our existence and how we came into existence. Due to the nature of the writing, there is no personal bias in the thesis because Bryson is attempting to explain the answers and is not making a hypothesis about what happened. He is simply and effectively, with great jocularity, stating the facts.
Bill Bryson’s book was conceived because of his dissatisfaction with the way that science was being taught. He wanted to produce a compelling scientific book with a difference. It would be understood by everybody, being well written yet being humorous at the same time. “It was as if [the textbook writer] wanted to keep the good stuff secret by making all of it soberly unfathomable.” (Bill Bryson)
This book is a marvellous piece of literature which establishes itself in a fantastic position in the scientific community as a very well written, very accurate piece of writing. The science community values the book very highly and appreciates the humour Bryson brings especially given the accuracy of his descriptions of events that many people only have theories about. There are a few scientific errors in the book which are acknowledged by the scientific community. “His book is not free of mistakes. When I read his chapters about cosmology, atomic and particle physics I spotted several inaccuracies. (Actually, I don't want to call it 'mistakes' as I know very well how difficult it is to speak about something that complex in an abbreviated way. In fact only some minor things are 'wrong', and considering that he covers everything from biochemistry to particle physics, from geology to oceanography, from meteorology to medicine he has done an absolutely outstanding job!)” (Markus Ehrenfried- Particle Physicist) The mistakes are very minor and very insignificant towards the value people have placed on this book.
This tome is considered to be one of the premier pieces of literature of its era in terms of scientific value. It is one of the more comprehensive scientific books ever written and valued more highly over scientific textbooks due to the explanatory nature of the book. The scientific community was astounded with the book and its accuracy, humour and the detail that Bryson goes into, in his attempt to make everybody understand the facts as he does. Furthermore, the book is short and sweet. Moreover, Bryson does not over step the boundary towards over strenuous detail towards the topic. He explains exactly enough to keep the reader interested. This book is fantastic in every aspect from the information, to the humour, to the graphics at the beginning of the book. 9.5/10.