| A Short History of Nearly Everything | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  212 reviews
Sales Rank: 329
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 686
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.5
ISBN: 0552997048
Dewey Decimal Number: 600
EAN: 9780552997041
ASIN: 0552997048
Publication Date: June 1, 2004
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 A must for scientific and non-scientific readers November 26, 2008
This book makes fascinating reading and is written in a humorous and easy-to-read style. My only complaint is that the author tends to skip over the scientific discoveries of the 18th and 19th centuries rather quickly and then spends most of his time on the 20th century and mainly American contributions to science. But, after all, Mr. Bryson is typically American and tends to follow National Geographic style in this. Still, it is well worth reading even several times and is very thought provoking. Thank you, Mr. Bryson, for explaining it all so neatly.
A great read but dont confuse it with the childrens version! November 3, 2008
I read this book whilst on a round the world trip and it was a great companion, although it does take some reading!
I ordered a copy from Amazon for my father in law as a christmas present, but thought i would get the hardback version called 'a really short history of nearly everything'... a note of caution, this is the childrens much abridged and illustrated version and not the same as the paperback. i have decided to keep this however for my 10 yr old god son as this book is fascinating for all ages and it is great that the kids can read it too!
 Overrated September 23, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding and explaining what it is they are writing about.
I really can't fathom that in a book which attempts to cover most of science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating between science and psuedo-science, no way of differentiating the reliability of the big bang theory and crystal healers.
Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, or just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.
Sometimes he's just way off. For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method, since both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity.
His misunderstanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He fails to point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? He also fails to include that the DNA evidence is conclusive and all of it is consistent with evolution through natural selection. DNA vindicated Darwin.
If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.
Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.
If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivial, dates and names, well then, sadly this book could be a runner.
 Essential introduction to science! September 23, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.
Not for me August 25, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.
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