
	Where results make sense

Topic: A Short History of Nearly Everything

Related Topics

Bill Bryson

The Aventis Prizes for Science Books

A Walk in the Woods

1994 Quebec election

McCollum Field

Hoosier

Appalachian Trail

Aventis

Colonial Revival

Des Moines, Iowa

Yorkshire

Appalachian Mountains

In the News (Wed 16 Dec 09)

Northern Trust

Marvin Harrison

Peter Chernin

Gary Locke

Match Play

Penelope Cruz

Mickey Rourke

AR Rahman

Danny Boyle

Hugh Jackman

	A Short History of Nearly Everything - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		A Short History of Nearly Everything (ISBN 0-7679-0817-1) is a general science book by Bill Bryson, which explains some areas of science in ordinary language.
		A Short History deviates from Bryson's popular travel book genre, instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics.
		Furthermore, he reports on the likeliness of the earth being struck by a meteor, how unlikely it is that humans will spot a meteor before it impacts the Earth, and the extensive damage that such an event would cause.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything (622 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything - smh.com.au
		Alexander von Humboldt's gift to history is his aphorism about the three stages of scientific discovery: first, people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important, and finally they credit the wrong person.
		In his chronicle of the major discoveries of the past 300 years, Bryson covers the superstars as well as the bridesmaids; the wooden medallists, such as DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin; and the feet-of-clay brigade, such as the "greatest astronomer of the 20th century", Edwin Hubble (yes, that telescope), who was an "inveterate liar".
		Written in a walk-up, buttonholing style, A Short History is nevertheless not an exercise in expert-bashing or an attempt to dismantle the freemasonry of scientific prose.
	www.smh.com.au /articles/2003/06/20/1055828479162.html (1090 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything
		In A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson takes his readers on an unforgettable adventure into the annals of science and natural history.
		One of the most striking and ultimately rewarding aspects of A Short History of Nearly Everything is the decidedly non-linear approach Bryson takes in telling the history of the world.
		Rather than starting "at the beginning" and recounting historical events along a traditional textbook time line, Bryson leads his readers on a wild armchair adventure leaping years, generations, and even epochs at will as he skillfully spins out explanations and innovations that were often unrealized or overlooked at the time of their discovery.
	www.roadtripamerica.com /read/AShortHistory.htm (567 words)

	Book Review for A Short History of Nearly Everything
		Everything there was an air of unhurried thoroughness, of people being engaged in a gigantic endeavor that could never be completed and mustn't be rushed.
		Every important topic in A Short History of Nearly Everything can be found in Jupiter Scientific's book The Bible According to Einstein, which presents science in the language and format of the Bible.
		A Short History of Nearly Everything is available through the internet at Amazon.com.
	www.jupiterscientific.org /review/shne.html (1942 words)

	Book Review: A Short History of Nearly Everything
		If you're interested in the history of science at all, this is one of the most enjoyable books on the subject that I have ever read.
		Bryson's history and science is solid, at least as far as this layman can tell, covering both the history of scientific endeavor and discoveries, and the often very bizarre people who were involved.
		CFCs went into production in the early 1930s and found a thousand applications in everything from car air conditioners to deodorant sprays before it was noticed, half a century later, that they were devouring the ozone in the atmosphere.
	www.xprogramming.com /xpmag/books20040109.htm (780 words)

	American Scientist Online - Know It All (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Bryson begins with an engaging essay marveling at how unlikely it is that all of the atoms in the body of the reader should happen to have assembled themselves at the very moment that the book became available.
		Bryson proceeds to do his "short history" in 29 chapters devoted to various topics, followed by a brief farewell chapter about human-induced extinctions in recent times.
		The history of the past few centuries shows that when the educational system doesn't do a very good job of equipping people to understand the world they live in, alternative systems of education arise.
	www.americanscientist.org /template/BookReviewTypeDetail/assetid/29779 (827 words)

	Etude \| Summer 2003 \| A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		For, as it turns out, A Short History is Bryson’s attempt to explain (thanks to the indulgence of some of the world’s leading scholars and researchers, whom the author spent three years haranguing) how “nearly everything” important in science works.
		In 30 short-ish chapters, Bryson tackles the basics of (nearly) everything from astronomy to genetics, from geology to particle physics, and from biology to seismology.
		Since Bryson makes it clear on every page that all this science stuff is practically as brand new to him as it is to us, the sense of wonder and excitement he brings to illuminating—and simplifying—its complexities is genuine and infectious.
	etude.uoregon.edu /summer2003/books/history.html (361 words)

	Amazon.fr : A Short History of Nearly Everything: Livres: Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Of course, a history of everything, even a SHORT history of NEARLY everything, has got to be fairly long.
		A great example of the way Bryson weaves the history of science into the description of science, in a sense showing the way the world changes as our perceptions of how it exists change, is his description of the formulation, rejection, and final acceptance of the Pangaea theory.
		Bryson traces the development of the universe and the world from the earliest universe to the formation of the planet, to the growing diversity of life forms to development of human beings and human society.
	www.amazon.fr /Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0552997048 (1418 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - Wettone.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Even if you shrank down everything so that Jupiter was as small as the full stop at the end of this sentence, and Pluto was no bigger than a molecule, Pluto would still be over 10 metres away.
		Spacetime is usually explained by asking you to imagine something flat but pliant — a mattress, say, or a sheet of stretched rubber — on which is resting a heavy round object, such as an iron ball.
		Stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth.
	wettone.com /books/nearly-everything (367 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us.
		Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is beautifully written, very entertaining and highly informative--and now, it is lavishly illustrated as well.
		Bryson is not a scientist, but rather a curious and observant writer who, several years ago, realized that he couldn't tell a quark from a quasar, or a proton from a protein.
	www.booklan.com /science/general/book_114.html (749 words)

	Amazon.com: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition: Books: Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		A SHORT HISTORY was on the USA Today top 150 best sellers list for 63 weeks between May 2003 and August 2005, reaching the peak position of number 31.
		Throughout A SHORT HISTORY, the author emphasizes that within the expanse of time for what we know, the human experience has been brief indeed, very fragile, and catastrophe lurks.
		A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING is exceptionally readable and informative with an extensive bibliography and index.
	www.amazon.com /Short-History-Nearly-Everything-Illustrated/dp/0767923227 (2243 words)

	A Short, But Delightful History of Nearly Everything \| Ponderfodder
		Bill Bryson, a popular travel writer, in this book turns his attention to the history of how we (Homo Sapiens) and our planet came to be.
		Even for the well-versed science reader, the book is chock full of interesting anecdotes and background stories of the big and little players in the quest for knowledge.
		In short, the book warrants its national bestseller status and would make a good gift for anyone wanting to introduce another reader to science.
	www.ponderfodder.com /short-delightful-history-nearly-everything (319 words)

	Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything at Epinions.com
		Starting with the origins of the universe, he not only examines the facts (at least as we know them at this point) but how we got to them – the men and the process that led to our current theories and knowledge.
		We see how fossils are formed (and discovered), hypothesize on their extinctions, and study the sheer magnificence of how life has developed into nearly countless forms.
		The final chapter, “Good-Bye”, is perhaps the saddest story in our known history, and his frustration and anger actually show through his words as his objectivity wavers.
	www.epinions.com /content_114813013636 (2030 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
		In A Short History of Nearly Everything, he takes his ultimate journey–into the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer.
		It’s a dazzling quest, the intellectual odyssey of a lifetime, as this insatiably curious writer attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization.
		Or, as the author puts it, “…how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and since.” This is, in short, a tall order.
	www.writeronlinebooks.com /book/ashorthistory.htm (120 words)

	Amazon.ca: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Books: Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		With the aptly named A Short History of Nearly Everything Bryson has, quite simply, documented the advent of the universe in just under 500 pages, charting the evolution of man, planet Earth, its oceans and mountains, and all the atoms holding them together.
		A Short History of Nearly Everything is an enlightening, educational, entertaining, and easy to read book for readers who have a natural curiosity about life.
		This is a wonderful look (and sometimes funny and dark) look at, as it says, "Nearly Everything." Doesn't at all read like a dry textbook that I thought it would be.
	www.amazon.ca /Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0385660049 (1978 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (kottke.org) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		The beginning of the book was interesting but nothing I hadn't heard before, but once Bryson got to the more recent developments in everything from physics to evolutionary biology, I was hooked.
		Bryson painted that big picture...the last few chapters of the book should be required reading for high school science students who may have learned that protons, neutrons, and electrons are indivisible or that Darwin had the first and final say on how evolution works.
		A Short History of Nearly Everything is one of the 40 books written about on kottke.org.
	www.kottke.org /03/08/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything (219 words)

	Waldo Jaquith » Blog » “A Short History of Nearly Everything.”
		There were a thousand data points in “A Short History” that I wanted to have etched on my permanent mental record.
		More than anything else, “A Short History” impressed upon me how tiny, insignificant, and utterly useless than mankind is in the scale of the universe, the galaxy, the solar system, even the planet.
		A Short History” impressed upon me how tiny, insignificant, and utterly useless than mankind is in the scale of the universe, the galaxy, the solar system, even the planet.
	waldo.jaquith.org /blog/2006/03/short-history-of-nearly-everything (1953 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything on All Consuming
		Loved it, not just because it IS a short history of nearly everything, but because that history is populated by such interesting characters, and Bryson brings them to life.
		If only all science books were as entertaining as Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything.
		Weaving in richly researched details on the lives and characteristics of the foremost historical scientific figures, Bryson discourses on everything from the big bang theory and quantum physics, to paleontology and plate tectonics.
	www.allconsuming.net /item/view/22692 (585 words)

	Travel writer Bill Bryson conducts engaging tour of 'nearly everything'
		Thus a short list of "nearly everything" includes cosmology, geology, astronomy, astrophysics, botany, vulcanology, anthropology, paleontology, etymology, archaeology, climatology, and evolutionary and cellular biology.
		You want to go back again not because you missed a site, but because of the liberating knowledge you gain from the people along the way.
		With Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, you will undoubtedly want to go back to spend that evening down under with the Rev. Evans looking for supernovas way up above.
	www.lasalle.edu /~didio/reviews/rev_short_history.htm (555 words)

	Amazon.com: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Books: Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		I'm reminded in reading "A Short History" of Bryson's book on language, in which he either repeats or invents any number of terribly inaccurate folk etymologies.
		It's an incredible read and reinforces how amazing the history of the earth really is. Bill's wit and comedic timing that has made all his previous travel books instant classics is absent, but it has been replaced with an enthusiastic and somber tone that is just as interesting to read.
		Bryson takes you on a walk again, this time through the history of science and, sort of as a by-product, the history of our planet and life on it.
	www.amazon.com /Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171 (2345 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything.
		This month's selection, A Short History of Nearly Everything, is the latest offering from one of Shawn's and my favorite writers, Bill Bryson.
		Indeed, dodos were so spectacularly short on insight, it is reported, that if you wished to find all the dodos in a vicinity you had only to catch one and set it to squawking, and all the others would waddle along to see what was up.”
		Bryson attempts in his latest work to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization – a tall order, indeed.
	home.att.net /~tucson/read/shorthistory.html (289 words)

	MPR Books - "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
		In A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson sets out to explore the great mysteries of the universe.
		(From the publisher) In A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson takes his ultimate journey—into the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer.
		To that end, Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the world's most profound scientific minds, living and dead.
	www.mpr.org /books/titles/bryson_shorthistoryeverything.shtml (449 words)

	A Short History of Nearly Everything (Atomiq)
		A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's condensed history of science and how we know what we know about our species, planet and universe.
		First, most of the physical world is, in Bryson's words, "pretty well beyond imagining." Nonetheless, Bryson has an assload of strained analogies to help us.
		We're only a meteor impact, volcanic eruption or ice age away from extinction, and the odds of those things happening are not nearly as remote as we like to think (and we have no way of predicting them).
	atomiq.org /archives/2004/10/a_short_history_of_nearly_everything.html (470 words)

	Amazon.co.uk: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Books: Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		I never studied history at school and was hesitant to buy this.
		Bill Bryson has managed to do what no other person in the history of this planet has done - explain to us how things came to be, how things were discovered and how things work without either losing us completely or boring us to death.
		It's a wonderful take on science, looked at from the refreshing perspective of a normal person, not a scientist (although he writes with an air of authority; he knows what he's talking about and has thoroughly researched every topic).
	www.amazon.co.uk /Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0552997048 (1733 words)

	Amazon.de: A Short History of Nearly Everything.: English Books: Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Bryson's book is an interesting walk through the history of science, offering a good mixture of facts and entertainment.
		Of course, the entertaining melody of this anecdote-rich book occasionally comes at the cost of a certain superficiality, but this should not be held against the author.
		It is quite astonishing to read a history of science with big shots such as Galilei, Kepler, Kopernikus or Pasteur hardly or not at all being mentioned.
	www.amazon.de /Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0552151742 (1407 words)

	Powell's Books - A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		In A Short History of Nearly Everything, beloved author Bill Bryson confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves.
		[A Short History of Nearly Everything] represents a wonderful education, and all schools would be better places if it were the core science reader on the curriculum.”—Tim Flannery, Times Literary Supplement
		He received the 2004 Aventis Prize for A Short History of Nearly Everything.
	www.powells.com /biblio?isbn=0767923227 (482 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)