A Short History of Nearly Everything

Description

A Short History of Nearly Everything by American author Bill Bryson is a popular science book that explains some areas of science, using easily accessible language that appeals more so to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the United Kingdom, selling over 300,000 copies. A Short History deviates from Bryson's popular travel book genre, instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledge—that was, not much at all. He writes that science was a distant, unexplained subject at school. Textbooks and teachers alike did not ignite the passion for knowledge in him, mainly because they never delved in the whys, hows, and whens. The ebook can be found elsewhere on the web at: http://www.huzheng.org/bookstore/AShortHistoryofNearlyEverything.pdf

Description

Bill Bryson is one of the worlds most beloved and bestselling writers. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, he takes his ultimate journeyinto the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer. Its 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. To that end, Bill Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the worlds most profound scientific minds, living and dead. His challenge is to take subjects like geology, chemisty, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics and see if there isnt some way to render them comprehensible to people, like himself, made bored (or scared) stiff of science by school. His interest is not simply to discover what we know but to find out how we know it. How do we know what is in the center of the earth, thousands of miles beneath the surface? How can we know the extent and the composition of the universe, or what a black hole is? How can we know where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out? On his travels through space and time, Bill Bryson encounters a splendid gallery of the most fascinating, eccentric, competitive, and foolish personalities ever to ask a hard question. In their company, he undertakes a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only this superb writer can render it. Science has never been more involving, and the world we inhabit has never been fuller of wonder and delight.

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Other Editions

• A Short History of Nearly EverythingHardcoverBroadway Books2003-01-01
• Een kleine geschiedenis van bijna allesAtlas2004-01-01
• A short history of nearly everythingblack swan2004-01-01
• Short History Of Nearly EverythingPaperbackBrand: Broadway Books2004-10-08
• A short history of nearly everythingBroadway Books2005-01-01
• Una Breve Historia De Casi Todo (El Ojo Infalible)PaperbackGrupo Oceano2005-01-02