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I love this book. Buy it. Bill Bryson's writing style makes this a fun and interesting read. Learned/retained more information from this book then I did from all my highschool classes and what not.
Bravo, Mr. Great, great book. As advertised, it's what all science text books should have been: interesting. Bryson. Looking forward to downloading some more of your titles.
It covers that and everything in between in an easy-to-digest, user-friendly style that seems to give the proverbial wink of the eye to the reader from time-to-time. For instance, he writes, "To get down to the scale of atoms, you would need to take each of those micron slices and shave it into ten thousand finer widths. That's what this extended essay is - Bill Bryson wants to know why things are the way they are, except in a much more interesting, well-written form. The remembrance, (or more likely, Bryson's quest for knowledge) was spawned when the author was taking a science course, and his textbook had a very dry explanation of the earth, simply showing a cutaway then labeling the different layers.
At the beginning of the book, he makes it very clear that the human race is lucky to be here, if one ratio was different then it is life as we know it could not have existed, and that there are trillions of atoms that have to coexist in order to make up a person. And Congratulations. Although it has no discernable plot or conflict, but it was still a marvelous way to spend a frigid afternoon perusing through a delicious memoir. The tome does a very good job at giving credit where it is due. That's the scale of an atom: one ten million of a millimeter".
Bill Bryson has a very interesting way of thinking about things. The book is true to its title, starting with "The Big Bang," and goes all the way through to the rise of homo sapiens. He starts by giving a "short back round" on the person; then, goes on about what important contribution he or she made to the topic that the book is currently discussing. Getting here wasn't easy, I know in fact, I suspect it was a little tougher then you realize".
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson was a wonderful book to read. - (135) Here is an excellent example of one of Bryson's witty explanations that he uses to help people to understand something that is so unimaginably small. He has many more like that though out the book on different topics that enable the reader to more concretely picture abstract things more precisely. "Welcome. Bryson did not omit any of the facts, even the more confusing stuff. - (1) It is in passages like these that I could tell the Bryson enjoyed writing this book, and he was clearly fascinated by what he was learning. The narrative gave no explanation to why they were there in the first place.
He spent three years talking to people knowledgeable on their subjects for the book; I think that he thoroughly enjoyed everyone of his years.This is one of those few books that I was completely captivated by, and would spend hours on end reading it. I found everything in this book to be true as far as I could tell. He wrote his narrative in plain English, and used an explanation where it was needed, allowing the average layperson to understand normally challenging parts of the book. I am delighted that you could make it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and found that the narrative actually opened up my eyes to things I had either not understand or had just taken for granted.
Having read several of Bill Bryson's books and totally enjoying them, I was dismayed with this effort.Even with a degree in the sciences, I felt as though I was in the intergalactic dental chair having every atomic thought particle vacuumed out of my being. It was overwhelming and difficult to follow. Bill, stick with the humorist travel writer theme that you do so well.Judging from the reviews, many readers valued the book. As for myself, maybe the planets were simply out of orbit, the stars not aligned or Einstein's Law of Relativity slipped. Too much to absorb and retain. Rarely do I not finish a book, but after space traveling nearly half-way through this endeavor, I had to fold and put down.Will keep in my personal library for reference.
If you don't know anything, or even if you act like you know it all, read this book to make sure. Much easier to understand than Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History Of Time." From the Big Bang to evolution, to.
This is a good reference book. Get out your hi-lighter and keep a pen handy to make comments in the margins.
Not the easiest of reads, but then look at the subject matter. For what you ask.
Read the title again. well nearly everything, Bryson does a magnificent job in trying to explain it all and with a sense of humor.
Very good reference book.
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