A Short History of Nearly Everything

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bill Bryson, I recommending becoming so as soon as possible.  He is primarily known as a travel writer, but his most recent book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, is kind of a Cosmos, a book about how we got here and where "here" is exactly and how exactly we came to know what we know about these things.  It turns out that although we know a heck of a lot more than we did a few hundred years ago, over and over again, we are confronted with the fact that we really don't know much at all!

Bryson's travel books such as A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country, are great reads as well, and in them Bryson mixes history and naturalist fact along with his personal narrative.  So it was probably not a huge leap for him to seperate himself from the personal narrative on this occasion and go completely with the facts.  Despite this, it is impossible for Bryson to be dry.  Although one could call some of his wit "dry," it has an irresistable cadence and charm.  I actually listened to an abridged version of this book on Audible.com, who has recently come out with an unabridged version.  One should really try to listen to his books on tape or CD, which he narrates himself.  Having spend half his life in England, he has an unmistakable Brittish "tone" in his voice, but at the same time no Brittish accent.  It is odd and yet endearing and somehow adds to the humor. 

Speaking of humor, although not as much of A Short History is a laugh-out-loud riot as some of his other books, there are definitely parts that grab one as humerous.  These usually have to do with the personal or professional behaviors of scientists that are so bizarre as to be funny.

In all, this is great read (or listen), and should be quickly gobbled up by anyone remotely interested in history and science, but even those who just want an entertaining story.  The science in it is not presented in a particularly complex manner - it is really for the layman and Bryson himself is not a scientist by training, so he knows how to write about it for an audience of non-scientists.  That being said, even the more scientifically inclined should get a kick if from nothing else of the stories and interwoven histories of science and scientific discoveries.  For those who are familiar with James Burke, it did seem at points quite a lot like Bryson was creating his own tome of "Connections" although not as intentionally as Burke does.

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