A short history of nearly everything

by Bill Bryson

544 pages

English language

Published Aug. 26, 2004

ISBN:: 978-0-7679-0818-4

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 …

The ebook can be found elsewhere on the web at: www.huzheng.org/bookstore/AShortHistoryofNearlyEverything.pdf

31 editions

Geoff reviewed A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson

Review of 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Wow what a delightful book this is. There was almost nothing here I didn't already know, more or less. But it was all presented in such a well integrated and beautiful way that it was a joy to read. I’m a big Bryson fan and this has been on my list a long time. I’m so glad I finally got to it.

Bart Libert reviewed Een kleine geschiedenis van bijna alles by Bill Bryson

Review of 'Een kleine geschiedenis van bijna alles' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Interestin and well-written overview, but sometimes it relies too much on the reader's knowledge of the geography of the USA, which can be tricky for people from other countries. The Dutch translation is also a bit weird at times, a good editor would certainly have helped.

Rich Campoamor reviewed A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson

Review of 'A short history of nearly everything' on 'LibraryThing'

1 star

Im absolutely mystified at the popularity of this book. I found it tedious that it spent more time talking about the controversy around things than the things themselves. Also find Bryson's chatty, sophmoric writing style annoying. Pales in comparison to anything written by Simon Winchester.