A Short History of Nearly Everything: 2.0

A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, the bestselling travel writer known for his humor and curiosity, realized one day that he knew almost nothing about the planet he lived on and how science had come to understand it. How do we know how old the Earth is, how big the universe is, or what is inside an atom? A Short History of Nearly Everything is the result of his years-long quest to find out, and this edition presents his celebrated tour of science for a new generation of readers.

Bryson travels from the Big Bang and the formation of the universe to the emergence of life and the rise of human beings. Along the way, he explains how scientists discovered the size and age of the Earth, the structure of atoms, the nature of light and gravity, the movement of continents, the workings of cells and DNA, the evolution of species, and the history of our own ancestors.

What makes the book special is its focus on the people behind the discoveries. Bryson tells colorful stories about scientists who were brilliant, eccentric, obsessive, unlucky or overlooked, describing their rivalries, mistakes and moments of insight, and showing how much of what we know was hard-won and how much remains uncertain.

Written with wonder, wit and clarity, the book makes complex science accessible and entertaining for general readers. It won the Aventis Prize for science books and the Descartes Prize for science communication.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is an essential read for anyone curious about the world. Some scientific details have been updated by later research, and the format of this edition may differ from the original.