A Short History of Nearly Everything - 6112 Words

A Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible 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 UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] 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. Bryson tells the story of science through the stories of the people who made the discoveries, such as Edwin Hubble, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Background Bill†¦show more content†¦Just like the alchemists of old, scientists have a regrettable tendency to vaile their secrets with mistie speech. Science, John Keats sulked, will clip an Angel s wings, / Conquer all mysteries by rule and line. Bryson turns this on its head by blaming the messenger rather than the message. Robbing nature of its mystery is what he thinks most science books do best. But, unlike Keats, he doesn t believe that this is at all necessary. We may be living in societies less ready to believe in magic, miracles or afterlives, but the sublime remains. Rather as Richard Dawkins has argued, Bryson insists that the results of scientific study can be wondrous and very often are so. The trick is to write about them in a way that makes them comprehensible without crushing nature s mystique. Bryson provides a lesson in how it should be done. The prose is just as one would expect - energetic, quirky, familiar and humorous. Bryson s great skill is that of lightly holding the reader s hand throughout; building up such trust that topics as recondite as atomic weights, relativity and particle physics are shorn of their terrors. The amount of ground covered is truly impressive. From the furthest reaches of cosmology, we range through time and space until we are looking at the smallest particles. We explore our own planet and get to grips with the ideas, first of Newton and then of Einstein, that allow usShow MoreRelatedA Short History of Nearly Everything6112 Words   |  25 PagesA Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible 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 UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the BigRead MoreA Short History of Nearly Everything800 Words   |  4 PagesIn A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson undertakes the task of explaining every noteworthy event from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization or as he puts it â€Å"†¦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.† Bryson explains his reasoning for writing the books was because he was discontented with the textbook version of science that failed to explain how everythingRead MoreAn Outline for a Book Report: A Short History of Nearly Everything927 Words   |  4 PagesBryson, Bill. A short history of nearly everything. New York: Broadway Books, 2003. II. Summary of the Main Ideas 1. Subject: Bill Bryson is writing about science and the discoveries we have made into knowing about the universe, and the earths existence. 2. Occasion; Bryson had written A Short History of Nearly Everything, because, Bryson had felt that â€Å"[The science book] wasn’t exciting at all† (5), therefore he hadnt liked science verymuch. Until, one day he had wondered how did theyRead MoreSimilarities Between Bill Brinson And Perks Of Being A Wallflower979 Words   |  4 PagesThe two texts, both Bill Brysons a short history of nearly everything, and Stephen Chboskys Perks of being a wallflower, explore responses emitted when beings are given emotional and intellectual stimuli. This can be seen through both Bill Brysons use of Narration throughout his book, and through the use of Narration in Perks of being a wallflower, through Charlie, where we can see everything he experiences through both his thoughts and voice. 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