.05.21 — A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

What it is?

A wide-ranging guide to the historical development and current state of major scientific fields, among them physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, and paleontology. Designed for the non-scientific reader, Bryson utilizes layperson’s terms and frequent reference points to provide relatable context when delving into the really large (distances in space, ages of fossils) or really small (atomic particle sizes). The scientific theory is made even more digestible by the detours into the lives of the scientists whose work and ideas shaped their field of study. The book is skillfully organized. It begins, quite literally, at the beginning of time and on the cosmic scale, before narrowing down to the evolutionary trail that created humanity. While advances during the last two decades have dated some of the more recent material, this book is still a highly informative read for any curious reader today.

My thoughts

As someone who is interested in the sciences, yet can recall an embarrassingly small amount of my high school textbooks, I found this book both engaging and well designed. The willingness of 18th and 19th century scientists to sacrifice their livelihoods in pursuit of knowledge is particularly inspiring. These men often had flippant attitudes towards danger, risking their livelihoods and health to find scientific truths. Also, in sharp contrast to the interests of many idle wealthy people today, aristocratic individuals of the 18th and 19th century had a passion for devoting their energies to the advancement of science. Were more science textbooks written as well as this book, perhaps similar sentiments would be shared by a broader slice of the population today.