A Short History of Nearly Everything

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: Richard Matthews

Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the world’s most beloved and best-selling writers takes his ultimate journey - into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.

In a Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail - well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand - and, if possible, answer - the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us.

To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.

©2003 Bill Bryson (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc. Published by Arrangement with Random House Audio Publishing Group, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Not to be missed." (AudioFile)
"Destined to become a modern classic of science writing." (The New York Times Book Review)

More Science than History

Younger readers will find much of this familiar. I learned a lot of it in my 7th grade science class. What makes it stand apart from plain science though is the history interweaved with facts. You don't just learn how things work, you learn why and how they were discovered. You learn the names of scientists and their story and confront the nature of man, and how little we truly know about everything.

Worth reading whether you took those classes and want a refresher, or if you're just looking to learn modern scientific knowledge for the first time.

great book, yes. great narration, no.

It's amazing how Bill Bryson can narrate a relatively dry subject in such a way that draws you with fascination and yearning for more. I've read the book version beforehand and only got the Audiobook because I really enjoyed Bill Bryson's narrations on his other works (such as 'A Walk in the Woods' and 'In a Sunburned Country' -- both excellent and highly recommended) without noticing that it's read by someone else! It was a bit disappointing that it was not Bill Bryson and the narrator has this annoying Hollywood faux-British sounding accent that makes it a bit cartoonish and at times, annoying; kinda like the sex education movie voice acting from the 60's

Good book for a book on tape

I enjoyed the reader and found the story easy to follow. I think everything was laid out really well.

A Wonderful Overview

I was hesitant to start this book for one simple reason it spanned multiple disciplines that I know nothing of or only have little knowledge. I was however pleasantly surprised with how easy the novel was to understand. The Narrator was easy to understand and spoke clearly and at a pace that was easy to listen to whether I was in my car driving or just listening to at home. The context of the book while ranging from literally the beginning of the universe to the creation of man the flow made sense, and it was clear that the structure was thought out with careful precision. My favorite thing about it is that I could stop listening to it for days or weeks and it was easy to pick back up and remember where the book last left off. I credit this to the fact that there was no "fluff" in the book that was distracting from the what Bill Bryson was trying to convey.
I highly recommend this book for people who want to know more about the universe we live in and how we came to be humans.

Excellent!

Was captivated by the stories. Wish I had this book while I was at school. I finished the audiobook wanting for more, too bad it was over. Strongly recommend it.

Very fun yet educational

I have always enjoyed Bill Bryson. This book was very interesting and informative! It had humor as well as seriousness. Great read.

A wonderful listening and learning experience

Quite frankly, this was like listening to a long series of "Nature" programmes on the radio, except - amazingly enough - extremely entertaining. It ranged from completely disparate topics such as vulcanology (did you know that Yellowstone Park, all of it, is a huge volcano overdue for a massive blowout?), atoms and molecules (did you know we know there is mass, but not how?), viruses and bacteria (there was once a plague that gave everyone a kind of terminal apathy), and all the way to evolution and back with every sort of stop between.

If you at all enjoy science and nature shows, then this is a book for you. If you find them remotely boring, or flat, then maybe not. This was certainly some of the most fun I've had with science, but in such a scattershot way as to appeal to my "trivia" nature. If the section on cells had gone on much longer, for example, my iPod would have had a bit of a hard time skipping fast enough for my thumb-pressing.

It was fascinating (the places life manages to form and prosper), terrifying (we'd really not notice an extinction level impact heading our way until it was pretty much here), horrifying (upon being asked what he felt now that he'd just shot the last bird in an entire species, one fellow said, "joy"), and a little bit overwhelming (the names, dates, titles, and repetitious use of "we don't know"). At times, the various intrigues of the science community were by far more fascinating than what the scientists were studying themselves (who knew that Darwin liked to electrocute himself? Or that a 300 pound man who stayed in the same nursery wing of his estate and the same nursery bed his entire life - and never left home - wiped out species all over Hawaii - a place he never went?)

Is it "everything"? Well, of course not. But I daresay that my absolute amateur level of most scientific knowledge bases have improved a smidgeon. And really, how can it not be fun to tell children browsing in my store that the old-style diving suit on the cover of the Lemony Snicket book was originally intended to be used fighting fire? If nothing else, you'll get a real sense of just how much life (and I'm using the big-L life here, not just we homo sapiens) is sort of a grand series of really lucky coincidences. And how much we're mucking it up.

science lovers book

everyone who enjoys some aspect of science must listen to this. From physics, chemistry and biology this book attempts to chronicle the biggest breakthroughs of the human race.

one of the best books I have ever come across

Magnificent story, great detail an uncanny way of explaining the most complex scientific concepts in the easiest to understand mannerpossible

Thoroughly enjoyable!

I really enjoyed this book. The story was captivating and supported by an excellent reading performance.