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)

Genuinely "Everything"

This book takes you for a tour through every pure science that you ever read about: Bill Bryson weaves hundreds of what seem to be disparate facts into one coherent story. He gives you perspective on how much we actually know about the world we live in, yet how insignificant this knowledge is in the grand scheme of things. Richard Matthews' narration takes the book to the whole new level as he talks about everything from astronomy to oceanography to the origins of leaded petrol.

Must listen. "Un-put-down-able".

Great book

I really liked the book. It isn't dry and I thought it was entertaining. They go over a lot of topics and history. Overall I enjoyed it and learned a lot

Good Overview

If you like to watch the Science Channel or have listened/read other books such as Krakatoa, a lot of this material will be familar to you. Nevertheless, Bryson does a good of job surveying the macro-level thinking in a number of important sciences. Bryson also develops a nice habit of describing scientific theories that had been developed, but then discarded along the way. In addition, he also paints some interesting portraits of the scientists.

On the narration side, I didn't care for this reader as much as Bryson himself. Nevertheless, his British-style accent is pleasant enough.

WOW! First Audiobook, and I'm hooked!

Having been my first audiobook that I downloaded, this is a marvelous work. It starts off with an introduction that grabs you, and then takes you through a splendid journey through the sciences, with a background of each of the discoverers of the new learning. Every scientist has their own story, and this book takes the listener on a magical trip through the hows and whys each of these things were found. Honestly, I always believed that most discoveries were accidental or a person with keen insight was given the chance to discover the mysteries of the universe, or even their own backyard. This book simply confirms this.

My two detractions from the book are such:
The first is that most of the great scientists of the past (Newton, et al.) are portrayed as men who got it right for their time, but were eventually disproven by others (Einstein, in this case), but the facts of today are taken as hard facts (such as global warming, which, until about 20 years ago, we were thought to be going into an ice age...), not to be disproven. It would seem, by this logic, that we are merely holders of the current truth, only to be refuted by future generations and further collection of data. This is a minor point, but should be mentioned.

The second misgiving about this book is that it it too short! 15 CD's and I wanted another 300! If you like the smooth English voice of the narrator (check out the sample), be ready, and hope for a long drive so you can enjoy the fact filled fun of this tome! Extremely highly recommended!

Phenomenal

I couldn't stop listening. A fabulous, interesting book and audiobook. Don't hesitate, download it now.

Huge undertaking, delightfully informative.

Made the complex topics not just understandable, but compelling.
After first listening completed, I have immediately begun listening again. Inspirational.

I enjoyed it.

Mr. Matthews did well at presenting the information. I'd recommend this audio book to most people and especially most of my friends. I just couldn't help but find myself wishing Bill Bryson was narrating it like so many of his other great books on Audible.

Interesting topic, well narrated!

This is a long audiobook but it's well narrated and the author shines a light on many interesting topics presenting many fun facts often in a humorous fashion. Makes for good listening during a morning commute.

Brilliant writing. Funny and accessible. Interesting.

The only negative thing I could say about this book is: Man, is it long! But if you have an interest in science, you owe it to yourself to listen to this book. Narrator is perfect for the book too.

Over and over again

This is the greatest book anyone has ever written, and the greatest reading of a book ever recorded.

I'm exaggerating, but only a little, really. I've listened to it at least 40 times, many of those immediately back to back.

GET IT