A Short History of Nearly Everything

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: Bill Bryson

Length: 5 hrs and 47 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, traveling 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 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"Destined to become a modern classic of science writing." (The New York Times Book Review)

wonderfully entertaining

bryson captures the marvel that attracted me to science in the first place. i'm not sure that all of his facts are spot on, but the weaving of tales that bring us to where we are now, how we got here, as improbable as it was, was entertaining and delightful.

Perfect companion

I bought this audiobook 4 years ago, and still enjoy listening to it regularly. I consider books to be friends -- I chose them, they didn't choose me -- and I continue to interact with these "friends" even after upgrading my listening tools. This book is an old friend who tells me the same story every time, true, but I never tire of hearing it because it's told so well...

Don't want to hit pause

I've been totally sucked in by this book. It's so entertaining that even after a long drive I often sit in my driveway for a while just to listen to more. Now I wish I'd gotten the unabridged version.

If you like science and want to know more about the events that conspired to move science along, this book is for you. If you want a serious science tome, you may be disappointed.

Beware - abridged version

I adore bill bryson and all his books so I was truly disappointed when this was the abridged version. I checked and couldn’t see that listed anywhere in the title or information about the book. False advertising.

Great author!

As always Bill Bryson kills it with another narration of his amazing down to earth writing

One of my favorite audiobooks

Bill Bryson is a compelling narrator and has done a wonderful job condensing a pretty extensive timeline and heady scientific information into an understandable narrative. This book is great for road trips or even long commutes.

Great Overview of Science

This book is great for someone like me who has been out of school for a while and back in college. I wanted to to brush up on basic science. A great book to do that without getting bogged down in the details. I knew some of the stuff, or would be reminded to elementary/middle/high school of when I did learn it. What I liked best was seeing how all of science really works with each other and how little we really do know or how much of our science is based on assumptions when we quite possibly only have a fraction of the evidence possible. A book to definitely listen to again to absorb and retain all those interesting facts and stories.

The Great Story of the Physics of the Universe

What did you love best about A Short History of Nearly Everything?

This is a truly well-presented story of the history of science and the main scientific achievements in physics that produced what we know about the Universe and how we learned it. The text is beautifully written, and author Bill Bryson is excellent as the narrator. The reader provides just the right intonation and emphasis to make the story clear and interesting. Although the scope of the content and topics covered is broad, the clarity of the writing and the lucid comparisons make the audio book both fascinating and a delightful learning experience.

What does Bill Bryson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great clarity of expression and astute emphasis by the reader of the most important topics.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

This is a book that, once started, is so fascinating that it's difficult to stop listening. Many topics of the audiobook and sections are truly great, both in the beautiful writing and the clarity of the narrator.

A treat for all science nerds

It reminded me of the wonderful old Connections series. What a wonderful collection of stories, and Mr. Bryson's voice added to the experience. I am tempted to get the unabridged version too, because I want more. For anyone with an ounce of curious scientist in them, start with the unabridged version!

Science not social history

I am huge Bill Bryson fan, and I could pleasurably listen to him and his quirky digressions for hours and hours. That said, I was expecting more social history instead of the extended foray into the science of the physical universe and biological life. So the "nearly everything" in the title needs to be taken with a large grain of salt. I opted for the abridged version because I love Bryson's narration. I'm not sure what was cut out of the complete book, but judging by what was left in, the subect matter was about all I could take. I followed up this book with Bryson's "At Home," which was much more my cup of tea.