A Short History of Nearly Everything - Softcover

9780552997041: A Short History of Nearly Everything
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way most of us have never seen it before. New York Times Book Review: "Brims with strange and amazing facts... destined to become a modern classic of science writing."

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figured it out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson uses hundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews with luminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him, who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, to appreciate how we have used science to understand the smallest particles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With his distinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably. Though A Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and covers the same material as every science book before it, it reads something like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without a plot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age of our planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped into larger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself." Bryson chats with experts like Richard Fortey (author of Life and Trilobite) and these interviews are charming. But it's when Bryson dives into some of science's best and most embarrassing fights--Cope vs. Marsh, Conway Morris vs. Gould--that he finds literary gold. --Therese Littleton
From the Inside Flap:
One of the world's most beloved and bestselling 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.

"From the Hardcover edition.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherBlack Swan
  • Publication date2004
  • ISBN 10 0552997048
  • ISBN 13 9780552997041
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages686
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780767908184: A Short History of Nearly Everything

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780767908184
Publisher: Crown, 2004
Softcover

  • 9781784161859: A Short History of Nearly Everything Reissued

    Black ..., 2016
    Softcover

  • 9780767908177: A Short History of Nearly Everything

    Crown, 2003
    Hardcover

  • 9780385408189: A Short History of Nearly Everything

    Doubleday, 2003
    Hardcover

  • 9780307885159: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition

    Crown, 2010
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0552997048

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 22.75
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Books Unplugged
(Amherst, NY, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0552997048xvz189zvxnew

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 30.34
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0552997048

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.85
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0552997048

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0552997048-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 34.73
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Brand: Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0552997048

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 30.44
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Transworld Pub (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks192391

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 59.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Bryson, Bill
Published by Black Swan (2004)
ISBN 10: 0552997048 ISBN 13: 9780552997041
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.96. Seller Inventory # Q-0552997048

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 58.10
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds