A short history of nearly everything
A Short History of Nearly Everything by American author Bill Bryson is a popular science book that explains some areas of science, using easily accessible language that appeals more so to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the United Kingdom, selling over 300,000 copies. A Short History deviates from Bryson's popular travel book genre, instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledge—that was, not much at all. He writes that science was a distant, unexplained subject at school. Textbooks and teachers alike did not ignite the passion for knowledge in him, mainly because they never delved in the whys, hows, and whens. The ebook can be found elsewhere on the web at
Stats for nerds
102recommend
138mentions
123people
2007–2026years
78% recommend20% neutral1% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- 1. Animal Farm by George Orwell
2. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes [1]
3. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
4. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette Mccurdy
5. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
6. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe [2]
7. Cosmos by Carl Sagan
8. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins [3]
9. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
10. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander [4]
11. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
12. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan [5][6][7]
13. Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism by Richard Dawkins
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50076596
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452253
[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48326741
[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539535
[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49751771
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
Night by Elie Wiesel
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Lying by Sam Harris
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
https://www.rxjourney.net/list-of-books-i-finished-reading-i...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_General_Non...
- Thanks for this question!
I'm not reading anything at the moment since I'm taking a break and watching season one of Deadwood and also re-watching season one of Boston Legal.
But when I'm done, I plan to re-read "The Cold War A Very Short Introduction" by Robert J. McMahon. I read it about five years ago and it's time to read it again.
Having said that, I can't pass on this opportunity to share the books I've read (some are re-reads) thus far this year that I recommend. I'll just list them while saying that they all come highly recommended by me.
In the famous words of Frank Zappa - So many books, so little time.
1. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
2. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
3. Lying by Sam Harris
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
5. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
6. Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
7. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
8. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
9. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
10. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
13. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
14. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
15. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan
16. Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism by Richard Dawkins
- It took about 30 years for every geologist to reach consensus on tectonic plates and continental drift. Old heads who'd invested a lot of their credibility arguing against it had a lot to lose by admitting they were wrong, so they refused to do it.
Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything is where I'm taking that from. It's a great read and shows all the ways in which scientists failed to see what was under their nose for decades before finally figuring out, which makes one wonder what's currently ripe for the picking.
- Yeah. That falls in the same bin as number of Olympic swimming pools or distance to the moon.
The best, meaningful comparison I've read is from Bill Bryson in A Short History of Nearly Everything. In it, he notes that there are 1M seconds in 11 days but 1B seconds takes 32 years.
- Bill Bryson maybe? E.g. "A Short History of Nearly Everything". Kids might not understand everything but they'll probably feel Bryson's warmth.
