A Short History of Nearly EverythingOne of the world’s most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body 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 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 inside the book
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Page 11
... discovery. Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. In 1965, they were trying to make use of a large communications antenna oumed by Bell l..aboratories at Holmdel, New jersey, but they were troubled by a persistent background ...
... discovery. Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. In 1965, they were trying to make use of a large communications antenna oumed by Bell l..aboratories at Holmdel, New jersey, but they were troubled by a persistent background ...
Page 11
... discovery . Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson . In 1965 , they were trying to make use of a large communications antenna owned by Bell Lab- oratories at Holmdel , New Jersey , but they were troubled by a persistent ...
... discovery . Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson . In 1965 , they were trying to make use of a large communications antenna owned by Bell Lab- oratories at Holmdel , New Jersey , but they were troubled by a persistent ...
Page 12
... discovery the most distant galaxies anyone had ever detected were on about the sixtieth floor , and the most distant things - quasars - were on about the twentieth . Penzias and Wilson's finding pushed our acquaintance with the visible ...
... discovery the most distant galaxies anyone had ever detected were on about the sixtieth floor , and the most distant things - quasars - were on about the twentieth . Penzias and Wilson's finding pushed our acquaintance with the visible ...
Page 20
... discovery was that it happened in Flagstaff , for it was there in 1930 that Pluto had been found in the first place . That seminal event in astronomy was largely to the credit of the as- tronomer Percival Lowell . Lowell , who came from ...
... discovery was that it happened in Flagstaff , for it was there in 1930 that Pluto had been found in the first place . That seminal event in astronomy was largely to the credit of the as- tronomer Percival Lowell . Lowell , who came from ...
Page 30
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Contents
1 | |
7 | |
19 | |
PART II | 41 |
6 | 79 |
PART III | 113 |
DANGEROUS PLANET | 187 |
LIFE ITSELF | 237 |
THE ROAD TO US | 417 |
NOTES | 479 |
517 | |
529 | |
536 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acids actually Africa American ancient animals asteroid astronomer atmosphere atoms australopithecines bacteria bacterium became bones Burgess Shale called Cambrian carbon cells century chemical cloud crater creatures Darwin dinosaurs discovered discovery Earth Ediacaran event existence extinction fact feet Flannery Fortey fossil genes genetic Genome Geological geologist Gould Gribbin Haldane happened hominid Homo erectus Homo habilis hundred ice ages idea known least less living London look Manson crater microbes miles million years ago modern humans molecules Museum mystery named National Natural History Neandertals nearly never ocean Olorgesailie once organisms oxygen paleontologist particles percent perhaps physicist planet proteins Richard Fortey rocks Sagan Science scientific scientists space species specimens suggested surface survive T. H. Huxley Tattersall theory things thought thousand Tim Flannery tiny tion Trefil trilobites types University volcano Yellowstone York