A Short History of Nearly Everything

I finished the 2nd book sister Kathy loaned me - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It is basically a general science book but it is told using ordinary language and the story of science is told with stories about the people who made scientific discoveries. He covers chemistry, physics, paleontology, astronomy, particle physics, the Big Bang, evolution and geology.

I was already familiar with the chemistry, physics and astronomy stuff but the author makes the information much more interesting by including many insights into the personalities involved. It is interesting that many of the people who actually made a discovery weren’t credited with it. I found it incredible that all these scientists put their ego ahead of the science.

I did learn some things about biology, botany, zoology and geology and got an interesting refresher course on the other topics.

Bryson explained that Yellowstone National Park is a huge volcano that is overdue to blow – with hundreds of times the power of Mt Saint Helen’s.

He tells us that we humans are just a flash in the timeline of earth and we are not the ultimate goal of evolution. He points out that extinction is the norm for all forms of life and that humans will likely be replaced somewhere down the line.

Bryson ends the book by noting how many extinctions humans are responsible for, and how lucky mankind is to be living on planet Earth today.

I enjoyed the book and found it to be good follow up to reading after The World Without Us.