A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

Product Information

Can't say as I blame him there; to wit, "reality TV" and the doltish emphasis in this society on how one looks or on how much money one makes rather than on what are we doing to our planet and what can I, as an individual, do about it! Other travel books include the massive bestseller Notes From a Small Island, which won the 2003 World Book Day National Poll to find the book which best represented modern England, followed by A Walk in the Woods (in which Stephen Katz, his travel companion from Neither Here Nor There, made a welcome reappearance), Notes From a Big Country and Down Under. Zo kun je er bijvoorbeeld achterkomen dat de opa van Darwin Josiah Wedgwood was van het bekende servies bedrijf Wedgwood.

The net effect including humanities' contribution however is tipping the balance in favor of the global warming argument. His bestselling books include The Road to Little Dribbling, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, One Summer and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Finally, despite having read the grown-ups version, and quite a few other books on science history, this was a pleasure for me to read too. It is also fun in many ways, using humor and illustrations to explore a topic and make learning interesting. In this book, Bryson takes his vast knowledge and wealth of life experience, and condenses and simplifies it into language which is considerably more readable to children.This seems to be the structure for a lot of middle grade/ YA non-fiction and I would love to find some (besides biographies) that explore a topic in depth at an age-appropriate level.

It was difficult getting them to concentrate on ideas that were new, overwhelming and difficult to grasp at the end of a day. Time periods covering billions of years and the size of a bacteria are difficult concepts for grown-ups too. The last few articles, "chapters" or topics about animal extinction, overpopulation, global warming and pollution were a bit of a downer; especially for my little artist who took the death and loss of animals and the effect of pollution on "their world" pretty hard.His new book The Body: A Guide for Occupants was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and is an international bestseller. And discover our own incredible journey, from single cell to civilisation, including the brilliant (and sometimes very bizarre) scientists who helped us find out the how and why. We read about two or three of the short articles regarding some unique aspect of the history and development of our civilization, planet, solar system, galaxy and universe. of the entire time it has been in existence, the actions we do or do not undertake will pretty much slam the book shut on "nearly everything"; thus, "a really short history" of it. Uncover the mysteries of time, space and life on earth in this extraordinary book - a journey from the centre of the planet, to the dawn of the dinosaurs, and everything in between.

He also describes some of the most recent destructive disasters of volcanic origin in the history of our planet, including Krakatoa and Yellowstone National Park. Few books have been as influential on my life as Bill Bryson’s A Very Brief History of Nearly Everything. Weighing in at a mere 168 pages, this is an abridged, illustrated version of his meatier and much longer book with the slightly different title. My sense is that adults who possess passing knowledge and experience with the subject matter will benefit more than middle school readers without background.Bill Bryson has also written several highly praised books on the English language, including Mother Tongue and Made in America.

It had an illustration that captivated him–a diagram showing Earth’s interior as it would look if you cut into it with a large knife and removed about a quarter of its bulk. His next book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, is a memoir of growing up in 1950s America, featuring another appearance from his old friend Stephen Katz.

A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name. Still I’m glad I read the book and it gave me some interesting facts to dish out in conversations so I can’t say it was time wasted. Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledge—that was, not much at all. The personages have to be historical, apparently, as it takes the atoms some decades to become thoroughly redistributed; however much you may wish it, you are not yet one with Elvis Presley.