There is something daunting about starting a book that claims to contain a short history of nearly everything. At first, one may pick up Bill Bryson's 2004 bestseller off the bookstore shelf as something to be read as though it were Gravity's Rainbow or Ulysses; a book that requires a certain pomposity when discussed and a heightened brow when you ask your friends "but have you read it?"
Unlike those behemoth novels, this non-fiction should-be science textbook is not about the end result but all the facts in between. Starting with the creation of the cosmos and ending with life itself, this book truly does live up to its claim. Newtonian physics, plate tectonics, even Einstein's famous equation are easily understood (and actually enjoyed) with this wonder of modern science writing.
The main point of what makes this book such a pleasure is that it is not written for scientific minds. Bryson has, as noted on his personal website, a “signature wit, charm and seemingly limitless knowledge” that can explain the mysteries of the world to even the most casual of readers. Between bath time and bed time you will be surrounded by anecdotes about famous scientists that make them seem less like the idealized figures in 10th grade textbooks and more like Bill Nye.
If you have ever traveled to Yellowstone, seen a dinosaur bone, or sat up late at night wondering about quarks (the things that make up protons and neutrons) you must rush right out to Lansing Mall head straight for the Barnes and Noble and pick up this book. As daunting as the title may seem, you will finish this book and feel like the friend who is full of information.
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