A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I finally got around to reading this wonderful book again over the Easter break, and what an enjoyable read - informative fluff as I like to refer to such books. Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is an eminently readable look at the history of the universe and of the scientific discoveries that allowed us to understand it. What must have been an exhausting amount of research for Bryson has resulted in one of my favourite books. I thoroughly enjoyed his account of the formation of the universe, of Earth and the life thereon. But I also loved his humorous account of the scientists that have shaped our understanding of fields such as geology, particle physics and taxonomy. Amongst their greatest achievements are their personal stories, often tragic but always entertaining. He somehow makes Quantum Physics understandable (to a certain extent) while never losing the reader's attention on the boring or mundane topics (of course there are only one or two boring or mundane topics in science).

A Short History of Nearly Everything is available in the Library and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn a bit more about, well, everything!

HJ