He was able to convey this understanding and appreciation to the general reader in this book entitled “A Short History of Nearly Everything” – a remarkable achievement.

He succeeded in understanding and appreciating the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn’t too technical or demanding but also isn’t entirely superficial. He felt this to be unacceptable and decided to remedy the situation by devoting a portion of his life (three years it turned out) reading books and journals and finding experts who were willing to answer a lot of his outstandingly dumb questions about various fields of science.

However, about four or five years before he was writing the present book (probably in his mid-forties), on a long flight across the pacific, he became keenly aware of his lack of knowledge about science in general and our planet. This was due to his disappointment with the science books he studied, which failed to answer fundamental questions such as “How did we end up with a Sun in the middle of our planet? And if it is burning away down there why isn’t the ground under our feet hot to the touch?” This disappointment may be why he became an author/journalist rather than a scientist. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.įrom the author’s introduction, one can deduce that, when he was growing up, he was convinced that science was supremely dull. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more.

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Bill bryson at home illustrated edition