num_pages: 176
description: Bill Brysons own fascination with science began with a battered old school book he had when he was about ten or eleven years old. It had an illustration that captivated hima diagram showing Earths interior as it would look if you cut into it with a large knife and removed about a quarter of its bulk. The idea of lots of startled cars and people falling off the edge of that sudden cliff (and 4000 miles is a pretty long way to fall) was what grabbed him in the beginning but gradually his attention turned to what the picture was trying to teach him: namely that Earths interior is made up of several different layers of materials and at the very centre is a glowing sphere of iron and nickel as hot as the Suns surface according to the caption. And he very clearly remembers thinking: How do they know that?Bills storytelling skill makes the How? and just as importantly the Who? of scientific discovery entertaining and accessible for all ages. He covers the wonder and mystery of time and space the frequently bizarre and often obsessive scientists and the methods they used and the mind-boggling fact that somehow the universe exists and against all odds life came to be on this wondrous planet we call home.
language: English
title: A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
publisher: Doubleday Canada