A short history of nearly everything
by Bill Bryson · first published 2003
83% recommend15% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
A well-written science overview that tells the human stories behind discoveries, like how we measured the distance from Earth to the moon. It sparks curiosity across many fields and suits general readers and newcomers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A Short History of Nearly Everything by American author Bill Bryson is a popular science book that explains some areas of science, using easily accessible language that appeals more so to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the United Kingdom, selling over 300,000 copies. A Short History deviates from Bryson's popular travel book genre, instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of
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…have a good math book (though that's what I'm looking for), are there any books you've read that inspire that same sort of ecstasy in you? Personally, I've found myself inspired both by Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, along with Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. (Even though the latter wasn't exactly a scientific book like it purports itself to be, I was still fascinated by the concept it discussed.) Anything…
on “Ask HN: Good books on mathematics for somebody who's only taken high school math?” ↗I love Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” but it’s now 17 years old.
on “Ask HN: Best general-audience science books” ↗Non-fiction: - Factfulness by Hans Rosling - The War on Science by Shawn Otto - Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan - The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier Fiction: - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗…to learn French just so I could read it in the original print. Make sure it's the full, unabridged edition (1200 or 1400 pages), though! (Just to throw in a nonfiction title as well, Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a great gift for scientifically-inclined minds (esp younger ones) looking for a first foray into the world of nonfiction, wittily-written and well-narrated.)
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗…baby! You'll have to make do with some generalizations though, trying to go into the detail of every single thing is probably beyond what can be read in a single human's life time now. Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is pretty good start, or Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins, which is a book about how science makes nature even more beautiful by explaining it, not less.
on “Time-lapse of a single cell transforming into a salamander (2019)” ↗Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a history of human reasoning, tracking the emergence of science into what we know today. Fills in a lot of meaningful gaps you may have forgotten from your various science courses, while providing…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗Non-fiction: * 'Better' by Atul Gawande (also his 'Complications' and of course 'The Checklist Manifesto') * 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson. Fiction: * 'Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders' by Neil Gaiman * 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss Graphic novels ("comics"): * 'Watchmen' by Alan Moore * 'Promethea'…
on “Ask HN: What are the best books you've read in the past year?” ↗A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
on “Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?” ↗…into account the fact without this process, Earth's arable land mass can only sustain 2bn people. It also has resulted in hundreds of millions of deaths by allowing wars to wage on indefinitely 7. A Short History of Nearly Everything A fast pace, well written science book by Bill Bryson that covers what we know about the creation of the world thus far. You'll enjoy it. 8. The Boys in the Boat Very inspiring story about the men's…
on “Audible and audiobooks, the fastest growing part of publishing” ↗Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything Excellent popular science intro to, well, nearly everything. Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, fast and slow Absolute recommendation. Is changing my perspective on myself and the world with every chapter.
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading?” ↗A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson). It's a cursory overview of all of history (title) from the dawn of time to the evolution of humans. It seems to be only slightly dated in some information, but really interesting to learn…
on “Ask HN: What books are you currently reading?” ↗…lot of different genres as I believe there's value in all genres (and mediums too). These are some of the books I've given an "A" over the last few years, roughly grouped by genre: Nonfiction: - A Short History of Nearly Everything - Fabric of the Cosmos - Dataclysm - The Righteous Mind - Merchants of Doubt - Dead Wake - Man's Search for Meaning - Evicted - The New Jim Crow - Night Sci-fi: - We - The Sirens of Titan…
on “Ask HN: Which non-programming books are a beneficial read for programmers?” ↗…Influence People 3) Machaivelli's The Prince 4) Sun-Tzu's The Art of War 5) Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action 6) Steven Johnson's Emergence 7) Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel 8) Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything 9) Mark Buchanan's Nexus 10) C. S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain Taken together, these books cover just about everything there is to know about the sciences, about human history, human nature and how to…
on “What books would you recommend reading? Why?” ↗Currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. So far, it's a really charming history of science (and well, everything else), starting from the Big Bang. Bryson has never let me down before. I just finished Shadow Divers by Robert…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗…about everywhere. A single book that has changed your way of thinking, and I would assume that you meant 'in a positive way'? For me if I had to point at a single book it would have to be Bill Bryson, A short history of nearly everything. It shows besides being a very compact overview of how we got where we are today how often we repeat our mistakes and how easy it would be to make this world a much better place than it is today and…
on “What is the book that has completely changed your way of thinking?” ↗