Editions

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us.

His challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. It's not so much about what we know, as about how we know what we know. How do we know what is in the centre of the Earth, or what a black hole is, or where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out?

On his travels through time and space, Bill Bryson takes us with him on the ultimate eye-opening journey, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.

Reviews

  • 'A travelogue of science, with a witty, engaging, and well-informed guide who loves his patch and is desperate to share its delights with us'

    Peter Atkins, The Times

  • 'A thoroughly enjoyable, as well as educational, experience. Nobody who reads it will ever look at the world around them in the same way again'

    William Hartston, Daily Express

  • 'Brims with strange and amazing facts...destined to become a modern classic of science writing'

    Ed Regis, New York Times Book Review

  • 'It deserves to sell as many copies as there are protons in the full stop that ends this review (at least 500,000,000,000).'

    Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

  • 'The very book I have been looking for most of my life...Trunkloads of information, amazing stories and extraordinary personalities'

    Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail

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About the Author

Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. His bestselling books include The Road to Little Dribbling, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, One Summer and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. In a national poll, Notes from a Small Island was voted the book that best represents Britain. His acclaimed work of popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Aventis Prize and the Descartes Prize, and was the biggest selling non-fiction book of its decade in the UK. His new book The Body: A Guide for Occupants is an extraordinary exploration of the human body which will have you marvelling at the form you occupy. Bill Bryson was Chancellor of Durham University 2005–2011. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. He lives in England.

Bill Bryson

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Blogs

Graphic artist Neil Gower on his book covers for Bill Bryson

Graphic artist Neil Gower has designed the entire backlist of author Bill Bryson's books. How did he find a visual style to cover so many different titles?
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Events

The Body: Bill Bryson, 15th February 2020
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Features

Bill Bryson: we shouldn't take calorie counting too seriously

The author of The Body explores the strange history of how a 19th century 'calorimeter' chamber came to inform nutritional science (but hasn't always worked).

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