A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated EditionThis new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Now, in this handsome new edition, Bill Bryson’s words are supplemented by full-color artwork that explains in visual terms the concepts and wonder of science, at the same time giving face to the major players in the world of scientific study. Eloquently and entertainingly described, as well as richly illustrated, science has never been more involving or entertaining. |
From inside the book
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... called for by the first President Bush in a moment of passing giddiness, was quietly dropped when someone worked out that it would cost $450 billion and probably result in the deaths of all the crew (their DNA torn to tatters by high ...
... called for by the first President Bush in a moment of passing giddiness, was quietly dropped when someone worked out that it would cost $450 billion and probably result in the deaths of all the crew (their DNA torn to tatters by high ...
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... . SKIP NOTES * Properly called the Öpik–Oort cloud, it is named for the Estonian astronomer Ernst Öpik, who hypothesized its existence in 1932, and for the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, who refined the calculations eighteen years later.
... . SKIP NOTES * Properly called the Öpik–Oort cloud, it is named for the Estonian astronomer Ernst Öpik, who hypothesized its existence in 1932, and for the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, who refined the calculations eighteen years later.
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... called Elaine from the kitchen. He nodded frankly again and grinned, then asked me if I'd like to see his telescope. I had imagined that Evans would have a proper observatory in his back yard—a scaled-down version of a Mount Wilson or ...
... called Elaine from the kitchen. He nodded frankly again and grinned, then asked me if I'd like to see his telescope. I had imagined that Evans would have a proper observatory in his back yard—a scaled-down version of a Mount Wilson or ...
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... called these resultant explosions supernovae. They would be—they are —the biggest events in creation. On 15 January 1934 the journal Physical Review published a very concise abstract of a presentation that had been conducted by Zwicky ...
... called these resultant explosions supernovae. They would be—they are —the biggest events in creation. On 15 January 1934 the journal Physical Review published a very concise abstract of a presentation that had been conducted by Zwicky ...
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... called Fornax from a galaxy known to astronomy as NGC1365. (NGC stands for New General Catalogue, where these things are recorded. Once it was a heavy book on someone's desk in Dublin; today, needless to say, it's a database.) For sixty ...
... called Fornax from a galaxy known to astronomy as NGC1365. (NGC stands for New General Catalogue, where these things are recorded. Once it was a heavy book on someone's desk in Dublin; today, needless to say, it's a database.) For sixty ...
Contents
The StoneBreakers | |
Science Red in Tooth and Claw | |
Elemental Matters | |
The Rise of Life | |
Small World | |
Life Goes | |
Goodbye to All That | |
The Richness of Being | |
Cells | |
Darwins Singular Notion | |
The Stuff of Life | |
Einsteins Universe | |
The Mighty Atom | |
Getting the Lead | |
Muster Marks Quarks | |
The Earth Moves | |
Bang | |
The Fire Below | |
Dangerous Beauty | |
Lonely Planet | |
Into the Troposphere | |
The Bounding Main | |
Ice Time | |
The Mysterious Biped | |
The Restless | |
Goodbye | |
DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | |
NOTES | |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | |
ILLUSTRATIONS | |
INDEX | |
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Common terms and phrases
Africa American ancient animals asteroid astronomer atmosphere atoms Australia australopithecines bacteria bacterium became bones called Cambrian carbon Cavendish cells Celsius cent century chemical cloud comet crater creatures Darwin dinosaurs discovered discovery Earth Einstein electron elements event existence extinction fact Fortey fossil galaxies genes genetic Geological geologist GO TO NOTE Gould Haldane happened hominid Homo erectus Hubble hundred ice ages idea kilometres known least living look Lyell measure metres million years ago modern humans molecules Museum named National Natural History Neandertals nearly neutron never no-one Nobel NOTE REFERENCE ocean once organisms oxygen palaeontologist particles perhaps physicist physics planet Pluto produced proteins protons REFERENCE IN TEXT Richard Fortey rocks Sagan scientific scientists solar system space species specimens stars suggested supernova surface T. H. Huxley Tattersall theory things thought thousand tiny trillion trilobites types universe volcano Yellowstone