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
Results 1-5 of 83
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... one million million million million millionths of a second. Ninety-eight per cent of all that exists was created in ... no one had counted the failed attempts.” Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, believes that there are many ...
... one million million million million millionths of a second. Ninety-eight per cent of all that exists was created in ... no one had counted the failed attempts.” Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, believes that there are many ...
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... no-one had ever noticed that Pluto has a moon. In the summer of that year, a young astronomer named James Christy at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, was making a routine examination of photographic images of Pluto when he ...
... no-one had ever noticed that Pluto has a moon. In the summer of that year, a young astronomer named James Christy at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, was making a routine examination of photographic images of Pluto when he ...
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... no-one was going to be distracted by the thought that it was really just a distant icy dot. It was named Pluto, at least partly because the first two letters made a monogram from Lowell's initials. Lowell was posthumously hailed ...
... no-one was going to be distracted by the thought that it was really just a distant icy dot. It was named Pluto, at least partly because the first two letters made a monogram from Lowell's initials. Lowell was posthumously hailed ...
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... no-one can tell you exactly where Pluto will be a century hence. Whereas the other planets orbit on more or less the same plane, Pluto's orbital path is tipped (as it were) out of alignment at an angle of 17 degrees, like the brim of a ...
... no-one can tell you exactly where Pluto will be a century hence. Whereas the other planets orbit on more or less the same plane, Pluto's orbital path is tipped (as it were) out of alignment at an angle of 17 degrees, like the brim of a ...
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... know how to value it.” If he thought any more on the matter, he left no evidence of it. Halley, however, became ... no-one about it for twenty-seven years. In like manner, he did work in optics that transformed our understanding of ...
... know how to value it.” If he thought any more on the matter, he left no evidence of it. Halley, however, became ... no-one about it for twenty-seven years. In like manner, he did work in optics that transformed our understanding of ...
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