A Really Short History Of Nearly Everything

Bill's own fascination with science began with a battered old schoolbook he had when he was about ten or eleven years old in America. It had an illustration that captivated him - a cutaway diagram showing Earth's interior as it would look if you cut into it with a large knife and carefully removed about a quarter of its bulk. And he very clearly remembers thinking: 'How do they know that'? Bill's story-telling skill makes the 'How?' and, just as importantly, the 'Who?' of scientific discovery entertaining and accessible for all ages.

In this exciting edition for younger readers, he covers the wonder and mysteries of time and space, the frequently bizarre and often obsessive scientists and the methods they used, the crackpot theories which held sway for far too long, the extraordinary accidental discoveries which suddenly advanced whole areas of science when the people were actually looking for something else (or in the wrong direction) 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.

About The Author

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He settled in England in 1977, where he lived for many years with his English wife and four children before moving with his family to America. In 2003 the Brysons came back to England where they intend to remain. He is the bestselling author of THE LOST CONTINENT, MOTHER TONGUE, NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, MADE IN AMERICA, NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, A WALK IN THE WOODS, NOTES FROM A BIG COUNTRY and DOWN UNDER, as well as, most recently, A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, which won the Aventis Prize 2004 and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.