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A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
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A Short History of Nearly Everything

$27.50

Get for $14.99 with membership
Narrator Richard Matthews
Length 18 hours 16 minutes
Language English
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One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.

In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as 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. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everythingis the record of this quest, and it 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. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.

Bill Bryson’s bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods (a major motion picture starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte released in 2015), Notes from a Small Island,and A Short History of Nearly Everything (which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize). He lives in England with his wife. To learn more, visit billbrysonbooks.com.

Richard Matthews is a performer who has narrated many audiobooks, including A Short History of Nearly Everything1984, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Bill Bryson’s bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods (a major motion picture starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte released in 2015), Notes from a Small Island,and A Short History of Nearly Everything (which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize). He lives in England with his wife. To learn more, visit billbrysonbooks.com.

Richard Matthews is a performer who has narrated many audiobooks, including A Short History of Nearly Everything1984, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

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Reviews

“Stylish [and] stunningly accurate prose. We learn what the material world is like from the smallest quark to the largest galaxy and at all the levels in between . . . brims with strange and amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic of science writing.”
The New York Times

“Bryson has made a career writing hilarious travelogues, and in many ways his latest is more of the same, except that this time Bryson hikes through the world of science.”
People

“Bryson is surprisingly precise, brilliantly eccentric and nicely eloquent . . . a gifted storyteller has dared to retell the world’s biggest story.”
Seattle Times

“Hefty, highly researched and eminently readable.”
—Simon Winchester, The Globe and Mail

“All non-scientists (and probably many specialized scientists, too) can learn a great deal from his lucid and amiable explanations.”
National Post

"Bryson is a terrific stylist. You can’ t help but enjoy his writing, for its cheer and buoyancy, and for the frequent demonstration of his peculiar, engaging turn of mind.”
Ottawa Citizen

“Wonderfully readable. It is, in the best sense, learned.”
Winnipeg Free Press

“[A Short History of Nearly Everything] is a crash course in the basics of climatology, chemistry, biology, botany, geology and physics. Bryson’s enthusiasm is infectious, his explanations simple. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to get them.”
The Citizen’s Weekly Expand reviews
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