A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything is a nonfiction book by Bill Bryson, an American- British science journalists, under the title " A Short History of Nearly Everything" in New York City was released in 2003 and has been produced as an audiobook.

In 30 chapters Bryson gives a summary of the current state of knowledge in the natural sciences - with particular emphasis on biology, geology, astronomy, and physics - and how the Earth and its life forms were created. He draws on his own extensive reading of the scientific literature and interviews with academic experts who advise him during the summary and classification of scientific discoveries and technical discussions and informed.

Tangible book is a based on many anecdotes history of discoveries and discoverers in the individual sciences considered here. The focus of the book there are the different personalities and quirks of scientists, and the background of the scientific work in which plagiarism and Ehrabschneidungen, theories and insights and misperceptions played a role.

This book, which quickly arrived in Germany in the bestseller lists, 2005 was the best selling fiction book in the UK, won, despite some factual errors and despite its one-sided Anglo- centric oriented focus, the same year the European Commission Descartes Prize for his dissemination of scientific findings.

Topic Overview

  • Origin of the universe and its atomic constituents
  • Formation of the solar system and the planet Earth and launching the first biochemical development processes on Earth
  • The development and diversity of terrestrial life forms
  • Radical changes in Earth's climate and the continents by plate- tectonic events, Asteroid impacts and volcanic activity
  • Formation and changes in species composition through evolution and extinction of species
  • Discovery and the role of genes and DNA in the inheritance
  • Modern man and his living relatives and ancestors ( hominids )
  • The history and application of scientific concepts and methods that have led to the current knowledge

Content

Bryson has focussed on the development of science, and in particular the introduction of new methods and insights that were often in contrast to previous approaches and assumptions. As an example, serve findings on the relative size and nature of elementary particles, the age of the earth and the discovery of complex geological processes that have been obtained by these methods. Furthermore, the development of physics from Newton to Einstein is discussed, have contributed their postulates, among other things to the theory of the Big Bang and findings of an expanding universe. Findings from the field of mathematics are largely excluded.

On the basis of paleontological data and knowledge that all living organisms possess the molecule DNA as genetic material, Bryson emphasizes the fact that all life forms are due to a common ancestor. He points out further that the man is still a very new way, which he proves with results from genetic studies that have shown very little genetic variation in human populations. By linking data from paleontology, geology and molecular biology Bryson records the origin of man. Human development was therefore favored by the extinction of the dinosaurs and probably, presumably influenced by geological and climatic changes that forced changing lifestyles and Neubesiedelungen. Only a series of coincidences had accordingly the rich and long in development aborts development allows people whose previous existence is measured by the periods of geological and biological developments rather marginal.

Criticism

Praise learned the book mainly thanks to the extraordinary narrative talent of its author and the many vivid examples from most areas of science, do not stop before errors and deliberate deceptions in the same. However, has been criticized Bryson's focus on " Euro -centric " discoveries, which leaves the other cultures (eg China) left out. Some critics have also noted a tendency of the author to a certain nastiness in some of his descriptions.

Factual error

The book contains some factual errors. For example, the author claims on page 306, in the bends nitrogen bubbles would form with increasing pressure. In fact, the proportion of dissolved nitrogen in the blood increases at higher pressure under water; only case of rapid emergence and the associated pressure drop to form bubbles of gaseous nitrogen in the blood. Furthermore, it is claimed, in the thermosphere amounts to the distance between two molecules of several kilometers ( such a low density is not even in the vacuum of space reached); meant here is probably the mean free path or the statement is based on a translation error. In Chapter 9, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is erroneously referred to the "way" instead of the pulse. In Chapter 11, spoken by energy in the physically wrong unit "Volt " are probably meant electron volts.

Expenditure

  • Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Goldmann 2004, translated by Sebastian Vogel, ISBN 3-442-31002-4, reprint: Munich, Goldmann 2011, ISBN 978-3-442-30122-5.

Literature Single proofs

  • Literary work
  • Literature ( 21st century)
  • Literature ( English )
England Biochemistry Tectonics Volcano Isaac Newton
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