This is an immensely readable book with a truly monumental amount of information. While reading it, one might wish to remember all its content, but it's written in a way allowing the reader to pick up the volume and start reading at any point, according to his interests, though Bryson relays all subjects in captivating and available way, with a big dose of humor.

This is a weighty book - 600 pages - but Bryson's not joking. He really tries to cover everything, from the beginning of the universe and the nature of our solar system and planet, through biological evolution of our species and the effects of us being here, both on nature and other creatures. Needless to say, he does an extremely good job of captivating the reader's attention from the first page and has no difficulty laying out complex concepts in a way that every reader will understand. Also, aside from all the facts, the book is also full of trivia and anecdotes about the experiments and the scientists who performed them.

In the introduction, Bryson recalls his childhood and remembers how he was fascinated by the image of a cross-section of our planet, but at the same time put down by the nature of the book that contained it. The dry presentation of the facts, that were accompanied only by a set of exercies to test the gained knowledge, puzzled him. How did these people know how our planet looks from the inside? And who exactly were they?
In his book, he accomplishes an important thing, one of the most important things - he presents the data while at the same time never letting go of the terribly exciting feeling of discovery, and presenting information about the discoverers themselves. It's obvious that he did a lot of research, but it's also obvious that these things fascinated him, and he grabs the reader's hand and runs headlong into the unexplored. And it is a world full of wonders.

If schoolteachers shared Bryson's joy and flair we might have ended up with a whole lot more of biologists, physicists, chemists and geologists. I don't know if it's the best book of it's kind, but it is certainly an achievement worth re-reading.

A book whose mere existence attests to the massive amount of research Bill Bryson did. Even harder, I'd imagine, was whittling all that research into digestible chapters and writing in a clear language for all us laypeople.

I've always been terrible at science and math, and must make peace with the fact that I can grasp onto very little in these fields. Most of the information in this book was processed by my brain, understood briefly, and then punted directly out of my left ear drum, never to be seen again. So it goes.

I did enjoy, however, the profiles of the mad scientists and peculiar inventors that uncovered important aspects of how our world works. There appears to be a direct correlation between scientific genius and being petty, cantankerous, or downright devious. Half of the greatest discoveries of humankind were done on accident, and the other half were stolen from some poor fool now forgotten by history. There is more drama in each chapter than an entire season of The Bachelor.

Take note, science lovers and science-phobes alike!

This time it's not the Appalachians or England.

In A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, Bill Bryson has taken his readers on an exciting, informative and always entertaining tour of both the history of science and the details of the science itself. Essays covering an eclectic diversity of scientific topics ranging from the Big Bang and quantum physics, to paleontology, geology, biology, pandemics, genetics, evolution, glaciation, plate tectonics, weather patterns, volcanism and beyond are pitched at the perfect level to be accessible to the layman without being patronizing to a reader who happens to be more informed about a particular topic. Even the most esoterically learned science-ready polymath will find at least one or two of the topics set at a level high enough to be challenging as well.

Beautiful illustrations peppered throughout the text, a dash of humour and cynicism plus a wonderful series of amusing anecdotes and side bars make A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING a delicious confection of eye candy and brain candy. The multiplicity and diversity of the ideas covered means that A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING can be read in bite-sized chunks with the interested reader taking a random walk through the book starting at virtually any paragraph on any page. But the intelligent organization of the topics and the chronology that Bryson follows also guarantees a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience for those that want to travel from first page to last in order!

Science-phobes take note! If you've been looking for a way to set your fears aside, A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING just might be the ticket you've been looking for. Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

This is a wonderful overview of, well, exactly what the title depicts!

There is a degree of story-telling that Bryson utilises that makes the narrative smooth and easy to follow. In fact, the novel reminds me of those great teachers you may of had at school where they would be explaining the material they were supposed to be teaching you but would go off on a tangent about something else before looping back to the aforementioned topic. Bryson does this throughout the novel and combined with his narration and satire, it's all so entertaining!

I love the primary conception of the novel:

'...I was on a long flight across the Pacific, staring idly out the window at moonlit ocean, when it occurred to me with a certain uncomfortable forcefulness that I didn't know the first thing about the only planet I was ever going to live on.'

If that statement hit you as hard as it hit me, I would strongly suggest reading this book. His own objective to write this book was to understand himself so do not fret if you are put off simply because you are not acquainted with scientific texts. At the end of the day, the prose considered in this book pretty much affects everyone. Just a basic understanding of atoms, weather, water dipolarity and glacier ice layers I think is a very minimal basis of scientific knowledge to be understood - and really, it's fascinating! I would definitely recommend this to someone who is studying or planning to study science at A Level/Level 3 to get a good basis for their further studies.

I learnt while studying classics that authors (like Bronte and Austen) would utilise the tool of letters so that the reader could be exposed to another set of narrative for better plot development. Bryson is on the same journey as the reader - just a normal guy of next to no predisposition of scientific background simply enquiring about the basics. He uses small intervals where he repeats his inquisitive conversations with scientists and specialists in certain fields to explain certain matters that he would find too difficult. This just makes it feel you're on this big, long journey with Bryson and his guests as tour guides.

I have a couple of criticisms though. At the beginning of the novel, there some beautiful drawings depicting a timeline of the Earth's history and even a little drawing of the Earth's layers in the introduction. However, there are plenty more verbal descriptions of pretty sublime and profound matters but no diagrams to aid them. Of course, you could just Google it and find something like what you're reading but a wider use of diagrams, pictures or drawings would supplement this novel perfectly and increase the understanding even further. Also, I found Bryson to be quite repetitive when there was no need which made it a little tiresome.

However, this book is the best introduction to our planet that ever graced the modern book world (in my opinion and all those who recommended it to me). It's humorous, factually apt and fluent in its composure.

Well done, Bryson, you have accomplished something just as great as those you wrote about.

A serious book about science written in an inviting and light hearted way. Superb.

If instead of the eyelids down the corners, the mouth go up, the non-fiction book rocks

Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.

Being able to portray the most bone-drenched topics with so much humor, wit and charm is a masterpiece and testifies to the talent of the actual travel writer with satirical potential.
As the title says, you get an excursion across world and science history delivered, which seeks in this form unparalleled and puts the emphasis on the scientific disciplines. One has heard everything before or even an approximate idea in the back of the head, only surprisingly by the well visualizable representations, in this case, much more aspects stick than with, decorated with epochs changing pictograms, timetable diagram from the school lessons.
Much of the readability is based on Bryson's successful effort to portray, in any somewhat theoretical and difficult to understand the area, closeness to, in the broadest sense, protagonists that would have been expected in this form and quality instead in fiction. Moreover, this is his special secret ingredient, which unfortunately is so infinitely challenging to produce. Undoubtedly many ingenious, but literary average scientists and potential non-fiction authors shy away from creating their work for this reason.
Even in still unearthly earthly epics or purely theoretical explanations, Bryson manages to fill the object of contemplation with such a life that the possibilities of association and vividness arouse sympathy for flagellates, quanta and primordial soup.
Also, the fun increases along with the evolution to the preliminary result of the quirky scientist. What ingenious people have to offer in terms of creative behavioral potential in addition to their actual talent, drives on average talented and socially unobtrusive contemporaries double blush in the face. Ordinary in thought and behavior rather than eccentric and brilliant, what injustice.
Be it particular preferences, social anxiety, misanthropic tendencies, peculiar experimental arrangements or neurotic inclinations, geniuses were at all times outlandish contemporaries. Thus, the already given entertainment value potentates with the talent of the author and lead by the way by the essential points of the history of science. Theorems, theories, doctrines, anachronisms and paradigm shifts take hold, and the highlights include the clash of two equal opponents, in this case, scientists.
To what soap-naughty malice people of the mind can be capable of being astonished at given the stereotype of the laboratory-wearing loner. Moreover, with what arguments, tactics and gambles its theses underpinned and in return competing explanations of their right to exist are removed, belongs to the everlasting byproducts of research.
Where the current state of affairs does not seem as entertaining as the debates of bygone days, as one imagines in modern times. However, the current state of knowledge and the concomitant, at all times rock-solid certainty about its correctness and existence, will in future provide similar cheerfulness as the view into the supposedly primitive past.
Just the fact that so many profoundly changing inventions were made purely by chance due to unexpected results of unintentional experiments illustrates the pool of knowledge in the face of the water planet of ignorance.
The only shortcoming is the occasional misstatement of numbers. However, because quite a few scientific points and periods have shifted, reduced or increased remarkably, one can confidently turn a blind eye to this.

Wenn statt den Augenlidern nach unten die Mundwinkel nach oben gehen, rockt das Sachbuch

Mit so viel Witz, Esprit und Charme die knochentrockensten Themen darstellen zu können stellt eine Meisterleistung dar und zeugt vom Talent des eigentlichen Reiseschriftsteller mit satirischem Potential.
Wie der Titel sagt bekommt man eine Exkursion quer durch Welt- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte geliefert, die in dieser Form seinesgleichen sucht und den Schwerpunkt auf die naturwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen legt. Man hat alles schon einmal gehört oder noch eine ungefähre Vorstellung im Hinterkopf, nur erstaunlicherweise bleiben durch die gut visualisierbaren Darstellungen in diesem Fall wesentlich mehr Aspekte haften als beim, mit nach Epochen wechselnden Piktogrammen geschmückten, Zeittafeldiagramm aus dem Schulunterricht. Ein großer Teil der Lesbarkeit fußt auf der erfolgreichen Bemühung Brysons, in jedem eigentlich noch so theoretischen und schwer verständlichen Bereich eine Nähe zu den, im weitesten Sinne, Protagonisten herzustellen, die man in dieser Form und Qualität eher in der Belletristik erwartet hätte. Und das ist seine spezielle geheime Zutat, die leider so unendlich schwer herzustellen ist und sicher viele geniale, aber literarisch durchschnittliche Wissenschaftler und potentielle Sachbuchautoren davor zurückschrecken lässt, ein eigenes Werk zu kreieren.
Selbst in noch menschenleeren Erdepochen oder rein theoretischen Ausführungen gelingt es Bryson, den Gegenstand der Betrachtung derart mit Leben zu füllen, dass die Assoziationsmöglichkeiten und Anschaulichkeit regelrecht Sympathie wecken für Geißeltierchen, Quanten und Ursuppe.
Und der Spaß steigert sich mitsamt der Evolution bis zum vorläufigen Endresultat des schrulligen Wissenschaftlers. Was geniale Menschen an verhaltenskreativen Potential zusätzlich zu ihrer eigentlichen Begabung zu bieten haben, treibt durchschnittlich talentierten und sozial unauffälligen Zeitgenossen doppelte Schamesröte ins Gesicht. Normal im Denken und Verhalten statt exzentrisch und brillant, welch Ungerechtigkeit.
Seien es besondere Vorlieben, Sozialängste, misanthropische Tendenzen, eigentümliche Versuchsanordnungen oder neurotische Neigungen, Genies waren zu allen Zeiten eigentümliche Zeitgenossen. So potenziert sich der schon vorgegebene Unterhaltungswert mit dem Talent des Autors und führt so nebenbei durch die wesentlichsten Punkte der Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Theorien, Lehrmeinungen, Anachronismen und Paradigmenwechsel geben sich die Klinke in die Hand und zu den Höhepunkten gehören die Aufeinandertreffen zweier ebenbürtiger Gegner, in diesem Fall Wissenschaftler.
Zu welch seifenopernhafter Bosheit Menschen des Geistes fähig sein können verblüfft angesichts des Stereotypes vom laborkitteltragenden Einzelgänger. Und mit welch Argumenten, Taktiken und Winkelzügen die eigenen Thesen untermauert und im Gegenzug konkurrierende Erklärungsansätze ihrer Existenzberechtigung enthoben werden, gehört zu den immerwährenden Nebenerscheinungen der Forschung. Wobei der aktuelle Stand der Dinge nicht so unterhaltsam anmutet wie die Debatten vergangener Tage, da man sich in modernen Zeiten wähnt. Aber der aktuelle Wissensstand und die damit einhergehende, zu allen Zeiten felsenfeste Gewissheit über dessen Richtigkeit und Bestand, werden in Zukunft für ähnliche Heiterkeit sorgen, wie der Blick in die vermeintlich primitive Vergangenheit.
Gerade dass so viele, tiefgreifende Veränderungen mit sich bringende, Erfindungen rein zufällig aufgrund unerwarteter Ergebnisse von unbeabsichtigten Experimenten gemacht wurden, veranschaulicht den Tümpel der Erkenntnis angesichts des Wasserplanetens des Unwissens.
Als einzigen Mangel kann man gelegentlich falsche Zahlenangaben anführen. Aber unter dem Aspekt, dass sich schon etliche wissenschaftliche Sachverhalte und Zeiträume extrem verschoben, reduziert oder gesteigert haben, kann man hinsichtlich dessen getrost ein Auge zudrücken.

Well written as this book definitely has the average reader in mind - as in there's no excessive use of technical language, Bryson sets out to answer some of the big questions of this and earlier ages with the help and/or work of experts. Bryson, whom I would say has been a great representative of the counter forces to the dumb-ing down of the masses movement, with his thoughtful and thought provoking books attempts it again with this, his biggest book yet. I think it is an accessible and interesting read, but not necessarily a book that one sits down and reads over a few days or weeks, it feels more like a very cool reference book that you pop into now and again and never really read all the way through. 6 out of 12.
Author, Bill Bryson

“Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result—eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly—in you.”

A Short History of Nearly Everything is not as impossibly far-reaching as the title would indicate. An attempt to cram everything and the kitchen sink into a work intended for the general reader is surely a recipe for failure—or so one might think. Bryson marshals science, history, and philosophy to present a big-picture understanding of our universe from past to present. Extraneous details are filtered out, and mysteries left unexamined, yet it somehow feels complete. Not unlike a film editor who can cut down 24 hours of production material into a feature-length film, he manages to pack a world of wonder and insight into an accessible and entertaining, though relatively lengthy (544-page) tome.

Bryson's preoccupation is less with the rote repetition of facts (though there is that, too) than with conveying just how it is we know what we know. He takes us behind the curtain for a more intimate look at the process of discovery and the strokes of genius essential to that process.

Lengthy and mildly scatterbrained it might be, ASHONE is a pure literary delight. The author's excitement and enthusiasm for the subject matter drip from every page. The sheer joy he receives from learning little gems he missed in high school or being reintroduced to information forgotten long ago is intoxicating. He meets with a wonderful cast of men and women to highlight the personalities behind the stories of discovery. Lone geniuses are a rarity in any field, and science is no exception. Bryson scratches below the surface to meet the individuals who played prominent roles yet went unrecognized.

In taking the long view, Bryson engages some of science's toughest questions. Everything from the Big Bang to man's (relatively terse) evolutionary past is presented here, with a nod to some of the more eminent and intriguing figures from each field. I particularly appreciated that after a concept was explained, he immediately followed up with the most obvious question in response. It really helps the lay reader navigate these complex topics.

Bryson spends a good amount of time on natural disasters, describing the assorted ways they shaped the history of our planet. His frequently humorous analogies help you understand their sheer scale and the havoc left in their wake. Ice ages, earthquakes, supervolcanoes, and pandemics are each showcased in breathtaking detail in some of the most harrowing events on planetary record. Given all the chaos that has besieged our planet, it becomes soberingly clear by the book's end that we humans—or any life for that matter—are incredibly lucky to be here. In light of all that can go wrong and has gone wrong, it's remarkable there is any life left to comment on the tragedy and storied disarray. I commend Bryson for demonstrating how truly diminutive our time here on Earth is relative to the universe's imponderably vast history.

Bryson should also be applauded for pointing out places where our inquiry has hit a brick wall or those areas that remain imperfectly understood. The fact that we have accumulated such vast storehouses of knowledge over the last few centuries does not mean there are no mysteries left to explore. Indeed, dozens of questions both big and small remain unanswered, and new discoveries have a tendency to open up several more. We can both be proud about what we have uncovered to date and humble about the many uncharted possibilities that surely await us.

Fast and Loose with Science

There are a few caveats, however, with respect to some of the finer details. In one place he describes particles with "spin" as actually rotating about an axis (they are not). This erroneous conception of elementary particles dates back to the 1920s, when George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit interpreted the motion of electrons as self-rotation around their own axis. A few years later, Paul Dirac pointed out that electrons could not be spinning according to the rules of orbital angular momentum because the rate at which their surface would have to be spinning (to produce the magnitude of the magnetic moment) would have to exceed the speed of light, which would violate the special theory of relativity.

In another place Bryson says that quantum entanglement is a violation of relativity (it is not). Relativity tells us that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, and this applies even to things with zero mass, such as information or other electromagnetic radiation. Entanglement says that measuring a particle in one place can instantly affect a particle somewhere else. However, this effect is constrained by the cosmic speed limit. On p. 42 of his book n  What Is Relativity?n, Jeffrey Bennett responds to this notion:

"However, while laboratory experiments suggest that this instantaneous effect can really happen, current understanding of physics tells us that it cannot be used to transmit any useful information from one place to the other; indeed, if you were at the location of the first particle and wanted to confirm that the second had been affected, you'd need to receive a signal from its location, and that signal could not travel faster than light."

Bryson also claims that the production of black holes within particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider could destroy the world, when in fact, these microscopic black holes would disintegrate in nanoseconds thanks to Hawking radiation. On p. 154 of the same book, Bennett also debunks this largely media-driven fear:

"Some physicists have indeed proposed scenarios in which such micro black holes could be produced in the Large Hadron Collider, but even if they are right, there's nothing to worry about. The reason is that while the LHC can generate particles from greater concentrations of energy than any other machine that humans have ever built, nature routinely makes such particles. Some of those particles must occasionally rain down on Earth, so if they were dangerous, we would have suffered the consequences long ago.

In case you are wondering how a micro black hole could be "safe," the most likely answer has to do with a process called Hawking radiation...Hawking showed that the laws of quantum physics imply that black holes can gradually "evaporate" in the sense of having their masses decrease, even while nothing ever escapes from within their event horizons. The rate of evaporation depends on a black hole's mass, with lower-mass black holes evaporating much more rapidly. The result is that while the evaporation rate would be negligible for black holes with star-like masses or greater, micro black holes would evaporate in a fraction of a second, long before they could do any damage."

He may have consulted with experts, but the manuscript could have benefited from additional fact-checking. That said, although the book was published in 2003, there is little that is out of date as of this writing—the confirmed interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans being one notable discovery of late that adds greater texture to the stories recounted here. I also feel there could (and should) have been a greater emphasis on climate change; Bryson seemed to skirt over it whenever a related topic arose, and it's not clear whether this was intentional.

Closing Thoughts

The content in ASHONE is something I think everyone should know and be exposed to, and it's hard to imagine the material presented with greater alacrity than it is here. The passion and unbridled enthusiasm on display frequently approaches Sagan-esque proportions, in a style redolent of the signature series Cosmos, which is about the highest praise a work in this genre could hope to achieve. Though I found a few errors—and suspect the average grad student in one of a number of the subjects covered could spot a handful more—the book is nevertheless a praiseworthy stab at science writing for the layperson. Bryson set an ambitious task for himself and ultimately delivered a lively, accessible, and mostly scientifically faithful, albeit cursory, proem to the history of the universe as we know it today.

“Even now as a species, we are almost preposterously vulnerable in the wild. Nearly every large animal you can care to name is stronger, faster and toothier than us. Faced with attack, modern humans have only two advantages. We have a good brain, with which we can devise strategies, and we have hands with which we can fling or brandish hurtful objects. We are the only creature that can harm at a distance. We can thus afford to be physically vulnerable.” (p. 447)

Note: This review is republished from my official website.

A great book, with a little bit of everything.. Bill Bryson articulate it in a very familiar manner and its incredibly simple to read. The book offers different perspectives regarding science and evolution. The impact of religion on the history of modern science, however, has generated a great deal of debate every now and then but i ve learned from this piece .. a handful lessons and as a believer in a high power my self i find it very informative and insightful. There are parts in the book that are hard to swallow but that's the beauty of narration. It puts the study, research, findings and the facts to the table and the golden spoon is on our hand. Overall the book Ignify my curiosity to explore and attain more knowledge and adore science. There is a lot to take in and I recommend it for readers who wants to know more about modern science, thoughts and theories.

آیا می‌دانستید ۱% برفکی که روی صفحه‌ی تلویزیونتان ظاهر می‌شود، مربوط به نوری است که حدود ۱۴ میلیارد سال پیش در لحظه‌ی مهبانگ (انفجار بزرگ) و آفرینش این جهان تولید شده است و تازه توانسته است راه طولانی مرز کیهان را تا زمین بپیماید و به ما برسد!؟
آیا می‌دانستید اگر آب بر خلاف تمام مایعات بر اثر جامد شدن (یخ زدن) حجمش افزایش نمی‌یافت، احتمالن زندگی بر روی کره‌ی زمین شکل نمی‌گرفت؟
آیا می‌دانستید فضای کیهان پر است از ملکول‌های پیچیده و آلی نظیر اسیدهای آمینه و قندها و مطمئنن سرچشمه‌ی این ملکول‌ها در این همه کهکشان، زمین کوچک ما نیست!
آیا می‌دانستید ما تنها موجودات هوشمند این جهان نیستیم و احتمالن پنج میلیون سیاره‌ی توانمندِ پرورش زندگیِ انسانی در همین کهکشان راه شیریِ خودمان وجود دارد؟
آیا می‌دانستید کیهان (کائنات) حدودن تهی از مادّه است و فاصله‌ی بین اجرام آسمانی خیلی بیشتر از حدّ تصوّر ماست؟ برای مثال قطرِ خود منظومه‌ی شمسی بیش از دو سال نوری (حدود دو تریلیون کیلومتر) است و میانگین فاصله‌ی سیّاره‌های حاوی موجودات هوشمند، حدود دویست سال نوری از هم؛ و احتمالن به همین دلیل است که هنوز ردّی از انسان‌هایی دیگر در کهکشان راه شیری به‌دست نیاورده‌ایم.
آیا می‌دانستید احتمالاً هنوز ۹۷% گیاهان و جانوران کره‌ی زمین را ندیده‌ایم و کشف نکرده‌ایم؟!
آیا می‌دانستید چه بسیار پیش آمده که کشف و اختراع یک دانشمند را نادیده گرفته‌اند و به نام دانشمندی دیگر ثبت کرده‌اند و دنیای حسادت‌ها و دشمنی‌های میان دانشمندان در کنار فداکاری‌ها و از جان گذشتگی‌های آن‌ها چه دگرگونی‌های پیش‌بینی نشده‌ای در تاریخ علم و پیشرفت بشر بر جای گذاشته است؟ اگر مادر مندلیف نبود، علم شیمی به کدام سو می‌رفت؟
آیا می‌دانستید…

This wonderful book is multi-layered enough to appeal to all. My niece recommended it to me since she knows I am a physicist wannabe! Bryson's pages contain elements which will entice anyone with curiosity about how things work in the universe.

Using relevant examples and a dynamic tone, the author keeps the reader attentive throughout. This is no small feat since some of the passages can be dense for those of us who are not active in any scientific field. But the rewards and 'A-ha!' moments are worth it. Highly recommended.

هذا الكتاب رائعٌ حقًا واستطيع بلا تردد وصفه بواجب القراءة لكل شخص يريد أن يخرج من الأمية العلمية.

منذ البداية يسحرك الكتاب بمقدمته الشاعرية التي تجعلك لا تريد التوقف عن قراءته. ينتقد الكاتب في البداية صعوبة فهم الكتب العلمية وكأن هناك مؤامرة خفية لتنفير الناس عن قراءتها أو فهمها، فهي لا تخبرنا كيف اكتشف العلماء هذه النظرية أو تلك كعمر الأرض أو تكوين طبقاتها وإنما تقدم لنا المعلومات بصورة جافة تحول روعة العلم إلى موضوع ممل

لهذا قرر الكاتب البدء في هذا المشروع الجبار والذي حصر فيه أجزاء كبيرة جدًا من العلوم الطبيعية من علوم الفيزياء والفلك والكونيات إلى الكيمياء والجيولوجيا والبيولوجيا. يقدم الكاتب كل ذلك بطريقة سردية جميلة جدًا ومبسطة بدون معادلات أو مصطلحات معقدة ولكنها دقيقة وعميقة في نفس الوقت.

إذا قررت قراءة هذا الكتاب فاستعد للانبهار بتاريخ الاكتشافات العلمية والاستماع لقصص العلماء وعبقريتهم وأخطائهم القاتلة وبعض الحقائق المضحكة، بل وحتى بعض قصص المنافسة غير الشريفة.

نشر الكتاب في عام 2003 ولذلك فهناك تطورات علمية حصلت اذكر منها التالي:
1. يذكر الكتاب أن عمر الكون هو بين 12 و13.5 مليار سنة، آخر النتائج العلمية تضع عمره في خانة 13.799 مليار سنة مع هامش خطأ بمقدار 21 مليون سنة
2. تم العثور على جسيم هيجز
3. تم العثور على مئات الكواكب
4. بلوتو لم يعد كوكبًا، بل تم اعادة تصنيفه إلى كوكب قزم
5. تنبأ الكتاب بانتشار وباء انفلوزنا الخنازير كما حدث بعد الحرب العالمية الأولى وهذا ما وقع عام 2009 ولكن لحسن الحظ لم يكن بنفس السوء
6. قام الكاتب بالتحذير من مجموعة من الأوبئة ومن ضمنها فيروس إيبولا والذي ازدادت حالات الإصابة به مؤخرًا
7. لم يذكر الكاتب دور "آر إن إي" في الفرضيات التي تتناول ظهور الحياة