A Short History of Nearly Everything 万物简史当当网5星级英文学习产品
作者： Bill Bryson 著
出版社：Random House US 2003-5-1
简介： Amazon.com Review From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short Historyof Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figuredit out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson useshundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews withluminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him,who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, toappreciate how we have used science to understand the smallestparticles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With hisdistinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably. ThoughA Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and coversthe same material as every science book before it, it readssomething like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without aplot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age ofour planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped intolarger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself."Bryson chats with experts like Richard Fortey (author of Life andTrilobite) and these interviews are charming. But it's when Brysondives into some of science's best and most embarrassingfights--Cope vs. Marsh, Conway Morris vs. Gould--that he findsliterary gold. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to theHardcover edition. From Publishers Weekly As the title suggests, bestselling author Bryson (In a SunburnedCountry) sets out to put his irrepressible stamp on all thingsunder the sun. As he states at the outset, this is a book aboutlife, the universe and everything, from the Big Bang to theascendancy of Homo sapiens. "This is a book about how it happened,"the author writes. "In particular how we went from there beingnothing at all to there being something, and then how a little ofthat something turned into us, and also what happened in betweenand since." What follows is a brick of a volume summarizing momentsboth great and curious in the history of science, covering alreadywell-trod territory in the fields of cosmology, astronomy,paleontology, geology, chemistry, physics and so on. Bryson relieson some of the best material in the history of science to have comeout in recent years. This is great for Bryson fans, who canencounter this material in its barest essence with the bonus ofhaving it served up in Bryson's distinctive voice. But readers inthe field will already have studied this information more in-depthin the originals and may find themselves questioning the point of abreakneck tour of the sciences that contributes nothing novel.Nevertheless, to read Bryson is to travel with a memoirist giftedwith wry observation and keen insight that shed new light on thingswe mistake for commonplace. To accompany the author as he travelswith the likes of Charles Darwin on the Beagle, Albert Einstein orIsaac Newton is a trip worth taking for most readers. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refersto the Hardcover edition. From Booklist Confessing to an aversion to science dating to his 1950s schooldays, Bryson here writes for those of like mind, perhaps out ofguilt about his lack of literacy on the subject. Bryson reports hehas been doing penance by reading popular-science literaturepublished in the past decade or two, and buttonholing a few scienceauthors, such as Richard Fortey (Trilobite! Eyewitness toEvolution, 2000). The authors Bryson talks to are invariablyenthusiasts who, despite their eminence, never look on hisquestions as silly but, rather, view them as welcome indicators ofinterest and curiosity. Making science less intimidating isBryson's essential selling point as he explores an atom; a cell;light; the age and fate of the earth; the origin of human beings.Bryson's organization is historical and his prose heavy onhumanizing anecdotes about the pioneers of physics, chemistry,geology, biology, evolution and paleontology, or cosmology. Tothose acquainted with the popular-science writing Bryson hasdigested, his repackaging is a trip down memory lane, but to hisfellow science-phobes, Bryson' s tour has the same eye-openingquality to wonder and amazement as his wildly popular travelogues.Gilbert Taylor Copyright © American Library Association. All rightsreserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Review ?Stylish [and] stunningly accurate prose. We learn what thematerial world is like from the smallest quark to the largestgalaxy and at all the levels in between . . . brims with strangeand amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic ofscience writing.? -- The New York Times ?Bryson has made a career writing hilarious travelogues, and inmany ways his latest is more of the same, except that this timeBryson hikes through the world of science.? -- People ?Bryson is surprisingly precise, brilliantly eccentric and nicelyeloquent . . . a gifted storyteller has dared to retell the world?sbiggest story.? -- Seattle Times ?Hefty, highly researched and eminently readable.? -- SimonWinchester, The Globe and Mail ?All non-scientists (and probably many specialized scientists,too) can learn a great deal from his lucid and amiableexplanations.? -- National Post "Bryson is a terrific stylist. You can?t help but enjoy hiswriting, for its cheer and buoyancy, and for the frequentdemonstration of his peculiar, engaging turn of mind.? -- OttawaCitizen ?Wonderfully readable. It is, in the best sense, learned.? --Winnipeg Free Press -- Review Review “Stylish [and] stunningly accurate prose. We learn what thematerial world is like from the smallest quark to the largestgalaxy and at all the levels in between . . . brims with strangeand amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic ofscience writing.” —The New York Times “Bryson has made a career writing hilarious travelogues, and inmany ways his latest is more of the same, except that this timeBryson hikes through the world of science.” —People “Bryson is surprisingly precise, brilliantly eccentric and nicelyeloquent . . . a gifted storyteller has dared to retell the world’sbiggest 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 amiableexplanations.” —National Post "Bryson is a terrific stylist. You can’t help but enjoy hiswriting, for its cheer and buoyancy, and for the frequentdemonstration of his peculiar, engaging turn of mind.” —Ottawa Citizen “Wonderfully readable. It is, in the best sense, learned.” —Winnipeg Free Press
