A Short History of Nearly Everything (From the Big Bang to the Rise of Humans as Earth's Rulers)

Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: Awarded the Royal Society's Annals of the Universe Award in 2004! Top-selling book on the New York Times and The Times bestseller list! One of Amazon's Top 10 Best Sellers in 2003; Number 1 in Amazon's Science Books in 2003! Preface written by Xu Zhihong, President of Peking University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Endorsed by Academician Gan Ziyou, Academician He Zexiu, and internationally renowned scientists Peter Atkins and Tim Flannery! The book traces the great and wonderful moments in the history of science, citing newly discovered scientific materials in recent years. Almost every event described by the author is extraordinary and astonishing: the universe originated from a singularity that could only be seen with a microscope; global warming may make North America and northern Europe colder; the eruption of Tambora Volcano on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia in 1815, with its flowing lava and accompanying tsunami, claimed 100,000 lives; Yellowstone National Park in the United States is the "world's largest active volcano," and the scientists obsessed with science are also bizarre: Darwin actually played the piano for earthworms; Newton inserted a large sewing needle into his eye socket just to see what would happen; Franklin risked his life to fly a kite during a thunderstorm; Cavendish conducted electric shock experiments on himself, to the point of losing consciousness.