Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 711
My Desert Island Book November 20, 2009 Nautiknitter (CA) Bryson's sparkling style cinches this as one of my top 10 books ever. It seems some scientific types are upset that Bryson delves into the lives of scientists making discoveries more than the discoveries themselves. This is his brilliance! If I want to learn everything there is to know about any given scientific discovery (I don't), I can go read the discoverer's undoubtedly dry treatise on it. I'd much rather learn about how this person came to make such a discovery. It's called human interest, which is something Bryson excels at.
Simple, but Good November 18, 2009 Benaiah Edwards (Monterey, CA USA) A very curt and well-presented glimpse of what science has taught us. Recommend this for any non-scientist who is curious and all young and aspiring scientists.
Very enjoyable! Absorbing topics, well written November 18, 2009 S. Eggers (Seattle, WA) Bill Bryson is an incredibly engaging and charming writer, so he could have written a book of carpet samples and made it interesting. Combine his talents with a smorgasboard of science and history -- all about where we came from and why we think we know what we do -- and you get an irresistible book.
My only complaint was that my interests weren't *exactly* aligned with his, so I felt like too much time was spent on taxonomy (classifying everything from animals and rocks to geological epochs) at the expense of more theoretical sciences like physics and biochemistry. "Cosmos" is much more satisfying in that respect. But a perfect alignment of interests can't really be expected in a book of such broad scope, and it was still a lot of fun.
A Must Read November 13, 2009 The Reading Addict Too many are ignorant of the wonders of scientific developments. Bill Bryson makes the story of our lives a fascinating and enjoyable tale; one from which anyone will gain. His humor and incredibly thorough research makes this book one of the most worthwhile I have read in a long while. It was amazing to find myself laughing out loud during an otherwise thoughtful scientific dissertation. Encourage your students, children and friends to read this.
Required Reading November 7, 2009 Terry P. Rizzuti (Colorado) This is absolutely one of the best books I've ever read. It should be translated into every language and made required reading in every high school in the world. A supurb piece of work that the author should be proud of.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 711
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